Kersi Lord: Veteran Bollywood Musician
and Music Arranger
Edited Interview with blogger Music composer Abhishek Tripathi
(From 1948 till 2000, Kersi Lord didn’t work with
Husnalal – Bhagatram, Khemchand Prakash, Shyam Sundar, otherwise played with
all other music composers, as he told in interview. He worked in films like
Shalimar, Dharmatma, Sathi etc with music directors such as Naushad, Usha
Khanna, RD Burman, SD Burman etc. His famous song in which he played Accordian
is ‘Roop Tere Mastana’ from film ‘Aradhana’. His one of the peculiar song is
‘Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho’ from film ‘Hanste Zakhm’. This interview was held at
Mumbai on 18th September, 2014. The interview was based on Chords,
Harmonies, Orchestration and arrangement, Tune making, Film Music production
and all related aspects of bollywood.)
Abhishek Tripathi - My first question is what is a
chord for a musician?
Kersi Lord - I can let you clear in a very simple
way, melody is written horizontally and chord is written vertically.
Abhishek Tripathi - Being an arranger and musician,
whats your own aesthetics about chord while making a tune or arranging for a
tune.
Kersi Lord - Here people do the melody and starts
chord side by side, but according to me this is not correct because chord
doesn’t go with the all note of the melody, chord can make a different
progression, different pattern altogether. When I do this, I try to do what
have not been done before. I arrange the sounds different by anybody else. Not
the same formula goes every time.
Second most
important thing after, melody, is the counter point or what you call obbligato.
Sometimes obbligato also has to make some nice melody. Sometimes I feel, due to
this particular chord, I am not getting the correct obbligato. I will change
the chord. Most important thing in chord is nobody bothers about chord
progression. You will walk with right foot, and then the next must be left
foot. You can’t have two right foots. So the progression is very important.
Only pianist, who played Jazz and Jazz guitarist knows the correct chord
progression. People who have not studied harmonies properly, they won’t know.
Sometimes I notice, chord goes like pum-pum-pum (sings) that is not right, you
don’t get big body with this. Next most important thing is bass line after
melody. So progression is not important than chords. Sometimes chords have to
results in some chord only. That is called resolution of chord.
Abhishek Tripathi - For which music directors you
worked.
Kersi Lord - From 1948 till 2000, Husnslal –
Bhagatram, Khemchand Prakash, Shyam Sundar, I dint worked with these three,
otherwise played with all others.
Abhishek Tripathi - Who is the music directors for
whom you have arranged the music.
Kersi Lord - I first did it with Naushad Saheb. I
had very close relation with him. I played for his backgrounds. First he gave
me a scene to write for a background. That was training for his next film
Sathi. He wanted a new image. If you see Sathi, you won’t get any traditional
harmony. It was changed. Whenever I did arrangement, I tried ever to do new and
what not have been done before.
We were used 5
songs in sometimes period, so all the time I used to erase my previous memory. Previous
to Naushad Saheb, I did background music for Usha Khanna also, 3-4 films with
Kalyanji, only background mostly. Pancham’s Shalimar, I did whole background
music for him. That was also very different.
Abhishek Tripathi - When you worked with R D
Burman or Naushad or anybody else, how you managed your own aesthetics.
Kersi Lord - Before you go for anything, you have
to discuss with music director, who is the actor, what is the situation. I am
using this kind of instruments, will you mind it. If he is agreeing, you can
do. When I was doing background for Dharmatma of Firoz Khan, a childhood friend
of mine, for a scene, I asked that I want to use the Trumpet; it was a scene
where somebody was going to die, they said, for this scene? I said yes- and I
will give a nice sad in orchestra part. They were all agree, with permission of
them, do the work. Actually it depends on melody, situation. And views of music
director are most important. Always go forward with their inputs.
Abhishek Tripathi - How learning affects
aesthetics.
Kersi Lord - That depends upon individuals. I
don’t want to spoil something then I won’t. And someone wants to spoil, he
will. Some people will spoil without realizing also.
Abhishek Tripathi - What are the factors which
affects aesthetics?
Kersi Lord - It is all about way of treating the
things.
Abhishek Tripathi - What is the process of making
a tune for film?
Kersi Lord - That is situation which is a seed of
tune. On the situation we grow our ideas. In pop album, we don’t have to think
about situation. Film music is all about situation.
Salil Chaudhary
was fond of western classical. Shankar Jaikishan was oriented to Middle East.
So there was a cross country cultural mix up in music. When I did music for a
play Tughlak, my cousin was saying – Kersi, are you mad, is it music? And the
times of India wrote- “Strange but very appropriate music by Kersi Lord”. When
I was working many people use to say me mad and after 40 years, people are now
giving credit to my work.
Abhishek Tripathi - How you see the development of
orchestration since you started.
Kersi Lord (About arrangements and development of
orchestrations) - You are naming music directors but they used to select
arrangers. If arranger sounds different from music director, then it would have
disastrous. Sebastian was proper literate, Anthony Gonzalves was more learned.
I had played with him in symphonies which he composed. Sebastian was very fast,
he worked for O P Naiyar, Shankar Jaikishan and Salil Chaudhary. It does not
look like it is arranged by Sebastian. Every place he is different, seems like
3 different persons. This is what an arranger can do. Johny Gomez has also
worked very well with C Ramchandra, Chitragupt, but he shown his own style everywhere.
Abhishek Tripathi - Does any chord shows certain
unanimous mood.
Kersi Lord - No, but minor chord is more romantic.
Romantic song sounds good in minor key. When you play a chord, use of their
inversions is also effective. If I am placing a chord in cello then I will
place like Sa Pa Ga. Ga will go in next octave. Because close notes in bass
harmony sounds woovy. I will spread it out. Close harmonies are not allowed in
bass. In jazz, they use chord with different root note also like Cm/F.
