{"id":7497,"date":"2016-06-01T06:39:57","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T01:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=7497"},"modified":"2016-06-01T06:39:57","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T01:09:57","slug":"the-importance-of-bappi-lahiri-rip-obituary-indian-music-disco-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=7497","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of being Bappi Lahiri"},"content":{"rendered":"\nW<\/span>hile Bappi Lahiri would continue to be celebrated for his very strong imprint on the musical legacy of India, his larger contribution in the social space remains as melodic and charming, if not more, with its own pronounced rhythm and bass. Because despite seemingly being a 1970s and 1980s music icon, Bappi Da inadvertently became the new India story for the generation that came into its own in the 1990s.\n\nWith the advent of Liberalisation and Globalisation, the changes that us 90s kids were witnessing were sudden and far too many, and my generation was scrambling for homegrown icons that we could take pride in, and call our own. Somebody associated with beats of disco that were moving towards obsolescence already, some very brazen ctrl-c-ctrl-v accusations, and a pronounced regional accent in the Queen\u2019s language perhaps was not what the doctor would have prescribed.\n\nOnly, in Bappi Lahiri, we did not just get an icon, but a superhero!\n\n

Despite being a 1970s and 1980s music icon, Bappi Da inadvertently became the new India story for the generation of the 1990s.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nFor this long-haired short man flaunting the entire Kalyan Jewellers bridal collection, and then some, around his neck typified the spirit of the nation that we were to become, his capitalist-bull-in-a-socialist-china-shop personage breaking all the stereotypes that could have been. \n\nHe embraced his obstinate confidence, he cradled his true blue rockstar credentials, he snuggled to his blings and glares, and in the process, he gave a big, big bear hug to us, to the India that was emerging. Highlighting that it was okay to believe in one\u2019s supreme awesomeness, and that\u2019s how any success story must begin. That we were no less than the others, that we were a strong, parallel force, complete with this luminescent luster that was both inside and outside of us, that even if we were questioned\/ challenged\/ ridiculed, we had reasons to be assured and optimistic, that we were ready to take on the world at our own terms.\n\n

Bappi Da\u2019s public persona gave us the confidence to redefine cool, and create the idea of an India that was blatant, unabashed and cheeky.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nBappi Da\u2019s public persona gave us the confidence to redefine cool, and create the idea of the lassi-in-a-can India that was blatant and unabashed and cheeky, ready to take off, and take on, and how! The man was Made in India much before aatmnirbhar<\/em> became a part of our social lexicon. He gave us both coolth and comfort. And that\u2019s essentially because he never tried too hard. The gold chains were naturally designed to be around him. The fancy sunglasses were mandatorily destined to cover his face. The self-comparison with some of the biggest international popstars was, therefore, the immediate and natural consequence. \n\n

It was his radiant, care-a-damn presence, reflective, again, of the times we were living in. That assured rockstarness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nSo what if he took inspirations ranging from Beethoven\u2019s Fur Elise to UB40 to Modern Talking, he made them his own. He made them ours. This was him sticking it to the man, everything else be damned, and we loved it. The wheel, of course, turned a rather skewed full circle when he sued Dr. Dre for lifting one of his songs, Kaliyon Ka Chaman<\/em>, and triumphed! We smiled. We chuckled. We laughed. We had arrived. We had won. The Kohinoor may still adorn the crown, we had managed our reparations.\n\nSuperhero. Bona fide superhero.\n\n

He wasn\u2019t willing to leave us. We weren\u2019t willing to leave him. I don\u2019t think we would ever be willing to leave him. Thank you for making us what we are, sir!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nIn my 10 years at MTV between 2000 and 2010, the decade that MTV was needed in India to shape and shake perceptions, Bappi Da and his personality consistently hovered around in our promos, shows, interstitials, powerpoints, the works. Hell, he literally hung out in all our acts and actions! But it wasn\u2019t his musical presence that we are referring to. Newer sounds had emerged in both the mainstream Hindi film and Indipop spaces, and he did not really latch on to either. It was his radiant, care-a-damn presence, reflective, again, of the times we were living in. That assured rockstarness. The joie de vivre. He wasn\u2019t willing to leave us. We weren\u2019t willing to leave him.\n\nI don\u2019t think we would ever be willing to leave him.\n\nThank you for making us what we are, sir! Pyaar kabhi kam nahin karna.<\/em>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a post-globalisation generation struggling to find homegrown icons, Bappi Lahiri was a superhero. He was Made in India, much before Aatmnirbhar became a motto and his obstinate confidence was just the bear hug, a nervous, but emerging India needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[11567,11568,11569,11570,2469,11571,11572,6177,11573],"class_list":["post-7497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","tag-bappi-da","tag-bappi-lahiri","tag-disco","tag-disco-musician","tag-indian-music","tag-indian-musician","tag-king-of-disco","tag-obituary","tag-rip-bappi-lahiri"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Importance of being Bappi Lahiri<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For a post-globalisation generation struggling to find homegrown icons, Bappi Lahiri was a superhero. 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