Ashok M Vaishnav

R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations: Vocal Experiments

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(We are celebrating 2025 as the year of RD Burman. He was acknowledged for his improvisations in sounds. Our guest author Ashok M Vaishnav has already covered his instrumental improvisations in percussion, string and blow (or wind) instruments. An important part of RD Burman’s orchestral improvisations was his novel vocal experiments. Ashok ji explains that these usages were different from the widely used chorus accompaniments by the Golden or Vintage Era music directors like Anil Biswas, Naushad, Salil Chowdhury and Shankar-Jaikishan. These do not refer to RD Burman’s gruff, baritone voice either, putting in words like “Monica, My Darling!”.

This would be the fourth and the last article by Ashok ji in the present series. He has been a regular contributor to SOY. Earlier he had anchored a series on Arrangers and Musicians. Thus, he was eminently suitable for writing this series on RD Burman. Ashok ji is a retired engineer based out of Ahmedabad and is now a freelance management trainer. Thank you, Ashok ji, for this excellent article as your concluding piece in this series on RD Burman’s orchestral improvisations. – AK)

While working for the present series, I observed that R D Burman has extensively used sonic effects of vocals in the orchestration of the music. These vocal usages were different than the very widely used chorus accompaniments that Anil Biswas, Salil Chowdhury, Shankar Jaikishan and other music directors of late 40s and 50 have so extensively and innovatively used in their work.

This is also not about what we now recognised as his ‘signature’ – gruff, baritone – singing style or heavy breath sounds of Mera naam hai Shabnam (Kati Patang, 1970) or Monica or Monica My Darling in Piya tu ab to aa ja (Caravan, 1971) or singing Mere Jivan Saathi, with varying modulations or other lyrical dialogues or odd sounds  in the titles of Mere Jivan Sathi (1972).READ THE FULL ARTICLE

R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations: Blow Instruments

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(When I mentioned that I would need help from our guest authors from the SOY-community to dedicate the year of 2025 to RD Burman in a befitting manner, Ashok M Vaishnav offered to write a few articles on instrumental improvisations by RD Burman. He has already anchored a series on Arrangers and Musicians on SOY. Having written on percussion and string instruments in the series, Ashok ji writes on the third major group of instruments: wind or blow instruments, with focus on Manohari Singh.

Ashok ji is a retired mechanical engineer, and now a freelance consultant, based out of Ahmedabad. Thank you Ashok ji for another nice article in the series of tributes to RD Burman. – AK)

The three assistants who played key role in arranging the music for R D Burman were masters of three different instruments – Maruti (Rao Keer) was a percussionist, Basu (Chakraborty) was a cellist and Manohari (Singh) was an ace blow instrumentalist. It would be too presumptuous to judge that these instruments seemed to find major space in R D Burman’s music because of these three artists. In fact, as one scans through the spectrum of R D Burman’s music, quite a wide variety of instruments can be heard, many of them used quite innovatively as well. As I worked for the third article in the present series of R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations, with the abundance of material available on the internet, I have observed the presence of a wide range of instruments in the orchestration.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations – String Instruments

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(SOY regulars are aware that this blog is celebrating 2025 as the year of RD Burman with some contribution from me and some guest articles. Among guest authors, our veteran Ashok M Vaishnav has taken up the cudgels with his first article in the series with RD Buman’s improvisations with rhythm instruments. Ashokji has done a long series on Arrangers and Musicians. That makes him eminently suitable to write on RD Burman’s orchestration improvisations. This is his second article focussing on RD Burman’s improvisations with string instruments.

Ashokji has been an engineer and after retirement, he is a freelance management consultant based out of Ahmedabad. I can’t help mentioning he was recently undergoing some medical procedures. As soon as he was in a position to write he is out with this post. Thank you Ashokji for your love for this blog and this excellent article. – AK)

R D Burman’s initial films – Chhote Nawab (1961), Bhoot Bangla (1965), Teesara Kaun (1965) and Pati Patni (1966) – seemed to mould his music into prevalent pattern of 50s – a mix of Indian classical music with shades of regional folk music. However, destiny seemed to have charted a different trajectory for him. The music that made R D Burman’s own space secure and respected was that of Teesri Manzil (1966). The success of Teesri Manzil and its music permanently branded R D Burman as the music director with western music domination even when he continued to give some excellent classical and folk based music.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

R D Burman and His Orchestration Improvisations – Rhythm Instruments

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(My first post of the current calendar year was a review of RD Burman’s biography by Anirudh Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal. In that review I had also mentioned that for me RD Burman was a post-1970 phenomena, which was beyond the time period I had set for this blog. I was not very up to date with music of this period, yet I had decided to celebrate the year as the year of RD Burman, as he came chronologically as the next great music director. I was quite open that I would need the support of guest writers in this endeavour.

