SF Meetup: Winter 2008

3 hours on MS Paint. I swear on Gandhi's grave. (Yes, I'm aware he wasn't buried.)

It's true folks: I have waaay too much time on my hands.

I really enjoyed meeting all of you! If I wasn't able to connect with you at the meetup, please email me and if you received a CD you can leave (much appreciated!) feedback here. 

Oh yeah, in case you were wondering about the couple, this should put your inquiring minds at ease. Just don't ask what I was doing trolling drug company websites.

Pulling a Kaavya Part II: Valentine's Day Edition

Yes, it's been over a year since I last promised to continue in my series of posting mashups based on songs shamelessly swiped from other works, but I've been waiting for a response from Anand-Milind regarding my allegation that they stole not only from the Muppet Babies, but in doing so, the very innocence of my childhood.

Jerks.

Anyways, today's bit of plagiarized musical pleasure come courtesy of Keni Burke, swiped by The Mary Jane Girls, and mashed together by yours truly. Though credited to Rick James, "All Night Long" bears an uncanny resemblance to a lesser-known song released by Keni two years prior. "Rising to the Top" promptly disappeared after it's release, but it's unmistakable bassline and overt pro-lovemaking stance was somehow found and repackaged into the girl group's debut album. The Rick James-produced track became a big hit, it's appeal lasting long after it disappeared from the charts: All Night Long became a perennial sampler's favorite and provided the backbone for numerous hip hop classics, including LL Cool J's "Around the Way Girl," Big Daddy Kane's "Smooth Operator," and Mary J Blige's "Mary Jane/All Night Long." Redman liked the track so much he used it thrice: Tonight's the Night, "Can't Wait," and the highly educational "How to Roll a Blunt" all use cuts from the song. On the other hand, Keni Burke's track, once relegated to the brightly colored dustbin of soul-funk history, has made a minor resurgence among crate-diggers and after dusting off a copy, dropping it on the turntable, and immediately noticing the similarities, I had to blend it with All Night Long. I only hope that the reader, before knocking chappals tonight with his/her respective habibi, puts on and appreciates this unwitting duet between two 80's proponents of getting it on.

DJ Drrrty Poonjabi - Rising to The Top, All Night Long

SF Meetup - Summer 2007

There's nothing like meeting new people over a fresh, warm bowl of curry fries. Mmm....just like mummy used to make.


Here's the tracklist to the demo I handed out. If you received a copy, please leave feedback here.

1. DJDP Intro
2. DJ Drrrty Poonjabi Theme Song
3. Francoise Hardy - Le Premier Bonheur du Jour (DJ Drrrty Poonjabi Remix)
4. Unfinished Desi Beat One
5. 50 Cent - In Da Club (DJ Drrrty Poonjabi's You Can Find Me In Poonjab Mix)
6. Alka Yagnik - Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai (DJ Drrrty Poonjabi Remix)
7. Unfinished Desi Beat Two
8. Unfinished Bolly-Punk Beat

"Pulling a Kaavya" Part I: Father Says He Will Make a Big Name For Himself, Get Caught, and Get Ruined.

2006 saw the genesis of my favorite (self-created) euphemism for f*cking up: "Pulling a Kaavya." I define it as "almost getting away with intentional plagiarism, without having to admit guilt and with indeterminate (most likely nominal) damage to one's career." Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting mashups I've done that combine suspiciously similar elements of famous songs whose authors just might have "pulled a Kaavya."

Since I got my blogging start at Sepia Mutiny, I found it only appropriate that today's culprit should have a decidedly desi twist: who could forget the beloved "Papa Kehte Hai" from the 1988 Bollywood film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak? The song is catchy, lighthearted, and inspiring... it's also a complete ripoff. The song borrows quite liberally from the unlikeliest of sources: The Muppet Babies Theme Song. (Here's a video courtesy of RetroJunk.) Both songs are in C Major, share the same chord progression, and are in a swing beat around 90 bpm. The aping is wholesale: even the bridges are virtually identical in structure and progression. You heard it here first.

Hank Saroyan and Robert J. Walsh penned The Muppet Babies Show theme in 1984 and by 1988, the song had somehow traversed the globe and buried itself into the psyche of Bollywood composer and serial plagiarizer Anand Milind, who promptly regurgitated and repackaged it into "Papa Kehta Hai." His action was far from singular- here's an itemized indictment of Milind's long history of thievery, courtesy of the ever-vigilant and always excellent Inspiration in Indian Film Songs, a site dedicated providing a "comprehensive list of musical inspirations (sometimes subtle and intelligent but mostly downright blatant!) of Indian film music composers." (It's nice to know there's someone bored brave enough to take on such a Herculean task; his site lists hundreds of documented instances of musical plagiarism in Bollywood.)

And oh, I added some elements from NIN's "Closer," ya know, just to make things more interesting.

DJ Drrrty Poonjabi - Papa Kehta Hain I Wanna F*ck You Like a Muppet Baby

Comments are always welcome.