Year: 2017

Best songs of 1948: Final Wrap Up 4

And the Songs of Yore Award for the Best Music Director goes to?

Naushad_C Ramchandra_Ghulam Haider_Husnlal-BhagatramI start with wishing the readers  Merry Christmas. After the Overview post and the three category-wise wrap ups – Wrap Up 1 for the best male solos, Wrap Up 2 for the best female solos, and Wrap Up 3 for the best duets – we now have a fairly good idea of who the dominant music directors were. Naushad with all his songs in Anokhi Ada and Mela – totalling about two dozen – being super hits, is undoubtedly top of the pack. Anil Biswas in Anokha Pyar, Gajre and Veena; C Ramchandra in Nadiya Ke Paar and Khidki; Husnlal-Bhagatram in Pyar Ki Jeet; Ghulam Haider in Shaheed; Ram Ganguly in Aag; and Khemchand Prakash in Ziddi gave some everlasting songs. The underrated genius, Ghulam Mohammad never fails to create outstanding songs, and he did so in Grihasthi and Pugree. There were others, too, whose one or two songs featured in the best lists.

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OP Nayyar unlike OP Nayyar

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar

(OP Nayyar lived life king size. Even when he was in financial difficulty in his later years, he was immaculately dressed and had a regal bearing; there was no dent in his famous pride – he refused the Lata Mangeshkar Award for music, which carried a substantial cash award for those days, when he was in need; he never cared for winning friends and impressing people. His music was as much in-your-face – the infectious rhythm and joy was recognizable from miles. It was impossible for such a person to be unlike him.

Ravindra Kelkar started his series on OP Nayyar with an overview of three phases of his career. After covering his peerless combination with Geeta Dutt, his influence on other music directors, and his duets in two parts, he brings the curtain down on the OPN series with his sixth and the last article – befittingly with his unique songs which are very different from his characteristic style.

This theme was first suggested to me by a reader Mukund Gadgil a few years ago, who also sent me a draft article. I made some suggestions with regard to the write-up and the song selection to fit with the general style of SoY, but I did not get any response from him. I tried a couple of times later to establish contact with him, but didn’t succeed. When Mr Kelkar came on board to write the series, I suggested the theme to him. The write-up is entirely his. I suggested some songs which fitted the theme according to me, and I am happy to note that most of those songs have been included. I thank Mr Kelkar for his highly acclaimed series, and this excellent concluding article. I also take this opportunity to thank Mr Gadgil for the theme idea. This may be the last on OP Nayyar, but I trust this is not the last of Mr Kelkar. Hopefully, we will have more from him on other themes. – AK)

OP NayyarThis is the last post on OP (did I hear a collective sigh of relief?) and this interesting theme was suggested by AK. Before, we get into it, let us take a summarized look on OP’s career highlights.

 

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Duets of OP Nayyar: Part 2

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar

(Of the 223 total duets composed by OP Nayyar, the most conspicuous are male-female duets in which the male voice is Rafi and the female voice, either Geeta Dutt or Shamshad Begum or Asha Bhosle. These are 119 in number, and were the subject matter of Ravindra Kelkar’s last post on OP Nayyar’s duets. That leaves 104 duets, including 60 ‘other’ MF duets – Rafi with other female singers, and male singer other than Rafi – and 44 duets of mixed type, i.e. male-male, female-female or more than two singers. Thus, in spite of the smaller number, these 104 duets present immense variety. With this second part of the two-part post on OP Nayyar’s duets, Mr Kelkar completes the comprehensive review of OP Nayyar’s duets. Thank you, Mr Kelkar for your painstaking effort. – AK)

OP NayyarIn part 1 we listened to Rafi-Geeta Dutt, Rafi-Shamshad Begum and Rafi-Asha Bhosle duets. Now let us listen to some other combinations.

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Duets of OP Nayyar: Part 1

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar

(SoY readers would recall that Ravindra Kelkar has been making valuable contributions on OP Nayyar through his guest articles and, thus, filling up a gap in SoY. He has contributed three articles so far: ‘Three distinct phases of OP Nayyar’; OP Nayyar-Geeta Dutt: A peerless combination’; and OP Nayyar’s influence on other music directors. As we inch towards the conclusion of the series, Mr Kelkar covers OP Nayyar’s duets in two parts. The first part is on his most conspicuous duets in which Rafi is the male voice, combining with his three most important female singers – Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum and Asha Bhosle, in chronological order.

Mr Kelkar observes OPN was among the four best music directors in composing duets. His choice of musical instruments, his rhythm and special features like either the male or the female singer entering late in the song, giving it an effect of solo, make OPN unique. The romanticism in his duets was a reflection of his fascination with women, observes Mr Kelkar. Thank you Mr Kelkar for another excellent piece. – AK)

OP NayyarI consider C Ramachandra, SD Burman, Shankar Jaikishan and OP Nayyar as the four best music directors (MDs) in composing duets. Of course, all other MDs have composed outstanding duets, but the sheer numbers and variety make these four MDs stand apart.

