"After the partition, swing musicians ended up in parts of Pakistani Punjab. Prohibition in Bombay led to hotels losing business. That's when Bollywood steps in," he said at his session, the last of the evening on Sunday evening at the Jaipur Literature Festival. And soon, in the 50s, it was one of the most defining sounds of Hindi film music, prime example being the film Albela - with songs like Shola Jo Bhadke.
Jazz had a special place in the Hindustani Classical-influenced, heavy on melody Bollywood music of the 50s. Many of these jazz and swing musicians, Fernandes pointed out, worked primarily as assistants to the bigger music directors. Once the music director was done drafting the melody, they would arrange the bridge and the interludes. That car chase sequence that had you on the edge of your seat? That probably came from someone who once played at the Taj rooftop too. "Indian music is melodic. Western music is harmonic. For effective screen music, it had to be harmonic, group music," said Fernandes. (Read more)
