BOLLYWOOD RECORDS EVER MADE

Words: Sacha Dieu

Putting together a Top 20 of any musical genre is a tricky business, but with Bollywood soundtracks it’s an especially mind-boggling affair. Bombay is home to the most prolific film industry in the world and as most Bollywood films are musicals, there are several different eras and literally thousands of titles to choose from.

Bollywood music is mostly known for its saturated piercing female vocals and frantic cascading violins, but this is a stereotype. A whole universe of mad sounds - duelling bongos, fuzzy electric guitars, funky bass lines and electronic wizardry - is waiting to be discovered within the underworld of forgotten Bollywood films and box office failures. This is especially true during the ‘golden’ age of experimentation, from the early-1950s till the mid-1980s, when a handful of adventurous composers & musicians branched out, fusing western influences like jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, psyche, funk, electro and disco into the existing song-based formula. It is this period that Edo Bouman (from Bombay connection, Amsterdam) and I are specifically fascinated by.

Being a record dealer, I'm always on the look out for rare forgotten nuggets that contain DJ-friendly tracks with killer drum breaks, catchy loops or simply jaw-dropping music. It was while digging for such vinyl that I stumbled upon my first Bollywood funk LP,

‘Hum Kisise’, by R.D. Burman. Initially purchasing it for its mad cover, I had no idea I was tapping into such unbelievable music: hyper-funky intros, breaks galore, unpredictable switches, a madcap vocal screaming "Wakao!" - all whizzing by at a hundred miles an hour!

But it was only a few years ago whilst surfing the net and coming across Edo Bouman's exposés on Bollywood vinyl that I became totally hooked, and began to realise the depth and breadth of Bollywood’s funky back catalogue. Edo's knowledge, descriptions, pictures and sound files stirred my curiosity and imagination no end. I was particularly struck by his joyous enthusiasm, his infectious child-like excitement and his fond descriptions of the great artwork and unbelievable music contained within.

Unlike other genres I collect and deal in, what is so refreshing about Bollywood music is that it is not always to be taken too seriously. Apart from being extremely versatile, dazzlingly fast played and utterly original, it is, above everything else, a lot of fun: uplifting, over-the-top, colourful, mad, sexy, cheeky, utterly unpredictable, and most of all very, very entertaining.

So go on, indulge yourself and get swept away by the 15 craziest Bollywood records ever made...Wakao!

Words: Edo Bouman

01. SHALIMAR, RD BURMAN (POLYDOR, 1978)

Welcome to the first port of call in Bollywood funk soundtracks. This has it all: deep jazz, groovy Latin, catchy funk, traditional Hindi music...if you have to get one Bollywood funk LP, then get this one. The original gatefold cover comes with a psychedelic kaleidoscopic fold out insert - truly mind blowing.

02. DHARMATMA, KALYANJI ANANDJI (EMI INDIA, 1975)

Alongside ‘Shalimar’, this LP is one of the most sought after Bombay soundtracks. The main attraction is the instrumental track ‘Cabaret Dance Music’, which accompanies a psychedelic club scene featuring black painted Indians as savages. The music? Mad Hindi psych-funk with a heavy conga beat, frantic Moog, hysterical screaming, manic laughing and sexy giggling. To top it all, there are six instrumentals on this album. Some are breakbeat pieces with Morricone-like melodies; others are heavily influenced by Middle Eastern music, swamped with fuzz guitar. Crucial!

03. CARAVAN, RD BURNMAN (EMI INDIA, 1971)

The quintessential Burman score and a true testament to his off-kilter genius. The rock ‘n’ roll flavoured Cabaret scene had been a standard in Bollywood movies since the ‘50s, but with the song ‘Piya Tu Ab To Aja’, Burman invented a whole new revolutionary style of music - featuring surf guitars, sleazy jazz sax, moody vibes, Spanish trumpet, eerie organ playing, a big band and a ridiculous number of breaks, bridges and rhythm changes. A total classic!

04. GUMNAAM, SHANKAR JAIKISHAN (EMI INDIA. 1979)

Possibly the greatest, hardest rockin’ 1960s Bollywood track ever. Used recently in the film Ghost World, ‘Jan Pechechan Ho’ brings the house down with crazy horns, while Lesley Godhino goes animal on the drums and Dilip Naik cranks up his surf guitar to the max. By Shankar Jaikishan, the unchallenged kings of 1960s Indian R&R.

