Playback singing

A playback singer is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in movies. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not appear on screen.

South Asian movies produced in the Indian subcontinent are particularly known for using this technique. A majority of Indian movies as well as Pakistani movies typically include six or seven songs. After Alam Ara (1931), the first Indian talkie film, for many years singers made dual recordings for a film, one during the shoot, and later in the recording studio, until 1952 or 1953. Popular playback singers in India enjoy the same status as popular actors, and music directors, such as Rahul Dev Burman (1939–1994),Ilaiyaraaja and A. R. Rahman, also receive wide public admiration. Most of the playback singers are initially trained in classical music, but they later often expand their range.

Mohammad Rafi and Ahmed Rushdi are regarded as two of the most influential playback singers in South Asia. The sisters Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, who have mainly worked in Hindi films, are often referred to as two of the best-known and most prolific playback singers in India. In 1991, Mangeshkar was cited by the Guinness Book of World Records for having sung more than 30,000 solo, duet and chorus-backed song recordings, more than any other singer in the world. However, her name was removed in 1991 and replaced by another Indian playback singer, Dr K J Yesudas in 1991. All India Record. In 2011, Guinness officially acknowledged Lata Mangeshkar's sister Asha Bhosle as the most recorded artist in music history, surpassing her sister.

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