India’s only Oscar winning musician has given his take on the ongoing Remix culture in music industry.
After the recent remix of Falguni Pathak’s classic song ‘Maine Payal Hai Chhankai’ by Neha Kakkar, a huge debate sparked on the internet which saw music lovers questioning – whether it is right to remake a classic song or not.
Majority of the people on the internet did not approve of Neha’s Version of the song and claimed it ‘Ruined’ their childhood memories. Even the original singer Falguni Pathak herself reacted strongly on the remix and said she wished she could sue Kakka
r.
Now Rahman has also chimed-into the debate and given his two cents.
The singer and composer says that he is not fond of the remix culture. The iconic musician was quoted telling this while speaking with India Today:
“The more I see, the more it is distorted. The intention of the composer gets distorted. People say, ‘I am reimagining.’ Who are you to re-imagine? I am also very careful of taking someone else’s work. You have to be respectful and I think it is a grey area, we need to sort it out.”
He further talked about the situation when he gets the requests from the makers to remix his own old melody with a modern touch, he said:
“The other day, we had the Telugu music launch and the producers said, every song that you two (Mani Ratnam and AR Rahman) make sounds fresh now because it is all done in digital mastering. It already has that quality and everyone appreciates it. So, if I need to do that, I need to recreate it. Of course, people take permission, but you cannot take something recent and remake it again. It feels weird.”
AR Rahman’s music will next be heard in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan I. The epic historical movie is set to hit the theatres on 30th September.