Our perennial guest author Ashok M Vaishnav has taken up my request. He completed a nice series of articles on the Arrangers and Musicians last year. RD Burman was renowned for his creative rhythms and experiments with sound with different instruments. Continuing where he left off, Ashokji comes up with a nice article on RD Burman’s orchestration improvisations, focussing on his three key instrumentalists: Basu Chakravarty, Manohari Singh and Maruti Rao Keer. Thank you Ashokji for this worthy article to carry forward the tribute to RD Burman. – AK)

Being born to parents – Sachin Dev Burman and Meera Burman – it was natural that R D Burman had natural flair for music. As a very young boy he had penchant for the note Pa. As such, Ashok Kumar used to call him ‘Pancham’. Very soon, father S D Burman, recognising the musical inclination of the son, also rechristened Pancham as his nick name, from the earlier name Tablu as the parents used to call him. R D Burman used his nick name as his signature musical identity.

S D Burman had used R D’s tune for Aye meri topi palat ke aa (Funtoosh, 1956). S D Burman also used R D’s tune for Sar jo tera chakraye (Pyasa, 1957). R D used to attend music sessions at his father’s recordings, soon to join him as his assistant. All these experiences helped R D Burman to lend breadth and depth to his music and build a network of highly innovative musicians. The core of R D Burman’s music team was built on the foundation of triumvirate of his assistants, each one an ace instrumentalist: Basu Chakraborty – a cello player, Manohari Singh – a saxophone player and Maruti Rao Keer – rhythm specialist. It was this team that helped R D Burman to establish his unique identity by creating the music style that blended the essence classical, folk, regional and western music.

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Some Less Heard Gems of Mohammad Rafi – The Sad Romantic Solos: 1940s through 50s

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav wishing everyone a very Happy Valentine Day with Rafi’s sad romantic solos, extending his centenary celebrations

(Ashok M Vaishnav had sent this article for Rafi centenary celebrations in the calendar year 2024. But with series on Kalyanji-Anadnji and Usha Khanna added in, I could not squeeze this article in 2024. But Rafi’s oeuvre is limitless. Ashokji had earlier written a guest article in the Centenary Series titled Some Hidden Gems of Mohammad Rafi: The Romantic Solos. That was without any emphasis on their underlying mood. If you go over that article and hear those songs, their mood is neutral or happy. In the present article the emphasis is on ‘sad’ romantic solos. He further focuses on the 1940s and 1950s during which Ashokji located several hidden gems of Rafi that were sad romantic solos. Thus this is a companion article to his earlier article in the series. Ashokji was very understanding of my scheduling difficulties and agreed if it was published in 2025.

Valentine Day now has become a day of rejoicing. But romance is often very poignant, therefore, today seems to be the most befitting day for this article. Ashokji has gone great lengths to select less less heard songs for his post. In the process we are treated to some real hidden gems of Rafi. Wishing everyone a very melodious Valentine Day with this guest article by Ashokji.

A retired engineer, Ashokji is an avid fan of Rafi and a prolific guest writer on this blog. He is based out of Ahmedabad. Thank you Ashokji for another nice article from your pen. – AK)    

While working on Mohammad Rafi’s solo songs from the 1940s and 1950s, I was able to locate more sad songs from various music directors. In fact, by 1950, Mohammad Rafi had already recorded several universally popular romantic duets and solo sad songs, like Yahan badla wafa ka bewafai ke siva kya hai (Jugnu, 1947, with Noor Jehan – Music: Firoz Nizami), Ek dil ke tukade hazar hue (Pyar Ki Jeet, 1948 – Music: Husnlal Bhagatram) and Suhani raat dhal chuki na jaane tum kab aaoge (Dulari, 1949 – Music: Naushad). As can be expected in any typical normal distribution curve, there were both sad and happy romantic songs that could be considered “too obscure”. However, many songs have also been quite popular.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Some Hidden Gems of Mohammad Rafi: The Romantic Solos

Guest article by Ashok Vaishnav continuing the centenary celebrations of Mohammad Rafi (24.12.1924-31.7.1980)

(Among many romantic solos of Rafi there are several gems hidden under the layer of superhit songs. Some of the hidden gems are more melodious than superhit songs. Our SOY regular and guest author today, Ashok Vaishnav, throws the spotlight on some such gems. Ashokji is a is a prolific writer for SOY on a variety of themes. He is a known Rafi-fan, and it was unthinkable that he would not join in his centenary celebrations

As a retired engineer and now a management trainer Ashokji brings analytical rigour to his articles. He is based out of Ahmedabad. Thank you Ashokji for this interesting write-up. – AK)

The spectrum of Mohammad Rafi’s songs through his entire career contains  innumerable hues and shades, even within a given genre. Moreover, every historian or an analyst or a fan of him who have been writing, or airing the views, about his songs have had their own context or view. As such, every piece has always come out as a totally different view under the kaleidoscope. It would, perhaps, be a very safe bet to say that anything written or said about Mohammad Rafi’s songs will start repeating if, and only when, human imaginations and interests (or even those of AI in the future 😊) will reach their limits. The occasion of celebration of Mohammad Rafi’s birth centenary year has made the viewing of the spectrum of Mohammad Rafi’s songs more intense and more microscopic, and hence, much more interesting.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The Sculptors of Film Songs (14): Four Shades of the Dusk of the Series

The concluding article in the series on Arrangers and Musicians by guest authors, Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) & Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation), wishing everyone Eid Mubarak

(As we celebrate Eid, our guest authors Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav mark the happy occasion with their concluding article in the series on Arrangers and Musicians. In the thirteen earlier articles, eleven focussed on individual talented artistes, such as Anthony Gonsalves, Van Shipley, Enoch Daniels etc, and two were devoted to families whose more than one generation comprising several artistes made an impact – The Lords and Ramprasad Sharma & Sons.  

The concluding article brings the curtain down on the people who remained behind the curtain anyway. This also marks the end of the way music was made – a metaphorical dusk of an era. The authors discuss four different artistes who were active during the dusk. On behalf of the readers I convey our heartfelt gratitude to Piyushji and Ashokji for this wonderful series and a befitting concluding article. – AK)

Arrangers and musicians have been the unsung heroes, who gave shape to the music in films with their imaginative art and creative craft. Some of these arrangers and musicians had their work documented, howsoever sketchy it was. However, there are many more who remained unsung within the tribe of ‘unsung heroes’. We conclude our present series with four such unsung among unsung musicians whose work has mainly trickled in through the public programmes they have participated in, even though each one was a master of his own instrument(s), and has enriched the Hindi film music by expanding the range of these instruments.

Bhanu Gupta

The world of science is replete with cases where some great inventions happened from inadvertent errors. One most famous example is that of Penicillin. Sir Alexander Fleming was working on a cure for Pneumonia, rampant during WWI. In 1928, Dr Fleming observed that a particular type of mould growing on a Petri-dish of Staphylococcus bacteria seemed to be preventing the bacteria around it from growing. We know that accidental discovery of the mould as almost cure-all, Penicillin.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The Sculptors of Film Songs (13): Ramprasad Sharma & Sons

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation)

(Ramprasad Sharma may be an unfamiliar name to many, but Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo were the biggest guys on the film music scene. They broke all the records: for number of films for which they composed music, total number of songs by them, total number of songs for the biggest singers, Lata Mangeshkar and Rafi. They went through the grind, climbing all the ladders from the beginning: musician, arranger, assistant music director and finally the pinnacle. Pyarelal was the son of Ramprasad Sharma, who was a highly respected musician, scholar, music director and teacher in the 40s and early 50s. His other sons too, namely Gorakhnath, Ganesh, Anand, and Naresh; and grandsons Monty and Mithun all came into music.

Ramprasad’s pupils include a galaxy of well-known names who came to him to learn notation. He did not achieve great commercial success as a music director, and had to work for other music directors like Naushad and C Ramchandra. The trumpet in ‘Suhani raat dhal chuki’ was played by Ramprasad Sharma. I profusely thank the guest authors Piyush M  Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav for covering an important personality and his family in the series on Arrangers and Musicians. – AK)

The title of this episode may sound like a typical name we were used to seeing on the signboards in the markets in any town during the 1950s to ‘70s. The signboard would further read “Wholesale Merchants of Grains” or “Wholesale Cloth merchants” etc. Well, what has that to do with this series about musicians and arrangers? Is the present episode about some such firm which probably had been associated with ‘selling’ music instruments?

Well, No. Ours is a narrative of three generations of artists who have been practicing musicians in the world of Hindi film music: Ramprasad Sharma, a complete music director, researcher, composer and arranger with an in-depth knowledge of all known musical instruments, their notations and playing techniques in Indian as well as western styles; his sons: Pyarelal, Gorakhnath, Ganesh, Anand, Naresh; and the grandsons: Monty and Mithun. As is the case with most of the second and third tiers of artists like arrangers and musicians under the label ‘Music Director’, these names would not make sense with most of us, unless we further qualify Pyarelal with the suffix of ‘Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo’.

Ramprasad Sharma

Ramprasad Sharma (1900 -1995) belonged to Gorakhpur in the then United Provinces (present day Uttar Pradesh). The band master of Bharatpur State recognised Ramprasad’s flare for instrumental music. He played the trumpet here. He then played in Agra Military Band. This groomed him into the art of music arrangement to rise to the position of Band Master in a circus. He toured Delhi, Lahore and Calcutta with the circus. He settled for some time in Calcutta and worked for Columbia and New Theatres. At that stage, he mastered playing ten instruments and had acquired good knowledge of intricacies of classical raags.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The Sculptors of Film Songs (11): Goody Seervai

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation)

(Continuing their series on Arrangers and Musicians, now the guest authors Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav throw the spotlight on one of the most respected musicians, Goody Seervai, who became synonymous with piano accordion. The songs they have mentioned have been our eternal favourites, but for most of us it would be the first time that we would be able to associate with the accordion player who sculpted these songs with his tunes. Thank you Piyushji and Ashokji for another excellent article, 11th in the series. – AK)

It was after 1943 that the new crop of music directors started using western musical instruments in the orchestration of the Hindi film songs. C Ramchandra, because of his association with trumpet player Chic Chocolate and jazz drummer Kawas Lord, went in almost overdrive by experimenting with using western tunes in the songs. Music directors like Anil Biswas, Naushad, S D Burman etc. further expanded the range by combining Indian classical and folk music with western music and western musical instruments like violin, cello, guitar etc. It was this trend in orchestration of Hindi film music that led the search for the instrumentalists in hotels, clubs and functions of the communities in big cities like Bombay and Calcutta, where strong culture of bands consisting of Goanese and Parsi instrumentalists had developed very well. It was at one of such bands that Chocolate and Lord met Goody Seervai and were impressed by Seervai’s style of playing the accordion. They immediately introduced Seervai to C Ramchandra and Naushad.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The Sculptors of Film Songs (10): Van Shipley

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation)

(Van Shipley earned acclaim for his proficiency in violin and guitar, and he brought out many independent albums of tunes of film songs on these instruments. As such, he was among the well known arrangers and musicians. Yet there is no authentic data of the specific songs in which he played these instruments. Raj Kapoor was highly impressed with him after hearing his violin at a concert and brought him into his team. Thus, Van Shipley got associated with many everlasting songs from RK films.

I thank today’s guest authors Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vasihnav for throwing some light on one of the legendary musicians of Hindi films in their series on Arrangers and Musicians. – AK)

(Valentine) Van Shipley (B: 30-8-1927 | D: 8-3-2008) commenced his career in Hindi films by playing violin, he is perhaps better known as ‘The Man with Golden Guitar’. His mother was a skilled sitar player. Valentine’s three brothers and two sisters were talented musicians. However only Valentine Van Shipley went to become a professional musician. Van Shipley took his first violin lessons from Allahabad-based violinist, Gagan Chatterjee. While he was learning Hindustani classical music from noted khayal singers Ustad Bande Hasan Khan and his son, Ustad Zande Hasan Khan, he also took lessons in western music. He continued his training in violin from Ustad Allaudin Khan while he was with AIR, Lucknow. While at Lucknow, he got further training in sarod from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, who was then director of AIR Lucknow. Ustad Vilayat Khan was his classmate. He was friends with Pandit Ravi Shankar whom he had met in 1961.

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