Dancehall music: From La La Land to Lagaan

Editor’s note: Classical music of any kind often feels boring and inaccessible. That’s why we asked Harini Calamur to do her series on Hindustani music. Many of you asked for a similar pop culture guide to Western classical music—which has shaped movie soundtracks and top 40 hits alike. From your lips to our ears—here’s the third instalment penned by veteran music writer Narendra Kusnur. As always, we’ve put all the music referenced in the article in a YouTube playlist for you to enjoy.

Written by: Narendra Kusnur has been a music journalist for over 40 years—including a decade-long stint covering the beat at the Mid-Day newspaper. He currently writes for The Hindu, Free Press Journal, Hindustan Times, and Rolling Stone India, besides the in-house magazines of prestigious institutions such as NCPA and Shanmukhananda Hall.

For many classic rock fans, the tune ‘Bourée’ instantly conjures up images of flautist Ian Anderson hobbling around on stage in his trademark one-legged gait, bubbling with melody. The frontman of British band Jethro Tull would often jokingly tell the audience that he converted it into a piece of “despicable cocktail lounge jazz after 18th century composer Johann Sebastian Bach taught it to his group’s guitarist Martin Barre”.

While Tull’s rendition, released in 1969 on their second album ‘Stand Up’—it still sounds fresh each time fans hear it—and is actually an adaptation of Bach’s lute piece ‘Bourée In E Minor’. There again, ‘Bourée’ (also spelt ‘Bourree’) isn’t the tune’s title, but the name of a dance style originating in France. It is similar to, though faster than, the other French style gavotte. Other composers also took a shot at remaking the track—including George Frideric Handel and Frederic Chopin.

In this column, we shall talk about various dance music styles popular in the classical world, the most familiar being the waltz, and their use in popular culture. Since ballet became a genre of its own, we shall focus on that in the next column. But before that, here is a video of the ‘Bourée in E Minor’ in its pure form, as played on classical guitar by Martin Buono:

And, below is the rock version by Jethro Tull:

Interestingly, Ian Anderson wasn’t the only composer to adapt Bach’s piece. In 1969, the same year Tull released their record, another British band Bakerloo put out a song ‘Drivin’ Bachwards’ using the ‘Bourée’ intro. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page would incorporate ‘Bourée’ in live solos, as did Swedish heavy metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. Even Paul McCartney admitted that the Beatles song ‘Blackbird’ was loosely inspired by Bach’s composition. 

Here's Bakerloo's take on ‘Bourée’.

Other dance music styles

Many styles evolved during the Renaissance period in the 15th and 16th centuries, and made their way into popular culture. One of the early ones was the Sarabande. It evolved from a Spanish dance with Latin American influences. The peculiar part is that while it was considered disreputable in Spain, it moved to France where it was considered stately and elegant. 

Years later, filmmakers would use the Sarabande. Director Stanley Kubrick used Handel’s ‘Sarabande’ in the background score of his 1975 period drama ‘Barry Lyndon’. In a completely different setting, Ingmar Bergman used Bach’s sombre ‘Sarabande From Cello Suite No 5’ in his 2003 film ‘Saraband’, in a scene where Liv Ullman is shown in a church. The contrast between the Sarabandes of Handel and Bach is evident in the two videos below.

Here is the scene from Kubrick’s film:

And, watch the solemnly soundtracked scene from Bergman’s film:

Then, there was the pavane—a professional dance that also originated in Spain. It was in 1887, however, that French composer Gabriel Faure made it famous with his ‘Pavane in F-Sharp Minor, Op 50’. The piece was later played in different variations.

Here is a version of pavane by jazz pianist Bill Evans and his trio:

Follow this up with an orchestral take by ‘Bourée’ man Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull—however hard we tried not to repeat artists—this one was too tempting:

Regional European flavours

Before we come to the ubiquitous waltz, let’s segue briefly to other dance styles prevalent before the dawn of the 20th century. There was polka from Bohemia (which eventually became part of the Czech region), landler from Germany, mazurka and polonaise from Poland, and the Hungarian dances made famous by German composer Johannes Brahms. All these were ethnic styles reflecting a regional musical flavour. 

Towards the late 19th century—the Bolero from Spain also became popular, especially after French composer Maurice Ravel composed his piece of the same name—known for improvisation over the same melody line. Closer home—Indian indie songwriter and actor Dot.—of ‘The Archies’ fame—nods to the Spanish dance style in the lyrics of her viral track ‘Everybody Dances to Techno’.

