Fig. 1: Album Cover of Sylva by: Snarky Puppy. 2016. Impulse! Records. Wikipedia Commons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SnarkyP_Sylva.jpg

Fig. 2: Video Cover of "Ishq Kameena" by: Sameer and Anu Malik. 2011. Tips Official. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7jjpnte_Kg

Indian Pop and Jazz?

Introduction:

This investigation will focus on comparing a popular Bollywood piece entitled "Ishq Kameena" by Anu Malik and a jazz-funk piece entitled "Atchafalaya" by Snarky Puppy. 

As a jazz musician myself, this group Snarky Puppy has fascinated me as they make jazz more accessible by adding in musical elements from funk and rock. Jazz is often considered a 'dead' genre, but by adding prominent bass lines and electric guitar solos, this band keeps it alive. In fact, they won a Grammy in 2016 for "Best R&B Performance," so they move in many circles in the music world, (Snarky Puppy). This band often features instruments that are not normally found in a jazz band, such as a full orchestra, or an organ. The band is a kind of collective, with around 20 members that move in and out, so this allows them to infuse different cultures into their music as each musician brings a different perspective, (Snarky Puppy). 

I'm also a musical theater buff, and Bollywood's song and dance have many of the same elements I enjoy in Broadway music. The Bollywood film community is now producing over 1,000 films per year, featuring "formulaic storylines, expertly choreographed fight scenes, spectacular song and dance routines, emotion-charged melodrama, and larger-than-life heroes."(Bollywood, Britannica). This song specifically is one of the most popular of all Bollywood pieces, from the movie "Shakti, the Power." This song comes in a scene where one of the main characters, a drifter named Jai Singh, is dancing and singing with his dream girl until he wakes up to find out it actually was a dream. The repetitive melody with a typical verse and chorus format is standard to pop music, but they add in dance breaks reminiscent of musical theatre.