2019

‘Would there ever be another Lata Mangeshkar?’

Lata Mangeshkar September 28, 2019

Wishing Lata Mangeshkar a very happy 90th birth anniversary (b. 28 September 1929) with a guest article by Shalan Lal (Lata Mangeshkar turns 90 today. This momentous occasion demanded something special befitting the milestone. However, in the year of the Ravi celebration on SoY, most readers almost took it for granted that today I would […]

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Shakeel Badayuni: Revitalising bond with Ravi

Ravi and Shakeel Badayuni September 18, 2019

Guest article by Hans Jakhar (This is the second guest article by Hans Jakhar on the trot after his debut with Asha Bhosle’s songs by Ravi. He had given enough indication that he would be writing on Shakeel Badayuni’s partnership with Ravi. Hans’s forte is mastery over data. And you see full evidence of this […]

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Ravi and Asha Bhosle: A class combination

Ravi and Asha Bhosle September 8, 2019

Wishing Asha Bhosle a very happy 86th birth anniversary (b. 8 September 1933) with a guest article by Hans Jakhar (Asha Bhosle, despite being the most recorded artiste by miles, remained the ‘other’ singer for most music directors of the Golden Era. All the accolades and the most melodious songs went to her elder sister […]

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Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri: Two lyricists in tandem and contrast

Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri August 30, 2019

A tribute to Shailendra (30 August 1923 – 14 December 1966) and Hasrat Jaipuri (15 April 1922 – 17 September 1999), the lyricists in tandem, on Shailendra’s 96th birth anniversary A common refrain of the readers from time to time has been that the lyricists have not been given due importance on this blog. A […]

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Ravi’s best duets for Rafi

Ravi and Rafi August 20, 2019

In my last post I covered Ravi’s best solo songs for Rafi. He composed about 250 songs for Rafi, including duets. It is a huge number in absolute as well as relative terms. Only two, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Shankar-Jaikishan, have undisputedly composed more Rafi songs than him, as can be expected. Chitragupta is in the same […]

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Book Review: “Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman”

Incomparable SD Burman August 10, 2019

Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman By HQ Chowdhury Published by Blue Pencil, New Delhi, 2018 ₹599 (Available for less on Amazon); pp 437 Among all the biographies of SD Burman – I am aware of at least four, all well known – the ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’ by HQ Chowdhury of Bangladesh, first published in Bangladesh […]

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Rafi’s best songs by Ravi

Ravi and Rafi July 31, 2019

A tribute to Rafi on his 39th death anniversary (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) Rafi being undoubtedly the most versatile playback singer of the Golden Era, he sang a number of great songs for many music directors. For most composers, he was their leading singer. Who gave the greatest songs for Rafi? I […]

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Ek bangala bane nyara

Ek bangala bane nyara July 17, 2019

Having a shelter over one’s head is one of the basic needs of humans. Having one’s own house used to be the lifetime’s dream. It happened only once at the time of retirement when one pooled in all the savings to make this investment. But this meant buying sand, cement, steel, stone-chips, cables, tiles, bathroom, […]

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Bharat Vyas: Lyricist Extraordinaire in Hindi

Bharat Vyas July 4, 2019

Guest article by DP Rangan as a tribute to Bharat Vyas on his 37th death anniversary (18 December 1918 – 4 July 1982) (One oft-repeated complaint against Songs of Yore is that it does not give due importance to the lyricists. I have given my reasons from time to time, which may not be very […]

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Best songs of 1946: Wrap Up 1

KL Saigal-GM Durrani-Surendra-Rafi-Mukesh June 26, 2019

And the SoY Award for the Best Male Playback Singer goes to? Now we come to category-wise discussion of the best songs, following from my overview post on the Best songs of 1946. Understandably, the total number of MEMORABLE SONGS mentioned in the post (81) was the lowest so far in the series on year-wise […]

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