"Tere Bheege Badan Ke Khushboo Se"......"The Perfume Of Your Wet Body"....
"Khamosh Hawa Diwane Se" ......."Be Silent Madness From The Wind"....
Songs like this one of Indian and Pakistani Cinema from the 1970s & 1980s have an everlasting talent that seems to have all but gone from cinema of the contemporary Subcontinent?
This love song with the famous Pakistan Cinema matinee idols Nadeem and Shabnam came from the 1974 Urdu film 'Sharafat' ['Respectable']. The song is moving and unforgettable, yet simply photographed at low budget, it is puzzling that something so simple works so well.
Modern; delicate; innovative; genius; romantic; colourful; crafted...All of these words conjour up the talent of Music Director Robin Ghosh who created such a dazzling selection of film songs during the heyday of Pakistani Films. 'Tere Bheege Badan' is another jewel in Pakistan's breathtaking repetiore of unique musical compositions.
The premis of 'Sharafat' was the questioning of Society's obsession and definitions of 'Respectabilty'...This unusual approach did mar some of the success of 'Sharafat' due to audiences not grasping the questioning of social norms. The film still won awards and profits but the songs are forever!
Dr. Masood Haq analyses the film 'Sharafat' in a splendid article for Mazhar Pakistani Film Magazine:
http://mazhar.dk/film/magazine/review/sharafat.htm
ORCHESTRATION
The song FORM [sections over time] is Western Pop Song but is is lyrically based upon a traditional GHAZAL [a short lyric poem written in couplets]. The latter is too 'fussy' and 'meandering' for the precise cinema media format, so it is regulated into verses/chorus/bridge style to make it more fitting for measured film. Also the audience can 'digest' the GHAZAL better in Pop Song Bites that they are subconsciously conditioned to consume music through.
The FORM: Intro [VARIATION on chorus] + Chorus (I)* + Bridge 01 [VARIATION on chorus] + Verse (V)** + Chorus(I)* + Bridge 02 [VARIATION on chorus] + Verse (V)** + Chorus(I)* + Chorus(I)* + CODA [end section - repeated sections of chorus].
* TONIC (I) 'homenote' 'doh'/'sa' note area for melody
** DOMINANT(V) fifth note 'soh'/'pa' note area for melody
The bridge VARIATIONS [same tune is played in an altered way for variety and unity] show that the Music Director has some knowlege of Western Music Theory. The note lengths of the chorus tune are changed to make them 'similar' but 'different' to the original. A lot of research into ORCHESTRATION [controlling musical elements for orchestra] is evident in compositions of Robin Ghosh. For example, the dramatic opening of violins holding long four beat notes on the TONIC smacks of Western Concert Music, especially when overlaid with scalic runs on VIBRAPHONE [metallic tuned instrument with electronic echo]. This is used as PROGRAMMATIC MUSIC [music that promotes dramatic elements from ideas of the music].
There is a lot of skillful and measured revolving of musical TIMBRES [tone colour that identifies each particular musical instrument] and recycling of musical themes and tunes for UNITY [similar melodic and rhythmic elements that bind a composition together from common root].
For all of the clever uses of Western Orchestration, this song does not actually have European HARMONY [organised system of two or more notes sounding simultaneously]. The ORCHESTRATION is LAYERED [coincidendal multiple notes sound but there are no chords or HARMONY].
The LAYERING is very odd considering the bass note and chords played by the piano? Yet the music is LINEAR [composed as a single melody with concept from the beginning to the end] with added 'episodes' of multi-sound LAYERING for variety. The difference between LAYERING and HARMONY in the case of these songs with European 'touches' is that the Pakistani song is basically MONODIC [melody and drums]. It can be sung without the accompaniment with just a voice or a drum and work. A Western song NEEDS the SUPPORTING chords and HARMONY and cannot function well without them. The compositional concept is different. The MONODIC song is composed LINEAR whereas the HARMONIC song is composed vertically chord to chord HARMONY - the tune and chords must be played as part of the composition. MONODY is just the tune. The orchestration is added to boost the TONE MASS [thickness of sound] for the cinema. The interesting effective feature is the VIOLINS quietly play the melody. This works well in MONODY.
