Goans in Hindi film music composition

This article is about the contribution of Goans to the musical composition of Bollywood songs, associated with the Filmi genre.

Since the early 1900s, Goans were the main exponents of jazz and western music in India. Goans played a major role in Bollywood music until the 1980s, working for music directors like O.P.Nayyar, C. Ramchandra, Shankar Jaikishan, Laxmikant Pyarelal and S. D. Burman. They were credited under the designation 'music director' in large type in the credits, while the Goans' names rolled by in small letters as 'arrangers'. At the time, only Goans, having trained in Western music, knew how to compose music for orchestras, with a multitude of instruments playing in harmony.

Frank Fernand described the situation as follows: "The men who composed the scores for Hindi films couldn't write music and had no idea of the potential of the orchestras they employed. They would come to the studio and sing a melody to their Goan amanuensis, or pick out the line on a harmonium. The Goan assistant would write it out on sheet paper, then add parts for the banks of strings, the horn sections, the piano and the percussion." But the assistant wasn't merely taking dictation: It was his job to craft the introductions and bridges between verse and chorus. Drawing from their bicultural heritage and their experience in the jazz bands, the Goans gave Bollywood music a unique charm. Then they would rehearse the orchestras, which were staffed almost entirely by Goans since it was mainly Goans who knew how to play these Western instruments.

To Frank Fernand, the music directors were mere subcontractors, men whose main job was liaising with the financiers. "We arrangers did all the real work. They'd show off to the directors and producers and try to show that they were indispensable. But to be a music director, salesmanship was more important than musicianship."

...
Wikipedia