Guest Authors

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

OP Nayyar’s association with Mahendra Kapoor

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar in OP Nayyar centenary series

(Ravindra Kelkar wrote a series of articles on OP Nayyar eight years ago. The grand centenary celebrations of Rafi on SOY inspired Mr Kelkar to mount a similar tribute to OP Nayyar whose centenary is on 16 January 2026. He also offered to write a number of articles culminating on the D-Day. This is Mr Kelkar’s second article in his second innings.

Mr Kelkar had close personal contact with OP Nayyar as his admirer, yet that does not cloud his judgement. Mahendra Kapoor was an important male singer for OP Nayyar in his post-Rafi phase, though Mr Kelkar acknowledges that he was not a match for Rafi. My view is somewhat nuanced. A famous song by any singer gets etched in our memory, and it is difficult to imagine it in any other voice, even in a superior singer’s voice. That would apply to some of Mahendra Kapoor’s songs by Ravi and OP Nayyar, and I have written posts on my favourite songs long ago. Mr Kelkar takes a more comprehensive look at OP Nayyar-Mahendra Kapoor combination.

Mr Kelkar has done Masters in Statistics and Computer Science, and he was an IT professional. Now retired, he is based out of Pune. Thank you Mr Kelkar for another nice article. – AK)

In my last series on OP Nayyar (6 posts in total) I had not written on this topic. I am making amends by writing this post. On the SOY blog, we already have quite a few posts related to Mahendra Kapoor, including one by AK on two songs of this combination, those songs being ‘Tumhara chahanewala’ from the film ‘Kahin Din Kahin Raat’ and ‘Mera pyar wo hai’ from film ‘Ye Raat Phir Na Aayegi’.  In the SOY family we have many Mahendra Kapoor admirers. I am impressed by their in-depth knowledge of many obscure and rarely heard Mahendra Kapoor songs. This also means that we need to include Mahendra Kapoor in the category of Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Talat Mehmood, Mukesh and Manna Dey. The Mahendra Kapoor and Ravi combination is very popular thanks to BR Chopra and on SOY this aspect is already covered in great detail. But in my view, the quality of OP Nayyar and Mahendra Kapoor songs is even better. Though I am not a Mahendra Kapoor fan as such, I do enjoy listening to many Mahendra Kapoor songs. In my view, he did a very competent job as Rafi’s replacement in OP’s music. But for me, Rafi was in a different class all together. Mahendra Kapoor was a hardworking, sincere singer and did his best in every song that he got to render. He was also a very soft spoken person and never had any ill word for anybody, like his guru Rafi.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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OP Nayyar’s transition from Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt to Asha Bhosle

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar launching OP Nayyar’s Centenary Celebrations with a tribute to Shamshad Begum on her 106th birth anniversary, and also wising a very Happy Baisakhi, Bihu, Vishu and similar festivals across India

(Ravindra Kelkar is another once-an-SOY-regular who has woken up after a deep slumber. This time it came as a bigger surprise. Mr Kelkar had written a series of six articles on OP Nayyar starting from his 10th death anniversary on 28.1.2017. The old-timers remember him as an OP-expert. Perhaps he had an epiphany when he saw the centenary celebrations of Rafi on SOY. As OP Nayyar’s centenary falls on 16 January 2026, Mr Kelkar approached me to celebrate his centenary likewise, and also offered to write a number of guest articles on him culminating on his Centenary Day.

OP Nayyar’s earliest superhit song was in the voice of Shamshad Begum, ‘Kabhi aar kabhi paar laaga teere-e-nazar’. Her contribution to OP Nayyar was immense – when he was facing boycott, she stood by him and gave one superhit after another. Yet, after giving some great songs with Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum, OP Nayyar gradually shifted wholesale to Asha Bhosle, with Rafi remaining a constant. The story is well-known but Mr Kelkar gives some critical insights. Though an unabashed fan of OP Nayyar, Mr Kelkar does not mince words when discussing his personality flaws. Similarly, in this provocative write-up there is no trace of malice when he concludes that finally it was a complete takeover by Asha Bhosle leading to his sharp downfall as he could not maintain the boundary between the professional and the personal.

Music is a matter of personal choice and you may disagree with Mr Kelkar with many of his observations. But according to me, this is a worthy article to launch OP Nayyar’s centenary celebrations. Shamshad Begum maintained a dignified silence all this while. This article coincides with her birthday (14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013), so it is befitting to pay our tributes to her. This day is also a joyous occasion in many parts of the country – Baisakhi (Punjab), Bihu (Assam), Vishu (Kerala), Gudi Parwa (Maharashtra) and so on. Wishing the readers the very best on this happy day.

