2016

Tonga in the Tinsel World

Tonga songs March 5, 2016

Guest article by DP Rangan (DP Rangan has been a familiar figure in the comments section.  He recently debuted as a guest author with his piece on Bollywood’s love affair with horses.  I had introduced him as a member of the very senior brigade, who has the enthusiasm of a teenager.  The proof is this […]

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The Unlucky Genius Ghulam Mohammad’s best songs for Talat Mahmood

Ghulam Mohammad and Talat Mahmood February 24, 2016

Ghulam Mohammad was Naushad’s senior in the music industry by several years. He was an established tabla player, earning Rs 60 per month, with Ustad Jhande Khan, when Naushad joined him, in 1937, as a piano player at Rs. 40 per month. Fate catapulted Naushad to commanding heights, making him the greatest Mughal of Movie […]

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Shankar-Jaikishan’s dance songs for Lata Mangeshkar

Shankar-Jaikishan with Lata Mangeshkar February 12, 2016

(DP Rangan recently asked me who would be the music director of 2016. Obviously, he presumed there would be one, because I celebrated 2015 as the Year of Naushad (with C Ramchandra in tandem), and the year before that as the Year of Anil Biswas. Concurrently, I also covered SD Burman extensively, but that happened […]

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Multiple Versions Songs (24): Songs having versions across different films – similar initial lyrics in mukhada

Multiple Version Songs January 31, 2016

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav (The founder of the mega series Multiple Version Songs, Ashokji brings up another one from his inexhaustible storehouse of multiple versions on different criteria. The multiple versions so far have generally been from the same film. Continuing his series he brings up an interesting variety of songs which have […]

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Bollywood’s love affair with Horse

Song on horseback January 20, 2016

Guest article by DP Rangan (We started the New Year with our tiny friends – birds – introduced to us by a scholarly guest article by Shalan Lal. At the other end of the spectrum, the large species Horse has been even more integral to us through the history. And introducing these beautiful animals is […]

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Best songs of the most unloved singer Mahendra Kapoor

Mahendra Kapoor January 9, 2016

A tribute on Mahendra Kapoor’s 82nd birth anniversary (9 January 1934 – 27 December 2008) I have made a number of discoveries during my association with SoY. I mentioned some in my last anniversary post. But the most startling discovery I have not yet mentioned – we are now aware of at least two persons […]

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An aviary of Songs

Bird January 1, 2016

Bird-watch in the Songs of Yore Wishing Happy New Year to all the readers with guest article by Shalan Lal (Once upon a time there were birds around us and they were a part of our lives, songs, mtyths and legends. When the crow cawed we knew it was advance intimation of a guest coming; […]

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