More perfection, but less magic in today's songs: Shaan

Nagpur, Mar 12 (UNI) Noted singer Shaan has said there was more perfection but less magic in the film music of today.

Speaking to reporters here today, Shaan said current film music was clinically 'very correct' because of the use of modern technology that enabled the composer to eliminate the wrong or unsuitable portions. ''This made every song technically perfect, but robbed it of the magic of music,'' he said.

By contrast, old film songs might not be technically absolutely perfect, but they have magic, Shaan said. ''This is probably because the songs were recorded with a live orchestra that played along with the singer. This created a lot of energy, which manifested itself in the song,'' he said.

''It is still possible to create music with magic today, but we seem to have lost the habit of making the orchestra and artist work together,'' the singer said, adding that the practice now was to record the music separately without the singer being present, and then integrate the track with the voice later on.

Replying to questions, Shaan said SMS (short message service) voting to select the winner on reality music shows was all right per se, but things went wrong when regional or localised considerations came into play. ''The residents of a city vote for a competitor from that place, because they want to see someone from there make a mark at the national level. While this is a very natural sentiment, it tilts the balance unfavourably in favour of that competitor. This is wrong,'' the singer said.

However, Shaan did not say as to whether SMS voting should be totally done away with, or should get only a certain weight to evaluate the performances. ''Maybe we can do away with SMS voting - I am not sure. I am an anchor of such shows,'' he said.

Asked why winners of talent hunts faded away, Shaan said this was because they did not go through a phase of 'grooming' that was necessary to prepare them for the professional world of music.

Shaan said he was neither involved with nor did not have any immediate plans to scout music talent. ''Singing keeps me busy,'' he said adding: ''I also want to give time to my family so that my two children do not start calling me 'uncle'!''. He was in the city to perform at a programme that is part of the Idea Rocks India--3 concert series, being hosted by private mobile telephone company Idea.

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