A tale of two IPL tunes

Music is central to sporting culture across the globe. From ESPN's SportsCenter jingle to football fans chanting to the tune of "When The Saints Go Marching In", no experience of a game (be it in a stadium or consumed via broadcast), is complete without music. The IPL is no exception.

Over the years, two pieces have been ingrained in the subconscious of anyone who follows the tournament: one that is heard repeatedly at the ground, and one about which much isn't known publicly but which features at various points on every broadcast.

The 0:04-second trumpet riff that is heard through stadiums across India come summer jumped through many hoops before featuring in the IPL. The sound was first heard in a sports context in French rugby matches, and then heavily used during the 2007 rugby World Cup, hosted in France. It comes from the intro of a 1970s Spanish instrumental pasodoble track called "En Er Mundo", composed by Juan Quintero Muñoz.

South Africa's rugby team happened to win that 2007 World Cup, and the tune made it to South African shores. When the IPL moved to that country in 2009, Francois Pienaar, the IPL's head of marketing for that season (and a World Cup-winning rugby captain back in 1995) struck on the idea of using it in the tournament to call to the crowds. Every time the tune played at the ground, the crowds would respond with "Ole!", like they did at bullfights in Spain where the song was similarly used.

Since then, this snippet of music has been a fixture in the IPL, encouraging fans to cheer every time they hear it.

Another piece of IPL music has been around for almost as long. You can hear this bit of synth-driven electronic sizzle while watching at home on TV, just before a match begins, or during one, when a quick-fire highlights package appears.

It doesn't have a name, and there are no specific mentions of it online. But if you're an IPL follower, chances are you can hum the tune if you're given a few notes to begin with.

If you search with the right keywords, you might just land on a YouTube compilation (above) of the track off various matches.

The brains behind this bit of music are the New Delhi electronica band Midival Punditz, who have made music for over two decades, releasing multiple EPs and albums, and had their music featured in Bollywood films such as Don 2, Karthik Calling Karthik and Gully Boy.

"We had no recollection of [making] it initially - it took place 11 years ago," says Tapan Raj, one half of the group (the other member is Gaurav Raina). And no online sources point out that they made the track either. After I sent the clip above to Raj, he combed through his emails and confirmed that the BCCI commissioned them to come up with a theme for the tournament in 2014.

"Usually such briefs come to us with pointers like 'It needs to be energetic', given that it's related to sports," Raj says. "The two of us first put together the theme, and then we did a couple of versions with session musicians."

The tune is rarely played in its entirety but is iconic, if in a more subtle way than the snatch of in-stadium trumpet sound from earlier in this article. As such, there are three versions that play during every match. One to accompany the scorecard that displays at the end of the broadcast, another to go with player-performance highlights during a game, and a slower version that is generally used to stitch together slow-motion shots and reactions at the close of a match.

The song remains unnamed, and Raj, who doesn't follow cricket, was unaware that the music Midival Punditz made over a decade ago, is played about half a dozen times on the broadcast of every match. "It makes us feel happy and surprised that it's still being used after all these years," he says.

Music often lies in the background, as subtext to the plot. You don't notice it unless it's not there. Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, three players who have been part of the IPL since the beginning, entered their 18th seasons this year, and the trumpet sample and the theme Midival Punditz composed accompanies them as a quintessential part of the tournament, resonating with millions of fans in India and across the globe.