Watch Brahms’ ‘Hungarian Dance No 5’, as used by Charlie Chaplin in the barber shop scene in the 1940 movie ‘The Great Dictator’ below:

Be enthralled with this live performance of ‘Bolero’ in Maastricht in The Netherlands by Dutch violinist and bandleader Andre Rieu:

In fact, a Rieu concert should be a once-in-a-time experience for anyone who loves music. His orchestra and he make the renditions so lively and colourful that everyone leaves brimming with joy.

Save the last dance: The waltz

That brings us to the section on the waltz. First—a trivia question. Which famous filmmaker directed a film on the making of ‘The Blue Danube’—one of the most famous waltzes ever? You won’t believe it but the answer is Alfred Hitchcock. Much before he became known as the ‘Master Of Suspense’, the filmmaker directed ‘Waltzes From Vienna’—a 1934 film which talked of the evolution of the genre—and the creation of this famous composition by Johann Strauss II. ‘The Blue Danube’—whose original title is ‘An Der Schonen Blauen Donau’—is one of the most recognisable Viennese waltzes, as you can see in the below clip from Hitchcock’s film.

‘The Blue Danube’ found its way into other films too. Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ used it as a motif—for when a spaceship approaches a space station, when another spacecraft leaves for the Moon and during the film’s closing credits. It was also used in James Cameron’s Titanic (1997), when Jack Dawson (Leonardo di Caprio) enters the grand staircase in the first class section of the ill-fated ocean liner, where Rose (Kate Winslet) also appears. 

Here’s a video of that memorable scene from the 90s classic:

Johann Strauss II was the best-known composer of the Viennese waltz. Mumbai audiences can get a taste of his repertoire when Zubin Mehta conducts the Symphony Orchestra of India on August 17 at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre at NCPA over an evening of Strauss’ music, which will include his famous waltzes ‘Wiener Blut’ and ‘Kaiser Waltz’. That should be some experience. 

You can watch an older video of Mehta conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in ‘Wiener Blut’ in 1999, at a concert in Vienna, here.

The Viennese waltz, of course, is only one of the many types of waltzes. Written in triple metre, there are several compositions from Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, Dmitri Shostakovich and others. In the 20th century, forms like the sprightly country waltz and slow ballroom waltz became popular in the US.

Naturally, film music composers couldn’t be far behind. In the 1964 film ‘My Fair Lady’, Frederick Loewe composed the ‘Embassy waltz’ in a scene showing Audrey Hepburn in a ballroom dance. Coming to Bollywood—AR Rahman composed ‘Waltz For Romance In A Major’ for a party scene in ‘Lagaan’ (2001). Finally, there’s the famous ‘Paris Waltz’ enacted by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in La La Land (2016), in the score composed by Justin Hurwitz. 

View AR Rahman’s soundtracked scene from ‘Lagaan’ below:

And here is the epilogue dance sequence from ‘La La Land’:

The waltz was often used in many ballet compositions. More on that genre in the next column. We have created a handy playlist of all the tracks mentioned on splainer’s YouTube channel.

PS: If you need a list of all the amazing music shared by Naren:

• ‘Bourée In E Minor’ by JS Bach 
• ‘Bourée’ by Jethro Tull 
• ‘Bourée’ by Yngwie J Malmsteen
• ‘Blackbird’ by The Beatles 
• ‘Drivin’ Bachwards’ by Bakerloo 
• ‘Sarabande’ by Handel from the film ‘Barry Lyndon’
• ‘From Cello Suite No 5’ by Bach from in the film ‘Saraband’
• Piano Rendition of Gabriel Faure’s Pavane by Bill Evans Trio
• Flute Rendition of Faure’s Pavane by Ian Anderson 
• ‘Everybody Dances to Techno’ by Dot.
• ‘Hungarian Dance No 5 by Brahms from the film ‘The Great Dictator’
• Orchestral rendition of Maurice Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ by Andre Rieu  
• Johann Strauss II – ‘The Blue Danube’ from the film ‘Waltzes From Vienna’
• Johann Strauss II – ‘The Blue Danube’ from in the film ‘Titanic’
• Johann Strauss II – ‘Wiener Blut’ by Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Zubin Mehta
• Johann Strauss II – ‘Kaiser Waltz’
• ‘Embassy Waltz’ by Frederick Loewe from the film ‘My Fair Lady’
• ‘Waltz For Romance’ in A Major by AR Rahman from the film ‘Lagaan’
• ‘Paris Waltz’ by Justin Hurwitz from the film ‘La La Land’