And the SOY Award for the Best Female Solo of 1939 goes to?
One can make a general observation about the female solos of 1939. Following the long-term ratio, the female solos outnumber the male solos by a good margin in this year too. But in the era of dominance of KL Saigal and Pankaj Mullick, they are still familiar and top of the recall. But female solos in the vintage era suffer in comparison – there was no Saigal or Pankaj Mullick among them. I have earlier observed that there was no Lata Mangeshkar before Lata Mangeshkar. Among the 50/52 MEMORABLE SONGS in the year included in my overview post, the number of female solos is about 23 against 16 by male singers.
The female singing in Vintage Era was full of rich variety, but today it sounds very dated, though I like it a lot. The problem of the Vintage Era female singing is that a larger percentage is unknown. After my Overview Post, and Wrap Up 1 about male solos, now it is time for Wrap Up 2 about female solos
Readers’ comments
Let us look at the readers’ comments. Arunkumar Deshmukh always gives unambiguous preferences. His choice for the best female solo is Naseem Bano’s Zindagi ka saaz bhi kya saaz hai, baj raha hai aur beawaz hai from Minerva Movietone’s iconic film Pukar (1939), composed by Mir Sahib. N Venkataraman has given his list of best ten, which is topped by three Khursheed song of which two are my great favourites: Aaj mere ghar mehman aaye and Bhanwra rasiya re manbasiya from Aap Ki Marzi (1939), composed by Gyan Dutt. Raunak Joy has give his 10 best plus one special mention, i.e. 11 songs in all. Some are from outside my list. I have heard them all and included some of them in Special Songs, and some in the main list of Best Ten. He is a New Theatres man, so his choices are leaning heavily towards RC Boral-Kanan Devi.
On the basis of aforesaid discussion, now I am ready with my Special Songs and the Best Ten Female solos.
Special Songs
1. Zara naino se naina milao baanke sanwariya by Amirbai Karnataki from Baghi (1939), lyrics Gauri Shankar Lal ‘Akhtar’, music Shanti Kumar Desai
We all know Kanan Devi’s Zara naino se naina milaye jaao re mohe banke raseele sanwariya from Hospital (1943), composed by Kamal Dasgupta. Now thanks to N Venkataraman we know that in 1939 there is a song with similar mukhada in the voice of Amirbai Karnataki. It starts with a long recital prelude – Man samjhavat din gayo, maha kathin hai rain, ‘Akhtar’ ab main kya karun, bin dekhe nahin chain; Jaake naina .. bhar bhar aave nain… Zara nainon se naina milao baanke sanwariya. It takes time to get over the effect of Kanan Devi, but you start liking Amirbai Karnataki’s rendering too. I start my Special Songs with this song. Vemkataraman ji added one more song by Amirbai Karnataki from Baghi (1939) film, making the number of female solos 25.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUJpqmuvy1Y&list=RDkUJpqmuvy1Y&start_radio=1
2. Chal dheere dheere dheere teri jeevan gathari bhaari re by Vasanti from Aap Ki Marzi (1939), lyrics PL Santoshi, music Gyan Dutt
An excellent song from Aap Ki Marzi (1939) from an unknown singer of Vintage Era. Since I have included two Kursheed songs in the main list of Best Ten, I am including it in Special Songs, not suggesting this song is lesser than those songs. It has deep philosophical message. In life, we gather along a lot of baggage; sometimes we are not able to shed the baggage. Therefore, the least we can do is to slow down the pace of life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ESxpBmxh2Q&list=RD5ESxpBmxh2Q&start_radio=1
3. Kabhi neki bhi uske jee mein gar aa jaaye hai mujhse by Miss Kalyani (1939), lyrics Mirza Ghalib, music Khemchand Prakash
While the film’s lyricist is not credited in HFGK, Miss Kalyani sings this well-known ghazal of Mirza Ghalib in the characteristic style of ghazal singing by female singers of that era. A peculiar feature of this song is how she splits the word नेकी into the two letters far apart. ‘Ne’ gets attached to ‘Kabhine’. If you are not familiar with the wordings you would keep scratching your head what exactly is the lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjSvMk7SLUU&list=RDmjSvMk7SLUU&start_radio=1
4. Bhaiya tore chhote nanadi kaahe karun singar by Shirin Bano from Bijlee (1939), lyrics Lallubhai Nayak, music Shankar Rao Vyas
