The Adieu Solos

Posted on Trivia – The Spice of Life on 04/06/2023 There are quite a few songs where something has grossly gone wrong because of which a character has to leave for good. These are songs bidding adieu. This is a post devoted to such songs where a person is leaving, sometimes vowing never to return.

Solo Songs with an unobtrusive listener

Posted on Trivia – The Spice of Life on 20/05/2023 We tend to behave differently in public. When we are alone, in our own space, our demenaour usually assumes a somewhat different character. This is particularly true when we are assured that no one is watching us. Today, with surveillance systems fitted in many public

Hindi Film Songs Featuring Tribal Dance & Music

Posted on Trivia – The Spice of Life on 22/04/2023 “There is a tendency to lump folk music along with tribal music,” says David Courtney, in his post An Overview of the Folk Music of the Indian Subcontinent.  He argues that there is ac­tually a difference between the two.  “Where folk music is a mere

Songs of Spouses

Posted on Trivia – The Spice of Life on 02/04/2023 My guess is that the number of songs featuring spouses in our films would be lesser than those featuring couples in love enjoying the courtship phase. I must add here that this surmise is not supported by any statistical analysis and I could very well

र and ल in Hindi Film Music

Posted on 22/03/2023 on Trivia – The Spice of Life This is not a post on Hindi phonetics. But it would be interesting to understand the semi-vowels of Hindi alphabet to appreciate how they have been used in film songs. The semi vowels of the Hindi varnamala (वर्णमाला i.e. alphabet) are called antastha (or अन्तःस्थ

The Only Song That …..

Posted on 12/03/2023 on Trivia- The Spice of Life Human beings are always interested in the exception than the rule. Perhaps, it is the exception that gets all the limelight rather than the rule. Come to think of it, law too evolves because of exceptional circumstances that arise in its implementation or interpretation, those which

Bhabhi Songs Part 2: With the Nanad

Posted on Trivia – The Spice of Life on 05/03/2023 (The first part was about the songs of bhabhi and devar. Here is the link in case you wish to read it.) It is not very easy for a woman to get along with another one. This is particularly true in the case of the

The Gaali Songs

Posted on Trivia- The Spice of Life on 20/02/2023 Hindi film songs of the golden era are known for their meaningful lyrics. The acclaimed lyricists who penned these songs chose their words very carefully. Even in songs which required the use of expletives, the words used were not abusive or obscene. There are songs where

Melodies with partly sung mukhda

Posted on 05/02/2023 on Trivia- The Spice of Life Do you remember the adorable nursery rhyme BINGO? In an attempt to teach the kindergarteners the English alphabet, each time B-I-N-G-O is sung, clapping/music replaces the alphabets one by one till only O is sung. I am not sure whether there is technical term for this.

Songs of Anger

Posted on Trivia – The Spice of Life on 22/01/2023 This is a post that is dedicated to the emotion of anger (krodh) – which all of us display – as espoused in film songs. Anger is considered to be one of the 6 enemies of man (षड्रिपु), the others being Kama (desire), lobha (greed), Mada (Sense of I), moha (Attachment), and matsarya (Partiality).