Universal Music India recently marked its return to film music with the release of the soundtracks to the Hindi movies Param Sundari, Songs of Paradise and Ufff Yeh Siyapaa, but it also has a vast catalogue of iconic Bollywood OSTs. In July, it began reissuing some of these on vinyl via a licensing agreement with physical music distributor Basking Shark. With the launch of a new web series, it’s doubling down on its effort to revive the repertoire. The short Hindi-language weekly show Ek Aur Baar Kishore Kumar reworks 11 of legendary Hindi film actor and singer Kishore Kumar’s greatest hits across 11 episodes.
The reworkings retain Kumar’s vocals, which have been extracted from the original recordings using “modern technology”, and merge them with the freshly recorded contributions of current stars, to create virtual duets composed by veteran Indian music industry professional and Hindi film music director Shamir Tandon. Additional lyrics have been tacked on to the tunes to “contextualise them for a new generation”, says the press note.
Before anybody raises their AI-brows, they should know that Kumar’s son, singer Amit Kumar, was consulted during the entire process. The tracks that have been released since the series’ premiere in August include ‘Saagar Kinare’ from Saagar (1985), with Rajasthani folk star Mame Khan; ‘Jaane Jaan’ from Jawani Diwani (1972), with Amit Kumar and Punjabi folk specialist Harshdeep Kaur; and ‘Aisa Kabhie Hua Nahin’ from Yeh Vaada Raha (1982), with playback and pop singer Neeti Mohan.
“These songs are a gateway to take the most passionate Kishore Kumar’s fans back into his golden world. And at the same time, introduce a brand new generation to the voice of India’s true singing legend.” says Universal. The label is also taking the IP offline, through the Fan Social series of events that it organises at and in association with the Social chain of restaurants and bars. Five Ek Aur Baar Kishore Kumar karaoke nights will be held between September 22-28 at Social outposts in Gurugram, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Indore and Pune.
Given that several Kishore Kumar classics are evergreen favourites that continue to be covered at concerts by contemporary acts and at countless tribute shows—including those by Amit Kumar—that draw thousands of attendees across the country, and on reality TV singing talent contests, perhaps the true test of Universal’s experiment will be how the reinterpretations perform on DSPs where the audience skews younger.
Even so, it’s an innovative way of repurposing a catalogue that’s known to millions but is perhaps yet to be discovered by segments of Gen-Z and Gen Alpha.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source musically.com ’
