Great music lost under modern sounds: Big B

New Delhi: Modern technology has overshadowed the feel of original music, rues Amitabh Bachchan, who is recording his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan`s ‘Madhushala’ in his voice. The megastar is also skeptical about the poetry connecting with today`s youth.

"...singing the verses of Madhushala, the `alaap` and lending orchestral brilliance to the basic structure that I made in an impromptu setting on my piano. What a different world this is... "We crave today in music sittings for the age of unplugged instrumentation. The reality and the joy of listening to the original sounds of string and `dholak`. Of the great masters and their wares - the Sarod, the Shehnai, the Sarangi, the Sitar. All lost and buried under the weight of modern sounds, mastered and manufactured through science and technology. All gone and overtaken by technology," the 69-year-old posted on his blog bigb.bigadda.com. "Madhushala", a collection of poems, which talks about the complexities of life, was published in 1935. Big B misses the old style of music recording. "Gone are the days when at song recordings over 100-150 musicians sat through days in large studios, and played to perfection in one single take. A mistake by one resulting in the entire song being recorded again! Now the electronics take over. A small room, barely 5 by 6, houses a large machine that balances sound, a microphone which stands in for the singer and the instrument both," he wrote. Amitabh has been making efforts to popularise his late father`s work. Though he is recording ‘Madhushala’, he is not so hopeful about it becoming popular. "I wonder as I sit vacant in the studio … who would want to listen to the words and philosophy of my father? It would hurt me beyond measure if it were to be looked upon as something that needed to be designed for commercial value...It is a proposition that seems irrelevant with today`s youth," he wrote. IANS