Mr Kelkar is a post-graduate in Statistics and Computer Science and was an IT professional. He has since retired and is based out of Pune. Thank you Mr Kelkar for returning with an excellent article on OP Nayyar, who despite some personality flaws, gave us joyous music. I am happy to launch his centenary celebrations on a joyous occasion. – AK)

After reading the title, the question that comes to the mind is, was there really a transition to Asha or a takeover by Asha Bhosle? In my view, it was both, transition as well as a takeover. Was it the first time that a composer shifted from singer A to singer B? Of course not! When Lata Mangeshkar, who had debuted a few years earlier, created a storm in 1949-50, within no time there was a complete takeover by her. The reason was obvious. The sheer quality of Lata’s pure, melodious and sweet voice, so completely different from the then prevalent voices, along with her inborn musical intelligence and flawless rendering made it a virtual walk over. All the major composers en masse shifted to Lata. Nothing like this happened in Asha Bhosle’s case. OP Nayyar’s first film was Aasmaan (1952), in which Geeta Dutt sang for the first time; and Asha Bhosle and Shamshad Begum sang for the first time in OP Nayyar’s second film Chham Chhama Chham (1952), So, by the end of first two films itself, OP had used all the three singers.

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The evolution of Mohammad Rafi: PART ONE (1944-55)

Guest article by Hans Jakhar extending the centenary celebrations of Rafi (b. 24 Dec 1924 – d. 31 July 1980)

(Hans Jakhar, an SOY regular, is an avid Rafi fan and a Master of Data. Therefore, when I decided to celebrate 2024 as Rafi’s centenary year, my thoughts first went to him whether he would like to write a couple of articles on him. When he was more active on SOY he had written some guest articles, some of which were predominantly on Rafi. But of late he has been busy. This article came to me late when I had tightly packed the last months of 2024. My concluding article in Rafi’s centenary celebrations was on his evolution over the years with his duets. To highlight his versatility I had taken one duet a year with the condition that no music director was to be repeated. Even with this restriction I could get 25 gems over 25 years, composed by 25 distinct music directors.

Hans focusses on solos without any filters of a song in a year and a distinct music director. Therefore, you may get gap years and more than one song by a music director. However, with all the data Hans takes you on an interesting journey, and you discover many gems from Rafi’s early career. Some more articles on Rafi came late and I was happy to extend the centenary celebrations to 2025. This is in continuation of the celebrations.

Hans is a retired government official. He spends his post-retired life with his family in Haryana. Thanks a lot Hans for this nice article. – AK)   

AK asked me in April last year whether I would like to write for Mohammad Rafi’s Centenary in 2024. Normally he would not have asked but I have been extremely irregular in the past one year. I had, always in mind, this topic about progression of Rafi’s career, his struggles and his evolving as a top singer. Since the start of 2024 I thought it was the right time for presenting my thoughts. So I suggested and he agreed. It would be in two parts, the first part covering the time upto 1955 and the second from then to 1970. The time limit is kept up to 1970, it being the span of SOY’s primary interest. Even if that has not been the case it would have been impossible to cover his whole career in two parts. It is hard to cover it in two parts, but we will have to adhere to some limit.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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

Classical Songs of Mohammad Rafi, With Some Thoughts on Gara

Guest article by Subodh C Agrawal

(My friend Subodh Agrawal is a great lover of music, he wields a fluent pen, and knows a good deal about classical music. Being among the earliest ones to be a part of SOY journey, he had accepted my request to write a series on film songs based on classical raags. It is difficult to believe that once upon a time he was an active contributor to the Songs Of Yore. For the last few years, he has been in hibernation, his only excuse being he was not feeling like writing anything. His last guest article for SOY was more than four years ago. I am happy that Rafi’s centenary has woken him up from his deep slumber.

For newcomers to the SOY, Subodh is from UP, worked in Punjab and Delhi, and after retirement, is settled at Chandigarh.

Subodh writes on a serious subject with a light touch which you see in his very first sentence. In fact the subject line in his mail mentioned, Kumbhkarn has woken up! The article was too late to be scheduled in the 2024, but it was too good to be left out. Some more Rafi-fans also had sent me their tributes somewhat late, hence I am pleased to extend the Rafi centenary celebrations. Thank you, Subodh for finally giving this pleasant surprise. – AK)

The birth centenary of Mohammad Rafi (December 24, 2024) has pulled me out of my Kumbhkarn like slumber. I don’t even remember when I contributed my last article to this platform. My apologies to those who expected more from me. Hopefully this article will make up for the delay.

