'OVER AND OVER FALLING IN LOVE' is DEDICATED to the Late INDIAN ART ACTRESS: SMITA PATIL [1955-1986]. Who is IMMORTALISED on CELLULOID as one of INDIA'S FINEST ACTRESSES, POLITICAL ACTIVISTS and an INDIAN who was VERY INDIAN, very 'DESI' who KNEW her CULTURE, was very PROUD of it, and NEVER TRIED to BECOME WESTERNISED. A good ROLE MODEL for INDIA and THE WORLD. SMITA'S DEATH after CHILD BIRTH at 31 is a SAD REMINDER that 'THE GOOD DIE YOUNG'...And her ACTOR SON: PRATEIK BABBAR [b. 1986] who GREW UP without his MOTHER and lost his GRANDMOTHER 'MA' recently. I was quite MOVED to THINK of SMITA PATIL on seeing this VERY HONEST and SELF-CRITICAL SPEECH by SMITA'S 1980s 'RIVAL' ACTRESS: SHABANA AZMI [b.1950] on the LAUNCH of BIOGRAPHY of SMITA: 'A SHORT INCANDESCENCE' on what would have been SMITA PATIL'S 60th birthday : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C643o...
SMITA PATIL QUEEN OF CINEMA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuPef...
'OVER AND OVER FALLING IN LOVE' DRAWS on INDIA'S MAGICAL and BEAUTIFUL DAYS of TALENTED CINEMA of the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. The STUNNING DIVERSE COMPOSITONS, ACTORS, COSTUMES, DANCE DIRECTORS, SETS and SINGER that will forevermore stand as TESTAMENT to INDIA'S UNIQUE CULTURE and PURE MAGIC PROJECTED into the CINEMA.
The song is a COMPOSITION really of VARIATIONS. A VARIATION in MUSIC is a FORMAL TECHNIQUE where MATERIAL is REPEATED in ALTERED FORMS of ORCHESTRATION, TIMBRE, HARMONY, TEXTURE, RHYTHM, MELODY, COUNTERPOINT.
The VARIATIONS allow the COMPOSER to PLAY the SAME MATERIAL but with some CHANGES so the LISTENER is not BORED, but the BASIC MATERIAL is the same so the AUDIENCE feel a UNITY in the PIECE without getting WEARY of it REPEATING UNCHANGED.
I STARTED with a GUITAR RIFF, or REPEATED FIGURE and then VARIATIONS of the same RIFF.
Then VOCAL IMPROVISATIONS over and PARALLEL to the RIFF/S.
My EASTERN MUSIC BACKGROUND makes me NOT KEEN on HARMONY and BASS LINES of HARMONIC WESTERN MUSIC so the IDEA of just PLOUGHING the GUITAR on a CONVENTIONAL DRUM BEAT and SINGING CONTINUOUSLY as a ROCK SONG was what I wanted to AVOID that 'SAME OLD SAME OLD'.
TAKING the ELECTRIC GUITAR into a 'MELODIC MUSIC' or MONODIC [singing single line maybe with drumming] ARENA is NOT STANDARD COMPOSING...But...I had a go!
MELODIC MUSIC has a THIN TEXTURE so a NUMBER of TECHNIQUES were EMPLOYED in COMPOSING, ORCHESTRATION and RECORDING:
- CLEAR SECTIONS and CLEAR VARIATIONS
[Ends of sections are marked on the VIDEO with KHAARTOUM PHOTOS to help ORIENTATE AUDIENCE on the 'FORM' of the SONG]
- VARIETY of TEXTURES
Some SINGING OVER the GUITAR in a 'COUNTERPOINT' [a melody singing over another melody with a different melodic idea]. I tried to PITCH and AN ANNUNCIATE in an 'EASTERN' SLIDE PITCH way to add MYSTERIOUSNESS and to AVOID a BORING ROCK SONG!!! Some SINGING is done OVER DRUMMING and some PAUSES have JUST VOCAL dying away.
- HEAVY USE of REVERB and DELAY on the VOCAL to add 'AMBIANCE'. USE of DIFFERENT TYPES of REVERB and DELAY also ADD SUBTLE VARIETY to the TEXTURE for INTEREST.
- LAYERING SOUNDS. As I don't care for HARMONY, I do like LAYERING, which is a more 'MEDIEVAL' way of ADDING 'TONE MASS' by PLAYING THINGS on top of each other, but NOT in a HARMONIC WAY. I add VIOLIN PIZZICATO [plucking] or BOWING on an 'OFF BEAT' and also on a TONIC NOTE telling LISTENER that 'END OF SECTION IS COMING'.
- CHANGES of RHYTHM. The GUITAR plays DIFFERENT RIFF RHYTHMS and also the DRUMS play VARIATIONS of RHYTHM. Having STARK DIFFERENCES in RHYTHM between GUITAR and DRUMS and some SILENCE [this is a COMPOSITIONAL DEVICE too for RELIEF and CONTRAST and DRAMA] is RISKY for GIVING a DISJOINTED 'stopping and starting' DISUNITY but also adds DRAMA, CONTRAST, and is UNPREDICTABLE [I like writing UNPREDICTABLY and HATE MYSELF listening to PREDICTABLE ORCHESTRATION that 'CHUGS ALONG'!]
TEMPO. In MELODIC MUSIC we are AFFORDED a little FLEXIBILITY on SINGING and PLAYING SPEED. Some SECTIONS are FRACTIONALLY SLOWER or FASTER than others, plus the SINGING is DRAGGED SLOWER, or 'ELASTICATED' over the BACKGROUND, or some SECTIONS the LYRICS are GOING at TWICE the SPEED of SYLLABLES to make a NEW VARIATIONS and be UNPREDICTABLE and REFRESHING but with THE SAME MATERIAL BEING REPEATED a DIFFERENT WAY.
PITCH - The HIGH and LOW of the VOCAL and INSTRUMENTS is also another GOOD way of ADDING VARIETY and INTEREST to MELODIC MUSIC. Most SOUNDS in a COMPOSITION are around the MIDDLE which gets DULL to the EAR. I used my VOCAL at the MIDDLE for MOST of the SONG but with some BASS LOW PHRASES and also at a HIGH 'FALSETTO' or MALE SOPRANO level too. The LATTER was some 'ECHO' of the FEMALE SINGERS of INDIAN CINEMA plus PROGRAMMATIC for the 'DREAM SEQUENCE' kinds of SOUNDS that BOMBAY CINEMA was FAMOUS FOR. The CONTRASTS of PITCH and the UNEXPECTED CHANGES can help to MAKE a DULL SONG into something far more MEMORABLE and also 'SENSUAL' on the EAR of the LISTENER.
