AIB: The Sound of Music

AIB collaborates with Voctronica to pay tribute to some great advertising jingles of the past.

This is the age of remakes. South Indian movies are being remade into Hindi blockbusters, old Hindi movies are also being remade, and old Hindi songs are getting a new flavour with a touch of modern music. If all these can get a new life, why can't the remarkably melodious ads of Indian brands?

As children - at various generational levels - there were many ads that caught our attention with their catchy jingles. Most of the times, we used to hum these jingles more than Bollywood movie songs. Jingles like 'Washing Powder Nirma', 'Tandurasti ki Raksha karta hai Lifebuoy, Britannia's signing-off note with 'Ti nTin Ti Tin' or the Titan hymn have always remained etched in our memories as a synonym for the brands they represent.

YouTube channel All India Bakchod has collaborated with beat-boxing band Voctronica to produce a music video that that pays homage to the greatest ads India has ever known. Tanmay Bhat of All India Bakchod says that making a music video of this kind was his long-standing dream, which has just been cherished.

"Many of our ads have been melodiously brilliant and we have chosen those which have registered a kind of recall among the audience through their music," he adds. The video took six months to be made. AIB started working with Voctronica in March 2014 by identifying the ads that have a national appeal. They also tried to retain some of the visuals of the ad (the Dhara ad, Ujala ad).

This three minute-video features a perfectly juxtaposed jingle of different Indian ads and uses an all-vocal orchestra and no instruments. Voctronica is India's first all-vocal ensemble, which was set up by world-renowned beat boxer, Shlomo along with MC Testament (both from the UK), Zomba.in and the British Council in India. After an online audition, which received over 100 entries, Shlomo and MC Testament made it to the top-16 shortlist. A month later, after a seven-day long workshop conducted by MC Testament at British Council, Mumbai, this was narrowed down to eight members who went on to form India's first all-vocal ensemble.

Uploaded on YouTube on July 11, the video has already crossed 20,000 views and is expected to fetch big numbers over weekends.