Year: 2011

My favourite happy songs of Mukesh

A tribute on his death anniversary August 27

Mukesh I recently heard a joke on a reality show which went something like: Jo jeetega wo Singapore jayega, jo harega wo Mukesh ka gana gayega. I found the joke quite neat, though I did not agree with the underlying premise. I do not view a song as a happy or sad song. Great songs are beyond this classification. How do you describe Amir Khusro’s Aaj rang hai or Main to piya se naina mila ayee re. These songs are of joy and union between two lovers. But every time you hear Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan or anyone sing them, it brings tears to your eyes. But deferring to the popular stereotype of Mukesh as a singer of ‘sad’ songs, here is my tribute to him on his death anniversary August 27 with a compilation of my favourite ten ‘happy’ songs of Mukesh.

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My favourite Rafi – Lata duets

Remembering Mohammad Rafi on his death anniversary July 31

Rafi-Lata MangeshkarMohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar were two colossus whose comprehensive domination in the golden era of 1950’s and 60’s made them synonymous with playback singing. They were what is described in marketing jargon as the brand becoming the product. What better way than to write on their best ten duets to pay my tribute to Rafi on his death anniversary, July 31.

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My favourite zulf songs

Meena Kumari zulf A common popular theme on the blog land is to put up a variety of favourite lists, such as ‘My ten favourite ??? songs’. This could be on a person (Mukesh, Naushad, Dev Anand etc) or a theme (birthday, holi, wedding etc.) or an object (train, rain, tonga etc.) Some creative bloggers have come up with very unusual lists, such as songs based on birds (koel, mor, papiha etc) and flowers  (kamal, chameli, gulab etc). I was certain people would have done songs based on zulf (hair, or more accurately a woman’s tresses), which occurs so prominently in our songs. I have not come across any so far, which is quite surprising. So let me try to fill up this gap.

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Forgotten Composers, Unforgettable Melodies (1) – Daan Singh

A tribute on his passing away 

Daan Singh I saw a small news item tucked away deep inside the Times of India’s today’s edition stating that music director Daan Singh passed away at his Jaipur home of liver ailment at the age of 78 on Saturday June 18. If you are not a keen reader or aware of Daan Singh’s music you are quite likely to have missed the news item.

He was one of the most neglected music directors of Hindi films, yet he composed some everlasting melodies for Mukesh. The paper also quotes Nitin Mukesh offering profuse praise for him.

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Songs of Yore completes one year

 

Songs of Yore Today Songs of Yore completes one year, and like any new born in its first year, it has looked at the beautiful world of old Hindi film music with wonder and amazement, flitting its gaze from one beautiful sight to another spontaneously and randomly.

My articles so far have been on themes which were on top of my recall and on features I found most interesting.

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New Theatres’ romance with Prem

Best love songs of Vintage Era

New Theatres I have been in the New Theatres mood since I wrote my last post on Pankaj Mullick. BN Sircar established New Theatres in Calcutta in 1931, i.e. the same year the first talkie Alam Ara was released in Bombay. Music has been an integral part and a defining feature of our films ever since. And so it has been with the New Theatres as well. It is also not surprising that love has been the dominant theme of our songs. But the New Theatres took love to entirely unexpected heights. It was not merely a matter of semantics that pyar, mohabbat, ishq for them was Prem or Preet. It also denoted for them something deeply spiritual, other-worldly and supremely blissful.

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My favourite Pankaj Mullick songs

A tribute on his birthday May 10

Pankaj Mullick I became seriously acquainted with Pankaj Mullick several years after I had thoroughly absorbed KL Saigal. This would probably be the normal sequence for any non-Bengalee what with Saigal having acquired an iconic status, and generations of listeners having grown on a Saigal song every morning at 7.57 AM which would be the last song on Radio Ceylon’s programme Bhoole Bisre Geet.

The trigger point was an evening dinner gathering of friends when Chakko (short for Chakravarty, that was his name) sang Ye raatein ye mausam ye hansnaa hansaanaa. The impact on me was mesmerizing. Chakko was by no means a professional singer, it was one of those gatherings where everyone sings, some being a little better than others. Soon after I came across an LP of his songs, which not surprisingly had this song at the top. Coming to the internet age I heard many more of his songs, both films and non-films, in Hindi and Bengalee, and became more aware of the vast world of beautiful gems of Pankaj Mullick beyond Piya milan ko jana (which seemed to be the only song played in the radio days).

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Some timeless songs of Jagjit Kaur

Singer Jagjit KaurI would have written on Jagjit Kaur at some uncertain time in future. That I am doing it now owes it to my friend Subodh Agrawal, a regular visitor to my blog. His glowing reference to Jagjit Kaur in my last blog on Subir Sen touched a chord in me – I am also a huge fan of her songs. I also realized this was the right time when I was on minor singers like Kamal Barot and Subir Sen.

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Best Hindi film songs of Subir Sen

clip_image001When I did a post on Kamal Barot it was natural that I should do one on Subir Sen as well. One connection between the two was that among the most famous Kamal Barot songs is a duet with Subir Sen Dil le ke jate ho kahan. Another similarity would be that he was also not among the top singers. But there was a vital difference between the two. While Kamal Barot had a distinct voice which you could recognise miles away, Subir Sen’s was indistinguishable from Hemant Kumar. Not much biographical detail is available about him except that he was also like Hemant Kumar a popular and prolific singer in Bengali. Many of his Hindi film songs are quite well known, but unless you know that he was the singer, you might attribute them to Hemant Kumar.

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