There is a tradition of folk songs in which the married lady laments that her groom is a small child. She rues to her nanadi (sister-in-law), “for whom should I do the singaar; I am sixteen year old, but he is only twelve and asks for being taken to lap.” Please also note the age of 16 for the lady; in the olden days it was a mature age for women; in today’s jurisprudence, a 16-year old girl is still below the age of consent and she is regarded as a minor to be protected by the state by stringent law, such as POCSO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp4fhdFfRr8&list=RDrp4fhdFfRr8&start_radio=1
5. Rang rasiya aao ri by Vatsala Kumthekar from Madhu Bansuri (1939), lyrics unknown, music Damodar Sharma
I had not included this song in my Memorable Songs in the Overview post. Raunak Joy drew our attention to it. HFGK identifies the singer of only this song out of 14. She had a very pleasant voice. She sings in a pure classical style. Sounds to me like Bhimpalasi. Experts may please confirm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_V1mmXEMjA&list=RDw_V1mmXEMjA&start_radio=1
6. Sooni padi hai sitar Meera ke jeevan ki by Leela Chitnis from Kangan (1939), lyrics Pradeep, music Saraswati Devi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPBcyQg_OVA&list=RDZPBcyQg_OVA&start_radio=1
7. Mope daar gaye saari rang ki gagar by Waheedan Bai from Comrades (1939), lyrics Dr Safdar ‘Aah’, music Anil Biswas.
Those were the heydays of Anil Biswas. Here is a song by a singer from his early team of singers
8. Achche Isa ho, mareezon ka khayal achcha hai by Waheedan Bai from Thokar (1939), lyrics PL Santoshi, music Gyan Dutt
Another song from this film is my favourite, which I have included in the main list; so let me fit it here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97NCl2VnFNk&list=RD97NCl2VnFNk&start_radio=1
9. Geet suno wo geet sainya by Miss Sheela (1939), lyrics Kamal Amrohi, music Mir Sahib
There are many good songs still left sung by Vintage Era singers. But only this song has a video, of good quality at that. I remembered this song up till now as ‘Geet sunao geet‘. But the caption and HFGK both mention the song as ‘Geet suno wo geet‘. Therefore, I am correcting myself. This song enters the list of songs I have misheard for many years. I am stopping at nine Special Songs, as for the tenth I would be entering an unfamiliar territory.
Best Female Solos
1. Bhanwra rasiya re manbasiya, tu jaye kahan by Khursheed from Aap Ki Marzi (1939), lyrics PL Santoshi, music Gyan Dutt
Khursheed was a big singer of our early films; remember her songs from the film Tansen (1943), in which she held her own against KL Saigal, both in acting and singing. Aap Ki Marzi must be her one of the first well-known films, in which this song is quite remarkable for her full-throated singing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cQ-fjJ6zJw&list=RD0cQ-fjJ6zJw&start_radio=1
2. Aaj mere ghar mehmaan aye by Khursheed from Aap Ki Marzi (1939), lyrics Pyarelal Santoshi, music Gyan Dutt.
Another song from this film I like a lot is Aaj mere ghar mehmaan aye. There is another lyricist, PS Kalla, in the film. But this song, too, is written by PL Santoshi who was a man of multifarious talents – lyricist, screenplay-writer, director and producer of films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMoG2F-s5OE&list=RDxMoG2F-s5OE&start_radio=1
3. Loot liyo man dheer by Kanan Devi from Jawani Ki Reet (1939), lyrics Arzoo Lakhnavi, music RC Boral
Kanan Devi was very sweet. It was very difficult to choose between Khursheed’s above two songs and this song. But they belong to different styles. For enjoying Kanan Devi, you close your eyes in the stillness of night, and let the music flow,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixui_Hrq0oU&list=RDIxui_Hrq0oU&start_radio=1
4. Hawa tum dheere baho mere aate honge chitchor by Leela Chitnis from Kangan (1939), lyrics Pradeep, music Saraswati Devi
Kangan with lead pair Ashok Kumar and Leela Chitnis was another superhit film form the Bombay Talkies. The film had three lyricists (including Kabir) and two music directors – Saraswati Devi and RC Pal, but the songs are individually credited. This song has led me to believe that Leela Chitnis was a very good singer. Fortunately, a reasonable quality video is available of this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKcTzV11a4M&list=RDAKcTzV11a4M&start_radio=1
5. Hoga na vaida se ilaaj mori peer ka by Ramdulari from Dil Hi To Hai (1939), lyrics Kidar Sharma, music Acharya Bhishmdev Chatterjee
