Composer Ram Sampath to re-do INXS numbers

Mumbai, July 15 (IANS) There's much more to musician Ram Sampath than his copyright spat with well-known filmmaker Rakesh Roshan and his composer brother Rajesh. He is now collaborating with the Australian rock band INXS for two songs.

INXS has asked him to re-do two of its tracks, "God's top 10" and "Devil's party".

"It's never been done before. It's a completely crazy idea," Sampath told IANS. Sampath got in touch with INXS when they came to India last year.

"A few years ago my wife Sona came out with an album which INXS heard when they had come to India to perform last year. They were given a lot of music by people to hear for a possible Indian collaboration. INXS picked our CD and they wanted to collaborate with us.

"We did an Indian version of their 'Afterglow'. We changed around the original. I completely rearranged it. I only kept the lead singer J.D. Fortune's vocals. Apart from the core melody, it became a completely Indian song. I added a raga to it. Towards the end of the song I even added a Rajasthani bit. INXS loved it."

Sampath was in the news recently when he slapped a copyright case against the Roshans for allegedly lifting his tunes for their film "Krazzy 4".

He later withdrew the case for an out-of-court settlement of Rs.20 million. But he isn't worried about the repercussions of the entire issue.

"I sued not only the Roshans but also the cell phone company, the advertising company and the music company that released the soundtrack 'Krazzy 4' because I didn't know who had infringed my copyrights. This wasn't a personal battle against the Roshans.

"When you've Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan on board dancing to a tune, you can't afford to make a mistake."

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Krazzy 4