05. BURNING TRAIN, RD BURMAN (EMI INDIA, 1979)

In 1979 B. R Chopra decided to make "the most spectacular, colossal, breathtaking, suspenseful and star-filled film ever made in India". RD Burman’s score is equally as ambitious, featuring helicopters, explosions, synthesised FX and Burman himself on

vocoder (!). This has to be one of the most insane and hip electro-Moog, Kraftwerk-esque title music ever made.

06. BOMBAY 405 MILES, KALYANJI AMANDJI (EMI INDIA,

1980)

This LP contains the sexiest, sleaziest and fattest Indian funk track ever, 'Na Na Na Yeh', Bollywood’s answer to Gainsbourg's ‘Je t'aime moi non plus’. It begins with devastatingly groovy horns and a light tabla rhythm, over which a sexy Indian lady starts whispering, teasing, laughing, giggling and panting! Then the break kicks back in, and all hell breaks loose.

07. APRADH, KALYANJI ANANDJI (EMI INDIA, 1972)

This is the only seven-inch included in this Top 20. It contains the original track that Black Eyed Peas lifted and covered on their ‘Don’t Phunk With My Heart’ hit. It’s also one of the best stripped-down Bollywood funk tracks ever made, featuring a frantic sitar riff that BEP failed to pick up in their version.

08. NAGIN, HEMANT KUMAR (EMI INDIA, 1954)

This is the earliest release on our list and is an example of an evergreen Bollywood soundtrack. Famous for it's snake charmer track ‘Been Music’, this features the first use of a rudimentary synthesiser, the clavioline, in Bollywood film, played by a very young

Kalyanji! The soundtrack is mesmerising and beautiful from start to finish. With the young Lata Mangeshkar on vocals, the whole album is one deep, hypnotising oriental dream.

09. HARE RAMA HARE KRISHNA, RD BURMAN (EMI INDIA,

1972)

This is one of most well known Bollywood LPs on our list. Once again, RD Burman provides the soundtrack. The film deals with the hippie invasion in India in the early-70s, and is full of caricatures of loose westerners smoking their heads off who are corrupting the country. The music is classic Bollywood funk, featuring two versions of the disco hit ‘Dum Maro Dum’ (‘Take Another Hale’), with its vicious ‘60s-style beat and psychedelic Moog work.

10. HUM KISISE KUM NAHEN, RD BURMAN (EMI INDIA, 1977)

Another classic funky RD Burman outing with an amazing colourful gatefold cover. 'Bachna ae Haseeno' has the grooviest intro ever and is a whole instrumental in itself, featuring a funky brass section and a spacey Miles Davis-like sax solo. 'Chand Mera Dil' is an amazing psychedelic Indian-tuned percussive beat track...my first Bollywood LP!

11. MUQQADAR KA SIKANDAR, KALYANJI ANANDJI, (EMI

INDIA, 1978)

If you're planning a Bombay funk dance night, well you need this record! The song ‘Pyar Zindagi Hai’ is so damn hard and sleazy. Composers Kalyanji Anandji ripped Lalo Schifrin's theme music of Jaws for the hypnotic groove adding some dangerously funky

drumming. In the midst of all manner of deranged sound FX, a sexy female voice asks, invitingly: "Hey, you dig this sort of music he? You like it! So why don't you come join in lovers paradise!" Okay then.

13. PROFESSOR PYARELAL, KALYANJI ANANDJI (POLYDOR,

1981)

Wow! Legendary super-funky LP by the composers of Bombay the Hard

Way. The title track is one of the five funkiest cuts available in Bollyland, with a lady singing “Proooofesssoor Pyyyarrelaaaaal” in a horny Indian fashion, but the climax comes in the shape of a drum break beat in a loose Harvey Mason-style.

14. KASAM PAIDA KARNEWALE KI, BAPPI LAHIRI (EMI INDIA,

1981)

Top score from Bollywood's King of Disco with no less than five great tracks. The best of which is ‘Come Closer’‚ with its slow, heavily sampled hip-hop-like intro.

Also contains a version of Michael Jackson's ‘Beat It’, disco-style. Super Kitsch!

15. QURBANI IN ENGLISH, KALYANJI ANANDJI (POLYDOR, 1981)

Welcome to the cheesiest record ever made...not only that, but this is the English version! Classic early-80s release with one very catchy electro track by the funk masters Kalyanji Anandji. Own at your risk...no health insurance provided!

To dig deeper into the barmy world of obscure Bollywood soundtracks, search out a new series of killer compilations coming out via Edo Bouman’s Bombay Connection label. Check: bombay-connection.com

You can catch Sacha Dieu playing records at Stranger Than Paradise, monthly at London’s Favela Chic. Check: strangerthanparadise.net