"Life Is Dance!": Plugged-In Sounds Of Wonder At The Pakistani Picture House

Life is Dance!
Reviewed By Sadie O., 11/27/11
Lollywood filmi hits. Lollywood is the Pakistani equivalent of Bollywood (from Lahore rather than Bombay, see…) I can find no information on the dates of these gems, unfortunately, although I get the impression the most are from the 60’s. There’s much in common with Bollywood soundtracks, including the Hindi language, but it’s definitely rawer and with a lot more fuzz. Groovy! All songs have a vast array of (often a bit odd) instruments, and almost exclusively solo female vocals. Anyone who likes to play rather offbeat and unusual stuff can pick any track here.
1. 8:34 ****terribly emotional violins intro, then uptempo train rhythm on hand drums (rather nice job, actually), then some of the grottiest, gnarliest vocal yells I’ve ever heard. Wowzers! Eventually there’s quite lovely female vocals, but by then the damage has been done…
2. 4:10 ***bippity boppity 60’s rock beat with fuzz guitar and accordion (and why not?), female vocals mostly in English. Don’t be silly – come and dance!
3. 5:36 **tuba blats, boppy 60’s pop groove, pretty female vocals in Hindi. Lots of musical elements and bongos. Nice.
4. 4:49 ***sort of a 60’s spy movie feel with fuzz guitar and big horns, upbeat.
5. 6:30 ***fraught strings and aggressive bass – and major fuzz guitar. And aliens! A smidge of funk, almost a bit of gypsy – and more aliens. Awesome.
6. 5:11 ****female intro – a bit like Kung Fu Fighting – then uptempo groovy beat with farfisa and all sorts of nonsense, English chorus that’s a bit hard to jibe with the concept of burqas…
7. 3:25 ***uptempo with surf guitar and marimba. Just tons of odd! Instrumental – not very danceable (not even by cobras), but fun.
8. 5:09 ***quavery organ and twangy guitar, then uptempo percussion – great beat. Then a rather relaxed groove with plenty of percussion, a few aliens, pretty female vocals, groovy sax solo – almost a Caribbean lounge feel.
9. 3:15 ***upbeat funk-pop beat, female vocals, a bit spy-movie feel.
10. 4:13 ***sweet flute and hand drums – a bit mellow, with a feel like a ghazal, but with occasional dance bits and a few electronic oddments. Pretty.
11. 6:15 **** uptempo twangy stuff, electronics, almost a Morricone feel. Long, with a couple of false endings, and slide whistle.
12. 4:05 ***ankle bells and BIG dhol drums intro, then melodium and very South Asian sounds, gradually getting filmi/western pop elements.
13. 5:18 ****big intro, then uptempo boppy pop groove with a few grunts and cute female vocals. Odd.
14. 4:44 ***midtempo, rather exotic minor key sound, female vocals exhorting us not to drink.
15. 3:23 ***uptempo and upbeat, bits of wah-wah and tuba.
16. 4:27 ***here’s your novelty hit for this year’s holiday season!