Hindustan Times (Patna) - Hindustan Times (Patna) - Live
99 per cent of the singers in Bollywood use autotune, says Sukhwinder Singh
Singer-songwriter Sukhwinder Singh isn’t too happy with the fact that several old popular songs are being recreated. He blames the “auto tune” feature in music software that has led to the rise of these rehashes.
The 47-year-old singer feels that the technique, which is used to fix the pitch in vocal performances, is the reason why “originality” is being lost. “It is a very simple thing. When you depend on something, which is not your own, and you expect it to make things better for you, you cannot be original. Today, 99 percent of singers in Bollywood use the autotune feature. How do you expect them to sing original songs then?” he asks.
“All these things only hamper your process as a singer. I understand if one uses it, on rare occasions. But today, singers, want to use it for almost every song. That’s why you don’t hear too many originals these days,” he adds.
Known for hit tracks such as Chaiyya Chaiyya (Dil Se, 1998) and Chak De (Chak De! India, 2007), Sukhwinder isn’t entirely against the idea of recreating popular hits, but feels that original composers don’t get the deserved recognition for the recreated tracks.
“You can do as many recreations as you want. There’s nothing wrong with it. But what I do feel bad about is the fact that why does the composer, who has recreated the song, get the credit as the composer of the song? He or she didn’t come up with the original idea!” he asserts.
Sukhwinder further argues, “A song created originally by [music composers] an RD Burman or a Laxmikant Pyarelal should always be credited to them, even if you have recreated it entirely. The original idea is theirs. You should get the credit as someone who has remixed the song. Its simple. If a story written by Manto gets adapted into a play or a movie or a show, don’t you say it’s adapted from him? Won’t it be illegal if someone does not give Manto the credit for it, at all? It’s the same for songs.”