When one thinks of classical songs by male singers in Hindi films, Manna Dey’s name automatically springs to mind – and rightly so. He has given us some of the greatest classical based songs: ‘Poochho na kaise maine rain bitaayee’, ‘Laga chunari mein daag’, ‘Jhanak jhanak tori baaje payaliya’ to name just a few. However, the classical songs of Rafi are no less. His name is not so easily identified with classical songs because of his amazingly wide range. The songs in the list below show that he was not lacking in the skill needed to do full justice to classical ragas.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

SAFARNAMA: In Pursuit of Two Iconic Lives

A Journey with Dilip Kumar (11th December 1922 – 7th July 2021) and Mohammed Rafi (24th December 1924 – 31st July 1980)

Guest article by N Venkataraman in the series of Centenary Celebrations of Rafi with his songs for Dilip Kumar on his 102nd Birth Anniversary

(Dilip Kumar is the undisputed thespian of acting. Rafi is unarguably the most versatile singer. He became identified with the voice of many heroes. No wonder he also became the voice of Dilip Kumar, with Naushad as the admirer of both and the music director in a succession of their films. Surprising, because Naushad came wholesale to Rafi quite late in the day. Dilip Kumar is known to have asked for Talat Mahmood as his voice in some early 50s’ films. Naushad himself used Mukesh as the voice of Dilip Kumar with great success in ‘Mela’ (1948) and ‘Andaaz’ (1949). Mukesh was his voice in some more films under the baton of other music directors.

Thus, if you were on a journey with Dilip Kumar, it was not obvious that Rafi would become identified as his voice, helmed by the great Naushad. Today happens to be the 102nd birth anniversary of Dilip Kumar. Venkataramanji takes us on a fascinating journey of the two maestros in tandem as only he could. Originally from South India, he is based out of Kolkata and is a polymath in the quintessential Bengali bhadralok tradition. Thanks a lot Venkataramanji for this double treat of 102nd birth anniversary tribute to Dilip Kumar and a tribute to Rafi in the series of his centenary celebrations. – AK)

Once upon a time, in the bustling city of Peshawar, there lived a well-bred, energetic, handsome teenager, who was one of the beloved sons of his parents and the light of his family. He was oblivious of where his destiny was leading him to. Roughly 400 kms away, another young boy, a radiant soul, lived in a sleepy village near Amritsar, who possessed a heart of gold, an infectious smile and tenderness. He cherished to conquer the world with his god-gifted melody. Both of them embarked upon a captivating journey, one in pursuit of an unknown destiny and the other in pursuit of his cherished dream, traversing the landscapes of life in the process with grace and determination.  This Safarnama unfolds on a prestigious train, echoing their splendid and eventful future. The Frontier Mail is about leave the Peshawar station and let me jump in to make it my Safarnama too. To waltz through the ups and downs of their journey I am inviting everyone to make it a part of OUR journey, with a caveat that it is going to be a long haul and an exhaustive one too. 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

Mohammad Rafi & Johnny Walker in Symbiosis

Guest article by DP Rangan as a joint tribute to Rafi on his 44th Remembrance Day and Johnny Walker on his 21st Remembrance Day.

(The title of this post says it all. When you think of Johnny Walker you think of Rafi. JW established a presence for himself and soon the producers and music directors realised that giving a song or two to him increased the commercial prospects of a film. For a comedian to achieve that status was remarkable. Thus, many songs picturised on him achieved iconic status, and are often remembered till today towering over other songs in the film. The credit was also due to Rafi who could modulate his voice to sound like JW.

The indefatigable guest author DP Rangan describes this relationship in detail as only he could. The statistics relate to only those songs that Rafi sang for Johnny Walker. JW lip-synched several songs on the screen, sung by other singers. Further, JW acted in many films in which he had no songs or no songs by Rafi. That is why you would see difference in the number of films in two tables – one only for movies, and the other movies and songs.

The symbiotic relationship between JW and Rafi extended to another unique aspect. Their death anniversaries are separated by two days. Today is Rafi’s 44th Remembrance Day. We had JW’s 21st Remembrance Day two days ago. This is a befitting tribute to two great artists in symbiosis. Thank you Mr Rangan for another superb article. – AK)

The first post in the blog SOY for 2024 was posted on 1st January by AKji, on the late Mohammad Rafi (hereinafter referred to as Rafi for brevity), a superlative playback singer who straddled the film world as a giant for over 35 years from 1944 till his early demise in July 1980. A series of articles will probably appear during this centenary year of his birth. This is my humble endeavour to contribute at least one article on the symbiotic relations he had with the noted comedian Johnny Walker (JW). I am stretching the meaning of “symbiosis” a little by taking refuge under the assumption that one is a playback singer and the other is an actor, though both are homo sapiens. AKji has written everything of note about Rafi and I have nothing further to contribute.

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