Monali Thakur: Original music defines our industry, not recreation

Playback singer Monali Thakur, who recently released her new single, "Dil ka fitoor", says only original melodies will define our music industry and not the remixes and recreations that have been happening over the last couple of years.

"I do not have problems with a recreation of a classic, the problem is somewhere else. When an artiste makes an original song, a lot of hard work goes into it because that is the talent they show in the song. There is something called respect and ethics. Being an artiste, if you do not show respect to another artiste's work, it is disappointing. And that has happened (in last few years). It is disgraceful to disrespect another artiste just for fame, name and money. I am not against remix or recreation of a song but when you do that, you either do it better than the original composition or at least match up to the level of the original," Monali told IANS.

Taking the reference of the recreated "Masakali", which was originally composed by AR Rahman and later recreated by Tanishk Bagchi, and which faced a lot of criticism, Monali pointed out: "It is great to see that Rahman sir has taken a stand. Usually, people do not take a stand and stay silent."

After the release of the song, Rahman had shared a link of the original number and posted on social media, "No short cuts, properly commissioned, sleepless nights, writes and re-writes. Over 200 musicians, 265 days of creative brainstorming with the aim to produce music that can last generations. A team of a director, a composer and a lyricist supported by actors, dance directors and a relentless dance crew."

"It is not a good practice to constantly create remixes one after another, especially for our music culture. We have so much talent in our country and our music is so rich! In a musically, culturally rich country, if we are not creating original music, it is sad," Monali said.

"Yes, original music requires more push to promote but that is the job of the marketing team, right? In the global map, a recreated version of the original song will not define our music industry, really. If this is what we have to show to the global audience as ‘our creation' it is disgraceful! Because we are actually not creating anything," the singer signed off.

"Dil ka fitoor" is composed by Kaushik and Guddu, while the lyrics are written by Shloke Lal. The video has been shot in the Alps.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)

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