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Best songs of 1948: Wrap Up 3

And the Songs of Yore Award for the Best Duet goes to?

Kyun unhe dil diyaAs per the long-term average, female solos outnumber male solos by a big margin, with duets somewhere in between. The same is true for the year 1948. My list of 114/115 MEMORABLE SONGS in the Overview post has the following break-up:

 

Male solos        –  26
Female solos    –  53
Duets                  –  36
       TOTAL    –   115

Besides the significant number, the duets present  interesting variety of combinations of singers. This category also includes all male or female duets, and songs by more than two singers (which could be all male or female or mixed). I count the chorus songs in which there is only one identifiable dominating voice as a solo of that singer.

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Waterfalls in Bollywood

Guest article by DP Rangan (DP Rangan is a man with boundless energy. Even with a late debut on the Songs of Yore, at the rate he is writing he will soon overtake the regular guest writers. After the horse series, he switched to romantic themes of moon and stars. This post on Waterfalls inREAD THE FULL ARTICLE

Best songs of 1948: Wrap Up 2

And the Songs of Yore Award for the Best Female Playback Singer goes to?

Lata Mangeshkar-Shamshad Begum-Suraiya-Surinder KaurThe readers may recall from my Overview post, and the detailed review of the best songs of 1949, that one significant difference between the two consecutive years was in Lata Mangeshkar coming as a tsunami wave in 1949, leaving her competitors awestruck, whereas in 1948, i.e. just a year before, she was behind Shamshad Begum in terms of ‘Memorable Songs’. Suraiya, not far behind, can be regarded as the third leg of the Triad Power that dominated the female playback singing in the year. Surinder Kaur and Lalita Deulkar had a short-lived career in Hindi films, but their best was in 1948. Uma Devi and Amirbai Karnataki also had noticeable presence in the year. Given this overall picture of the female playback songs, I have decided to do away with separate posts for Lata Mangeshkar and ‘Others’. In the remaining three years of my planned review, i.e. 1947, 1946 and 1945, there would be no dilemma – Lata Mangeshkar sang (and acted) some songs, but she would be virtually invisible.

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Best songs of Kishore Kumar 1.0

A tribute to Kishore Kumar (4 August 1929 to 13 October 1987) on his 30th death anniversary

Kishore KumarA later version of an operating system is considered superior to its earlier version. That is, ‘Windows 1o’ is superior to ‘Windows 8’, which is superior to ‘Windows 7’, and so on. However, that is not true for music. A singer or a music director’s career follows an inverted U-curve. After progressively rising to the peak, there is a plateau and, thereafter, there is decline. Kishore Kumar must be the only exception to this law. After 20 years of singing career starting from his debut in 1948, post-Aradhana (1969) his career zoomed to a higher trajectory, reaching another peak when he became the pole star of male playback singing. I have metaphorically said Kishore Kumar became the new Rafi in my post titled Mohammad Rafi versus Kishore Kumar, which specifically addressed how an era changed after Aaradhana. Kishore Kumar 2.0 (i.e. post-1969) sang about four times more songs than his previous two decades’ career, i.e. Kishore Kumar 1.0.

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Lata Mangeshkar’s best songs by Hemant Kumar

Wishing a very Happy Birthday to Lata Mangeshkar (b. 28 September 1929) on her 88th birth anniversary and a tribute to Hemant Kumar (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989) on his 28th death anniversary

Lata Mangeshkar and Hemant KumarHemant Kumar was endowed with one of the most sonorous voices in light music. His film songs are universally popular. His non-film Hindi songs are equally sweet. In Rabindrasangeet, he is regarded as a titan. He has composed music for a large number of Hindi and Bengali films. The sweetness of his voice has also dripped into the music he composed. The melody-incarnate Lata Mangeshkar became his natural choice for the female songs. One Hemant Kumar-Lata Mangeshkar combination I have already covered – his duets with her, and they are indeed out of this world. Just recall some of them: Aa neele gagan taley pyar hum karein, Chandan ka palna resham ki dori, Ye raat ye chaandni phir kahan, Badli mein chhupe chaand ne phir mujhse kaha hai, Ek baar zara phir kah do, Jaag dard-e-ishq jaag and Nain so nain naahi milaao. One more Hemant Kumar-Lata Mangeshkar combination has long been my great favourite – that is her solo songs composed by him.

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Best songs of 1948 songs: Wrap Up 1

And the Songs of Yore award for the best male solo goes to?

Rafi and MukeshSome general observations are in order. The year 1948 did not have a great diversity of male playback singers, unlike the female singers. KL Saigal had passed away a year earlier; Talat Mahmood would appear a couple of years later; Hemant Kumar and Manna Dey who had been around for some time, did not yet have their big breaks. Among the great playback singers of the Golden Era, Mukesh was the only one who had a significant presence with great songs in at least four films; Rafi was playing a catch-up game. From the Vintage Era, GM Durrani had some nice songs. The actor-singer Surendra was virtually on his last lap, though with some outstanding songs. His singing career would decline sharply, and he would graduate to ‘character’ roles in the later years.

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