I was floored by this song on the first hearing. I was aware of two Ramdulari songs from the film Chitralekha (1941). This is an exquisite song from another unheard-of film. I believe Acharya Bhishmdev Chatterjee was a doyen of classical music in Bengal, having had training under Khalifa Badal Khan of Delhi gharana. He was an eminent concert performer and teacher of classical music. His famous disciples included Begum Akhtar, Kanan Devi, Juthika Roy, SD Burman and Pahadi Sanyal. Which style would you slot this song into? It is very obviously a folk song. It is structured as a ghazal, tuned and sung in thumri style. A beautiful song. Many years later, Sahir Ludhiyanavi wrote a qawwali Na to Karwan ki talsh hai, na to humsafar ki talash hai (Barsaat Ki Raat, 1960) with similar thoughts: Mere namuraad junoon ka ab hai ilaaj koi to maut hai, jo dawa ke naam par zahar de us chaaragar ki talash hai. This song has been added by Raunak Joy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHHXZevZAX8
6. Zindagi ka saaz bhi kya saaz hai, baj raha hai aur beawaz hai by Naseem Bano from Pukar (1939), lyrics Kamal Amrohi, music Mir Sahib
I understand this Naseem Bano was the mother of Saira Bano. She is celebrated for her beauty, and it is said that she was infinitely more beautiful than her daughter. You can see the majestic Chandramohan in the role of Emperor Jahangir. Naseem Bano is his consort, in the role of Noorjehan, who was also famous for her innocence. Pukar is the first of Sohrab Modi’s great trilogy of historicals. Kamal Amrohi should be the person who later married Meena Kumari, and is regarded as the cause for her alcoholism and ultimate demise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5-9MWmqjSg&list=RDk5-9MWmqjSg&start_radio=1
7. Chali pawan harson, phool rahi sarson by Kanan Devi from Jawani Ki Reet (1939), lyrics Arzoo Lakhnavi, music RC Boral
Jawani Ki Reet had another great song by Kanan Devi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrIHdn88OAQ&list=RDGrIHdn88OAQ&start_radio=1
7. Tum bin hamri kaun khabar le Govardhan Giridhari by Miss Sheela from Pukar (1939), lyrics Kamal Amrohi, music Mir Sahib
If I include Zindagi ka saaz bhi kaya saaz hai by Naseem Bano, I have to include this beautiful bhajan by Miss Sheela. It is difficult to choose between the two which is better. This is sung by actor-singer Miss Sheela who had an important role in the film. The video is of good quality; you can see her singing in the song. This bhajan reminds me of Amirbai Karnataki’s bhajans, such as Ab tere siwa kaun mera Krishna Kanhaiya.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx_zQ9ppYwQ&list=RDkx_zQ9ppYwQ&start_radio=1
8. Ab kisliye kal ki baat kate hansi khushi se raat by Shanta Hublikar (a multi-lingual song) from Aadmi (1939), lyrics several, music Master Krishna Rao
An entertainer Shanta Hublikar has patrons from many regional languages, therefore, she sings in many languages to entertain them. You see her joyous and free dancing; clearly the patrons eat out of her palm. There is a clamour by them to sing in their language; she playfully dons their cap on her head and starts singing in their language. A treat for the eyes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOQbhXJphCU&list=RDJOQbhXJphCU&start_radio=1
9. Aankhon aankhon mein pila di mere saki ne… Kaali jo ghata chhayi hai by Waheedan Bai from Thokar (1939), lyrics PL Santoshi, music Gyan Dutt
Waheedan Bai sings this full-throated song. She stats with a ghazal-style recital, typical of female ghazal singing of that era. I had mentioned this song in the Overview Post that it was the last film of Waheedan Bai with Ranjit studios; thereafter, she had a further successful run with Surendra with Sagar Movietone, and its successor National Studios, with another doyen of music, Anil Biswas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikdaCqyrPqU&list=RDikdaCqyrPqU&start_radio=1
10. Jogan bhatak rahi hai ban ban by Leela Chitnis from Kangan (1939), lyrics Narottam Vyas, music Saraswati Devi
After listening to the songs of Kangan, I am falling in love with them. This song I have heard for the first time, but it is worth including in the list of Best Ten songs.
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer
The song links have been given or embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of music lovers. This blog has no commercial interest. It does not claim directly or indirectly any copyright over these songs, nor is it interested in challenging anyone’s copyright claims.
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