LIFTERS.COM
Has lifted the veil of music-stealers!
By Chintamani Bhide
SOURCE – http://maharashtratimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.cms?msid=1878916
Date: Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Translation by ItwoFS visitor, Kizzy. Thanks Kizzy!

The classic song from Gangster still reverberates in my mind. In a long time, I have felt the pleasure of listening to a song with meaningful lyrics complemented by equally stupendous music arrangement. Thus, the freshness of the song lingers in my mind. I find myself singing praises for Music Director Pritam, and that….

…That has left deep wounds in me. A particular Internet site has revealed that about Pritam of which I had little knowledge of. The site reveals to me the "inspiration", if you may, behind Pritam's Gangster compositions. In fact, there is little inspiration in his compositions. Rather, the songs have been directly set to the tunes of original compositions. And the site does not restrict itself to reveal "inspirations of one music director – Pritam. http://www.itwofs.com/ sleuths and encompasses a bandwagon of Music Directors, who have inspired us thus far, and now we have an opportunity to learn what has inspired them to inspire us. [Kizzy's note: Well, I got a little carried away here and state that which the original author does not. Pardon!]

Now, one may ask, "What is so special about the site: http://www.itwofs.com/? Today, a mere search on Internet results in tons of such information." Alright, it is a known secret that most Indian Music Directors find their inspiration over-seas. So, what different story does this site recite? Well, you are absolutely correct. Allow me… the site in mention is distinctly unique. One must pay a visit and infer for oneself. Not only does the site cover Pritam's deeds, but it also includes the works of Anu Malik, Anand-Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Bappi Lahiri, Sandeep Chowta, Sanjeev-Darshan, Anand Raj Anand and Music Directors of yesteryears.

The site does not limit itself to the mention of Hindi Film songs and its source(s) of inspiration. It explicitly provides audio reference(s) to source(s) from which it was either blatantly copied from or particular notes that were lifted or excerpts that the song was based on. The site gets into an investigative reporting mode. The anecdote accompanying each song makes for an interesting reading, as well. The Site Owner does not seem to have gathered the information randomly. Rather, it appears that (s)he has paid minutest of detail in its research before telling the tale of "inspired" Indian Music Directors.

I sincerely applaud the efforts made by the Site Owner. (S)He has literally collected music pieces from around the Globe to state the cases. Azerbaijani, Turkistani, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Polish, Arabian are a few examples of music resources that the Owner has researched to find resemblances with Hindi Film Music. The site provides sound clips of Hindi Song and its parent source of influence.

Who, then, are steadfast stealers and who are truly inspired by a musical piece they hear and go ahead to create anew! The search of these answers lead to one source: - http://www.itwofs.com/. Pritam is merely an example of this trend. If one visits Pritam's page, one quickly learns that 99% of his musical claims are nothing but non-originals. The same holds true for Anu Mallik and Anand-Milind.

On the other hand, Music Directors such as Rahul Dev Burman, Allah Rakha Rahman, Salil Chowdhury, and Sachin Deb Burman truly seemed to be inspired from their contemporaries [and classics] and skilled in independent creation based on such inspirations, may it be a prelude piece of music, or a note in a certain piece, as if paying homage to the original Creator's works. The site entails such in-depth information. And it also lists songs and its corresponding original, that may not be apparent at maiden listening, but if one paid close attention then one may detect similarity in notes and then decide for herself/himself.