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'Imitation is not creation': Lata Mangeshkar's sound advice to musicians on World Music Day

Lata Mangeshkar says the remixes of old classics make her cringe...

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It's World Music Day today and who better than the Nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar to share her thoughts on the current music scene of the country. While the recent trend of remixing old classics has taken the music industry, particularly Bollywood music by storm, the legendary singer doesn't seem too impressed with the idea. 

Speaking about the trend of rehashing old songs in an interview with IANS, Lata Mangeshkar said, "Re-mixes and cover versions of old classics are very lazy routes to instant success. Remember, a song that has attained a classic’s status is regarded so highly because it is of a quality that cannot be replicated. I’ve heard some of the re-mixes of the songs sung by Rafi Saab, Kishoreda (Kumar), Mukesh Bhaiyya, me and my sister Asha. And I cringe.Please, create original music. Imitation is not creation. It isn’t even art.”

Lata Mangeshkar also shared that the singers today are lacking in riyaaz or practice. She further shared, " I never felt I had enough time to do riyaaz because I was in and out of recordings constantly. But I still made time to do riyaaz. Alas, not enough time. I wish I had devoted more time to practicing my classical singing. Singers today are losing touch completely with their classical heritage. An A.R. Rahman or a Shankar Mahadevan are so successful and long-lasting because they know their classical heritage.” 

The singer added that she doesn't see the kind of passion and hard work that used to be there in the singers in earlier days. "Any artiste, singer or otherwise, must keep striving for excellence, no matter how much they achieve. Nowadays I don’t see that ‘lagan’ (discipline), that ‘junoon’ (passion) in singers.I get the feeling they are happy achieving what they get to achieve in no time at all. No artiste should be satisfied with what he or she has achieved. There is always another sky to conquer beyond the one that you think you’ve just reached.”

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