WHAT no VIOLINS? WHAT no ORCHESTRA? WHAT just TECHNO KEYBOARD? Well...YES! YES! YES!!...However, this Punjabi film song, 'Maya Ve!'/'Such Luck!' actually works very well as you can listen for yourself! WHY DID THE PAKISTANI FILMS BEGIN TO REPLACE BEAUTIFUL ACCOUSTIC ORCHESTRA WITH KEYBOARD IN THE 1990s? Well, we need to take a step back first to 1979. Lahorie Cinema had a Punjabi absolute smash hit film called 'MAULA JAT'[the name of a local FEUDAL lord, FEUDALISM being part of Pakistans sociological make up]. 'MAULA JAT' was a FEUDAL [clans that occasionally fight each other for land or honour] story set in the COUNTRYSIDE with a stunning memorable dialogue, not unlike another highly successful INDIAN FILM 'SHOLAY'/'Flames' in 1977. 'MAULA JAT'' made so much money and ran for so long in Pakistani Cinemas that after that time every Punjabi Film was made in that FEUDAL RURAL style. Previously, Punjabi Movies had been in a variety of Urban, Rural and even International settings offering a choice to audiences. The 'MAULA JAT' model of film with PUNJABI FOLKLORE, FEUDALISM and MYTHOLOGY compounded by the Zia-ul-Haq Regime's Islamic CENSORSHIP meant that actresses had to be covered in long costumes and scarves. However, the effect was that the LONG clothes just became TIGHTER and the camera angles and dance routines became evermore EXTREME. By the mid-1980s Punjabi Cinema had aquired a tag of being 'PINDOO' rural theme [with some GREAT MUSIC, by the way] monotenous predictable FEUDAL stories with machine guns, axes, blood and a level of 'VULGARITY' that filled the increasingly dirty and delapodated cinema halls with gangs of young men screaming and whistling. The families and middle class began to shun the Punjabi Films and then the cinema altogether, so URDU [national languge] CINEMA also began to fail and stop production. Actors claim that the Haq Regime also began to make it seem that it was 'sinful' or 'dirty' to act in cinema and theatre. Also, the BBC puts forward some ideas that The Regime wished to promote piracy of VHS Indian Cinema to 'keep the people off the streets and at home'. Article: 'How Piracy is Entrenched in Pakistan'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4523089.stm
A further shattering crisis hit the Punjabi Film Industry in 1996 when its biggest star SULTAN RAHI was murdered as he intended a new career to also enter politics in Pakistan. RAHI is in The Guiness Book of Records for appearing in the most films of any actor of the world: 805 films from 1971 to 1996. SULTAN RAHI was the achetypal FEUDAL HERO. The Punjabi Cinema in Pakistan ground to a halt, not knowing which direction to turn, what to produce or who to replace RAHI with. ANJUMAN, 'Queen of the Punjab' the darling of Punjabi Cinema with SULTAN was also floundering due to her age and seriously increasing weight.
SHAAN, son of Pakistani actress NEELO breahed life into the Punjabi 'Romeo'. SAIMA became ANJUMAN reborn as the mythological Punjabi 'Juliette' HEER. Pakistan, having its own style in being able to juxtoposition the modern and the tradtional made SAIMA and SHAAN a real modernisation on RAHI and ANJUMAN but WITHOUT any AMERICANISATION?
Punjabi Cinema of the 1990s continued with the FEUDAL themes and with the added pressure of VCDs of HINDI films and TELEVSION, the cinema audiences dwindled more and more.
FOUR THINGS INFLUENCED THE GRADUAL REMOVAL OF THE ACCOUSTIC ORCHESTRA FROM PAKISTANI FILM SONGS:
Firstly, there was just a need to find somewhere to record. EMI Lahore Studios had closed down in 1993 due to piracy so SMALL DIGITAL STUDIO was necessary.
Secondly, FINANCES. The producers had to find a way to reduce costs due to FALLING AUDIENCES due to the above problems of RURAL STYLE, 'VULGARITY', ROWDINESS and REPETITIVE STORIES so orchestra was cut to save money on musicians, avoid complicated recording sessions and make for quick and simple computer-generated recordings in cheap short sessions.
Thirdly, with the REINVENTION of SAIMA and SHAAN maybe came a desire for a MUSICAL REINVENTION of the PUNJABI FILM SONG. A new media with live drums but faster, sequenced melodic parts that were more TECHNO and a NEW STYLE, but quasi-orchestral.
Finally, the COMPOSERS CHANGED. The MELODIC and pensive music directors of the 1970s had retired or died. New composers like TAFO took over the leading role in Pakistani Film Composing and really did compose some amazing music on tiny budgets that are a new style. The compositional approach of TAFO is different because he is a PERCUSSIONIST. He is a DRUMMER and so his song compositions feature RHYTHMIC MELODIES over LYRICAL MELODIES and great BRIDGES where his superb knowledge of PUNJABI DRUMMING can be DISPLAYED and EXPERIMENTED with which also gives great VISUAL OPPORTUNITIES for ACTRESSES to DANCE BHANGRA! A lot of TAFO'S songs are also used in the MUJRA DANCE INDUSTRY.
AUDIENCES KNOW SOMETHING IS 'WRONG' WITH TODAY'S MUSIC BUT THEY DON'T KNOW 'WHAT'?
