1948

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.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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.

READ 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.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The first duo Husnlal-Bhagatram (1): Their songs for Suraiya, Lata Mangeshkar and Rafi

Husnlal-BhagatramI have signed off the series on Shankar-Jaikishan recently. Before that I had done series on Anil Biswas, Naushad, C Ramchandra and SD Burman. As the readers now expect the next famous music directors in line, there are some yesteryears stalwarts who shone like meteor for a short while, or who gave great music consistently over a long period, but who were not lucky to get sustained commercial success. Though not counted among the G-5 or G-7, they are very dear to the lovers of songs of yore. I was always conscious while doing the series on the superstars that I have to take care that we don’t miss the lesser, but no less talented stars. Husnlal-Bhagatram occupy a very important place in the history of film music as a bridge between the vintage and the golden era, between the theatre-style singing of Zohra Ambalewali, Zeenat Begum and Amirbai Karnataki, and the smooth, melodious singing of Suraiya and Lata Mangeshkar, between GM Durrani and Rafi.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Best songs of 1948: And the winners are?

Mela-Nadiya Ke Paar-Shaheed-Aag-Anokha Pyar-Anokhi AdaOn our journey back in time to review the best songs of the year, as we reach 1948 we are entering the Vintage Era characterised by a great variety of full-throated female singers. Lata Mangeshkar did sing over 40 songs of which you can count about ten memorable and a couple of all-time great songs, yet she was not the sole pole star, as she became from 1949 onwards. Therefore, dividing the female playback singers as Lata Mangehkar and ‘others’ as I have done for 1949, 1950 and 1951 would not be a true reflection of realty. Secondly, the Vintage Era also means entering a period of more unknown than known, therefore, the year-wise review would now be more a discovery trip.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE