Guest Authors

Dekho Dosto Chhed Ka Maza!

Guest article by Shalan Lal [The title is adapted from Hasrat Jaipuri’s lyrics in the film ‘Shararat’ (1959)]

(From Krishna teasing the gopis to Kishore Kumar, Shammi Kapoor and other heroes teasing heroines in the films, chhed chhad has been an integral part of our culture.  You would expect from the title that the post would contain a brief write up and some chhed chhad songs.  But as the readers have seen Shalan Lal in her Aviary of Songs, she infuses even the most commonplace subject with deep knowledge of literature, arts and music. In her second guest article for SoY, she similarly explores the origin of teasing and myths related to the pastime of harmless leg-pulling across cultures, and also presents some of the best Hindi film songs in the genre. Thank you, Shalan. – AK)

PadosanThe SoY posts bring attentions to certain aspects of music, songs, themes and music makers etc. So I laboured to see if there was any mileage in the genre called Chhed chhad songs in the SoY. I found that it was yet an uncovered territory and I could add some interesting material about it.

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Star showers in Bollywood

Guest article by DP Rangan

(Full Moon evokes poetry, beauty and romance.  One would think its converse, Dark Moon, must be very depressing.   But think again.  That is the time when the stars come out in full glory. As with the moon, stars, too, have evoked wonder, admiration and myths. We see our seven ancient great sages in the stars, known as Saptarshi. When a dear one passes away, we imagine he/she has become one of the stars in the sky.  Bollywood has also been inspired to create ‘Taare/Sitaare’ songs in great numbers. A Full Moon Night is followed 15 days later by the Dark Moon, or Amavasya, according to our Almanac.  No sooner had we been satiated by the Bollywood’s romance with the Moon, DP Rangan was ready with his ‘stars’ post.  On my suggestion he has cut out a great deal of astronomical details.  Having read his full article I can say he is not an amateur astronomer.  Mr Rangan has diligently covered every year of the 50s with some great selection of songs.  ‘Moon’ came on a Full Moon Day.  Today is Dark Moon, the best time to enjoy Mr Rangan’s dalliance with ‘taare’ and ‘sitaare’. Thank you Mr Rangan. – AK)

Chaand taareAnyone could jump to a conclusion that this post has something to do with the glittering actors of filmdom, particularly female of the species, popularly known as stars or actress. Such is not my intention. I will commence with my personal experience as a boy.

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Moon and Mumbai (Bollywood)

Guest article by DP Rangan

(After riding the high horse, Mr Rangan now explores the romance of moon.  I have earlier mentioned he is always bubbling with energy.   A seventy-plus going on seventeen, he is a great romantic – don’t be misled by his astronomical wanderings. This piece is another evidence of his zest for life.  Coincidentally, today is Full Moon day – the best time to enjoy this post written by a person young at heart. Thank you Mr Rangan.  – AK)

Moon songWhat is a moon one may wonder. Wikipedia will probably define it as a heavenly object going round a planet. It evolved either as a part of the original planetary system or a captured asteroid. Hubble telescope has identified numerous planets around stars in our galaxy. Probably many of these exoplanets may have their own moons. But, the present day technology is not adequate to confirm them. We are concerned more with our solar system where there are many more mysteries to be unraveled. The four gaseous giants – Jupiter (67), Saturn (62), Uranus (27) and Neptune (14) together have approximately 170 moons orbiting them. More moons could be discovered in future. Even the tiny Pluto, recently dethroned from the family of planets and downgraded, has 4 moons.

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Tonga in the Tinsel World

Guest article by DP Rangan

(DP Rangan has been a familiar figure in the comments section.  He recently debuted as a guest author with his piece on Bollywood’s love affair with horses.  I had introduced him as a member of the very senior brigade, who has the enthusiasm of a teenager.  The proof is this sequel to his last post.  He had planned to put the cart before the horse, but on my suggestion he has right-sequenced the order.  For someone whose first language is not Hindi, the collection of songs is absolutely impressive.  Thank you Mr Rangan for another outstanding piece. – AK)  

Tonga songI have written enough about the horses in my earlier post and how they are part and parcel of humans even in the present age of technological advancement. Encouraged by the response of the generous readers to my first effort at ‘writing’, I venture to write its sequel on their use in horse carts, or tongas. Horses continue to be yoked to carts and haul people and goods from place to place. Fortunately, horse carts have been phased out from almost all the metropolis and may be a rare sight in countryside too. I am happy to see them in partial liberation. I hope to see a reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln to free them in totality and ensure they roam in whatever little is left of the wild. Film producers, of late, are not incorporating such scenes in their films. It is only an educated guess as I have not been to a theatre for more than fifteen years and have rarely sat before the idiot box with the technical name of Television. I am a computer nerd and, while trawling through internet, chanced upon SoY and my life thereafter became topsy turvy. I saw many snippets of songs based on tonga/cart scenes and decided to present them to the followers of this blog.

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Multiple Versions Songs (24): Songs having versions across different films – similar initial lyrics in mukhada

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(The founder of the mega series Multiple Version Songs, Ashokji brings up another one from his inexhaustible storehouse of multiple versions on different criteria. The multiple versions so far have generally been from the same film. Continuing his series he brings up an interesting variety of songs which have multiple versions across different films. In some cases these may be a traditional bandish, where you may find some versions outside films. Some traditional bandishes have been sung by a large number of classical and semi-classical singers. He has left out such songs for practical reasons. This post too shows his capacity for detailed research. The present post includes less than half of what he has compiled. We may put up the remaining songs subsequently, depending on the readers interest.– AK)

Multiple version songsTill now all the multiple version songs that we talked belonged to the same film, except of course, version songs across different languages. We now chart a different trajectory of Multiple Versions of Songs.

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Bollywood’s love affair with Horse

Guest article by DP Rangan

(We started the New Year with our tiny friends – birds – introduced to us by a scholarly guest article by Shalan Lal. At the other end of the spectrum, the large species Horse has been even more integral to us through the history. And introducing these beautiful animals is this erudite article by DP Rangan through Bollywood’s love affair with the Horse.

Mr Rangan is a latecomer to the SoY, but he has made his presence felt by his active engagement and informative comments. He is diligently devouring the previous posts of SoY, and like Shalan writes to me long mails on various topics. From his mails I have gathered that after retirement from government service long ago he has become a globe trotter, spending time with his sons who are settled abroad and touching home in Delhi periodically. Well over seventy, he joins the senior brigade of SoY, but has the enthusiasm of a teenager. We are fortunate to have grand opening by two guest authors at the beginning of the year, and I am sure we are going to see many more from them. Welcome Mr Rangan formally at the top line and thanks a lot for this excellent piece. – AK)

Bachpan ke dinHorse is no stranger to us bipeds and its life is closely interwoven with that of humans. As an utilitarian they have no equals. They served mankind, albeit unwillingly as mounts, beasts of burden, plough draggers, stagecoach haulers, Victoria pullers, transporting royals and dignitaries to name a few.

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An aviary of Songs

Bird-watch in the Songs of Yore

Wishing Happy New Year to all the readers with guest article by Shalan Lal

(Once upon a time there were birds around us and they were a part of our lives, songs, mtyths and legends. When the crow cawed we knew it was advance intimation of a guest coming; when the koel cooed in the monsoon rains it pierced the heart of the lonely lady pining for her lover who was away; when the papiha sang far away the lovers knew the night was only half left; when Shakaracharya heard a parrot uttering deeply metaphysical aphorisms like स्वतः प्रमाणं परतः प्रमाणम्‌ he knew he had reached the house of Pandit Mandan Mishra; and when Valmiki heard the heart-rending cry of a crane whose partner was killed by a hunter’s arrow during mating, from his grief-stricken heart came out the first verse of the mankind that made him the आदि कवि.

If you think about it, the once familiar birds are becoming rarer. Songs of Yore heralds the New Year remembering these birds with this guest article by Shalan Lal. Shalan has discovered SoY late, but has since become its avid follower. Besides the very learned comments she posts on the blog, she often sends me long comments as she catches up with the old posts when she feels these may appear outdated on the blog. Our interaction has led to several interesting ideas that can develop into articles. While we were discussing some other topics, I was pleasantly surprised to get this beautifully written piece in mail.

Shalan is based in London where she works with women’s issues. She is widely travelled, she has had academic association with the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and some other universities. Her interests range from politics to literature to religion. This article bears out her wide-ranging inetersts and international outlook.

Thank you Shalan for this article and welcome to SoY as a guest author. – AK)

BirdThis is a bird’s eye view of the Songs of Yore over the Hindi films. In the English culture often the word Bird was used for a young girl by the male youths in the sixties and seventies. I was young then. There were other words for the young girls used in those days as well for example “a doll”, a babe and the vulgar term “a crumpet” as well. There could be more.

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Multiple Versions Songs (23): A Male / Female solo / duet or a Chorus – More than two versions of a song

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(Ashokji is coming to the end of his current enquiry into the songs that have a specific type of multiple version songs.  He has covered songs that have a male solo and a duet or chorus in two parts – MVS (20) and MVS (21), and the ones having a female solo and such versions in MVS (22).  Here he is presenting songs that have at least three versions.  As the SoY regulars are aware, the Mega Series on Multiple Version Songs, has gone into many dimensions, including  songs that have versions across different languages.  You can be sure that with his indefatigable spirit and great capacity to look for details, ably supported by the knowledgeable readers, Ashokji would find many more variations in this umbrella category of songs. You can review the entire series here. – AK)

Multiple version songsThe journey to Male Solo and a Duet Or a Female Solo and a Duet or Chorus has one more fascinating side – the songs that have three versions.

The illustrations that I have been able to collect show that such a route has been used to vividly depict different moods or situations where the same song (or at least mukhda) serves to provide the common linkage.

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Multiple Versions Songs (22): Female Solo and A Duet or A Chorus

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(Ashokji has been currently exploring a specific type of multiple version songs that have a solo and a duet or chorus versions.  In his last two articles, Multiple Version Songs (20) and (21), he explored those songs that have a male solo and its duet/chorus versions.  He continues the enquiry for female solos that have such versions.  As the readers are aware, Ashokji has laid the foundation of the Mega Series on Multiple Version Songs, which has seen contributions from some other guest writers as well. I thank him for his unflagging interest in going to the depths of the subject. – AK)

Multiple version songsWe are onto the multiple versions of a solo song which has a pairing duet or a chorus. In the first sub-variation of this theme, we had a male solo and its duet or chorus version. Presently, we will take up multiple version songs where one song is a solo by a female playback singer and the other version is either a duet or a chorus.

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Multiple Versions Songs (21): Male solo and Duet or Chorus (Part II)

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(Ashokji has been recently exploring songs that have a solo version and a duet or chorus version.  In this series within the Mega series on Multiple Version Songs, he wrote on January 20, 2015 on songs that have a male solo and a duet or chorus version.  This guest article is a sequel to that post, arising out of the comments and responses of the readers to his last article. Ashokji’s perseverance in exploring a subject to the minutest detail is quite impressive. – AK)

Multiple version songs‘Multiple Versions Songs (20): Male Solo and Duet or Chorus’ received an overwhelming feedback from the very learned, active and passionate SoY fraternity. That makes a writer like me overwhelmed by a sense of great joy and deep gratitude. The feedback has thrown up quite a few more songs for this particular variation of A Male Solo and its Duet or Chorus Version as well as for other variations. So, it is matter of a great pleasure to do this sequel to the ‘Multiple Versions Songs (20): Male Solo and Duet or Chorus’.

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