Pancham’s magic alive & kicking

Jasmine Singh

Whether at club lounges, or on the Internet, or a new singer trying to capture listeners on YouTube; cover versions of RD Burman’s songs make a dash everywhere. Who hasn’t swayed to the original or even the remixed version of Oh Mere Sona Re (Teesri Manzil) or the high-voltage, Piya Tu Ab To Aaja (Caravan)? So much so, Pancham Da (as he was fondly called) is one of the music directors whose tracks have been remixed the most. Disc jockeys all across the country, and back in the region, haven’t seen a single Club Bollywood nite when they were not requested to play Dum Maaro Dum, Jai Jai Shiv Shankar, Mehbooba Mehbooba... A music director, whose numbers still establish connect with the youngsters, tops the iPod list of many. Young DJs, singers from the city give a shout out to their favourite—RD Burman.

Even if you scratch

Undeniably, he is a musician whose songs have been remixed by many DJs, and there are umpteen music groups or independent artistes who have sung his covers. Freelance Deejay Shaan has performed at various music festivals across the country, “Even in Dharamsala, where I performed three months back to a jam-packed firang crowd, I was amused to see most of them requesting me to play Piya tu ab to aaja. I thought this was just one odd number they had listened to, but then a lady from Greece shouted that I should play Dada Pancham!” Aise na mujhe tum dekho, O’ haseena zulfon wali, Pyar se dil pe, Gulabi aankhen, Pyar humain kis mod pe le aaya…

Ruling the turntables

RD Burman’s songs rule the roost on the turntables as well. Music producer Sameer Sandhu from Chandigarh vouches for the youth connect that RD Burman’s songs still have. “Clearly, there are youngsters who probably wouldn’t be able to recognise the songs sung by RD Burman, however, they do request for songs ‘by that funky, jazzy singer, who has used just about all forms of instruments and music genres in Bollywood singing’ and I know they are talking about RD Burman.”

Internet explosion

If by any chance you happen to click RD Burman cover versions, you’d be flooded with nearly 130 versions of the quintessential cabaret song, Piya Tu Ab To Aaja, sung by popular and not so popular names from the Hindi music industry and independent artiste fraternity. Young music producer Tarunesh Sharma from Patiala has worked in Punjabi, Hindi and Marathi films. The big Pancham da fan talks about how RD Burman’s music has left a mark on the music scene. “I am working on an item track for a Telugu film, the only guideline that I have got from the film’s director and producer is ‘to make something like Mehbooba mehbooba or Dum maaro dum.” Tarunesh, 25, takes a minute to draw our attention to the music reality shows... “Every second or third contestant generally comes up with at least one RD Burman track to impress the judges. While some opt for the slow Is mod se jaate hain, others who want to show a lot of variation in their voice, sing Chadti jawaani or Gulabi aankhen.” RD Burman’s magic lives on, it rocked the music scene, it is still very much sought after, and it would be so!

— jasmine@tribunemail.com