Guest Authors

The Sculptors of Film Music (2): Anthony Gonsalves

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (originally in Gujarati) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation) as a tribute to Anthony Gonsalves (12 June 1927 – 18 January 2012)

(Greg Booth starts his celebrated book on the musicians and arrangers, “Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai’s Film Studios”, with the introductory chapter titled, “Who Is Anthony Gonsalves”. We all, of course, know that he was one of the three brothers of Manmohan Desai’s “Amar Akbar Anthony” (1977), played on the screen by Amitabh Bachchan, who burst out of a huge Easter egg, singing the suerhit song “My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves”.

However, not many know that LP composed this song as a tribute to Pyarelal’s violin guru, Anthony Gosalves. Booth also points to the irony of the biggest star of Hindi films, The Amitabh Bachchan playing a character and lip-sync a song named after a musician and arranger who lived a life of anonymity.

Anthony Gonsalves was regarded as the first arranger of Hindi films, starting his career from the 1940s. Continuing their series of tribute to what they call “The Sculptors of Film Music”, the guest writers Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav now answer the question, “Who Was Anthony Gonsalves”. Their first article was devoted to Sebastian D’Souza. Thank you Piyushji and Ashokji for another highly informative article on one of the greatest musicians and arrangers. – AK)

Even a very keen follower of film music would it find it difficult to list the music arrangers and instrument players beyond a few, more by luck than design, handpicked popular names. When radio was the major source of listening to the film songs, one possible reason that music arrangers and instrument players hardly got any mention when the song was played was that for each song such a list would probably take more time than possibly the actual paying time of the song, typically recorded on one side of a 78-RPM shellac record. By the time FM radio listening generation came in, this genre of supporting music was confined to pre-programmed database of ‘digitally generated’ sounds of digital or electronic instruments. So, when the music director himself was becoming more of an assembler, it would be surprising if any other support sources would have got some mention.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The Sculptors of Film Songs (1): Sebastian D’Souza

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (originally in Gujarati) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation) as a tribute to Sebastian D’Souza on his 117 birth anniversary (29 January 1906 – 9 March 1998)

(If you remove the prelude, interlude and orchestral arrangements from ‘Aawara hun, ya gardish mein hun aasman ka tara hun’, or ‘Mera joota hai Japani’ or scores of our everlasting songs, a bare body would be left without adornments, embellishments and beauty. The songs would be hardly recognisabale.

The ‘arrangement’ of musical instruments adds beauty to the bare body of the song created by the music director. Yet the arrangers remained behind the curtain. They were rarely credited in the credit titles in fine print, and they virtually remained unknown to the music loving people, except some who were deeply involved in it.

There have been repeated requests by the readers to write on some famous Arrangers. I had to politely skirt the issue; I realised that one needed much more information than what was there in Greg Booth’s celebrated book, “Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai’s Film Studios”.

In this situation Piyush Pandya’s series in Gujarati on Web Gurjari  came as a godsend. Mr Pandya retired after teaching Microbiology in a local college for 39 years, and is now settled in Ahmedabad. He was deeply interested in the songs of 1940s through 1970s, and was drawn towards fine points of orchestration. He often wondered who played which instrument at a particular spot in a song. The Internet era has helped him in scouring for information, and assisted by knowledgeable friends like Har Mandir Singh ‘Hamraaz’, Harish Raghuvanshi, Biren Kothari and Chandrashekhar Vaidya, Piyushji has been able to write a series on the famous Arrangers of the Golden Era.

Ashok M Vashnav offered to translate these articles in English for publication on SOY, one a month. Ashokji is well known to SOY regulars. He retired as an engineer and now is a freelance management trainer based out of Ahmedabad.

Piyushji and Ashokji have decided to launch the series in the New Year with one of the greatest Arrangers, Sebastian D’Souza on his 117th birth anniversary (29 January 1906 – 9 March 1998). Being the first article in the series, it has a long introduction how our film music evolved from our ancient roots in other performance traditions; this would not be repeated in the remaining articles. With this I also welcome Piyushji on his debut in the new Year on SOY. Thanks a lot Piyushji and Ashokji for this wonderful New Year gift. – AK)

Introduction: Evolution of Film Music

A school of knowledgeable people believes that the music came into being when an infinitely dense singularity exploded with a Big Bang to bring our universe into existence. That explosion is our primal sound. The spread of that sound on a wave of radiation brought rhythm into existence. Thus, the two basic elements of music – the note (melody) and the beat (rhythm) – also can be believed to have come into existence simultaneously with the universe. The blowing of winds, explosions of volcanoes, the thunders of clouds and the strong winds of tornadoes that kept happening throughout the chain of events on the earth brought in them vast range of sounds. The waves of oceans, flowing waters of streams, winds blowing through the woods, the chime of rain drops falling on the leaves blended variety to the diversity of sound.READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Pyarelal Santoshi: Jack of All Trades?

Guest article by DP Rangan as a tribute to the polymath PL Santoshi, the lyricist, dialogue & script writer, actor, singer, producer, director

(Most of us with some familiarity about our vintage films know PL Santoshi as one of the prominent lyricists. His association with C Ramchandra in several blockbusters made his name quite well-known. But very few of us know about his other talents as comes out in this article by DP Rangan. After reading this article you would know that he also produced and directed films, acted and sang in some films, and wrote dialogues, stories, and scripts. One can’t but bow to such a talent.

Mr Rangan has chosen to present his tribute on the 105th birth anniversary of C Ramchandra in recognition of Santoshi’s most prominent association with him. SOY regulars are quite familiar with Mr Rangan. For a septuagenarian with a non-Hindi background to do this kind of thorough work is awe inspiring. Thanks a lot Mr Rangan. – AK)

In one of my earlier posts on lyricists, I had stated that with the advent of talkies from 1931 in India, the triumvirate of  music director, singer and lyricist constituted a major element of film production. It has continued to be so till date, but with a progressive decline in quality over years, particularly in the twenty first century.

Film industry is a conglomerate of different disciplines as is revealed in the details of names of various individuals along with their role at the start of the film projected on the silver screen in the auditorium. I can think of a few constituents – lyricist, dialogue writer, story writer, screen writer, scenario, art director, special effects, actor, producer, director et al. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Master Ghulam Haider: A Trailblazer

Guest article by DP Rangan as a tribute to Ghulam Haider on his 69th Remembrance Day (1908 – 9 November 1953)

(DP Rangan has been the most prolific guest writer for SOY, but it is more than a year since he last wrote. Some health issues which required hospitalisation, and his computer suddenly conking off has kept him down. But he has been restless all this while to come back to SOY. After getting over his niggling problems he is back with an exhaustive article on Ghulam Haider. There has been no exclusive article on him on this blog so far; he only makes one-third appearance in my post titled Shamshad Begum with 3G (one of the 3G, albeit the most important for Shamshad Begum’s career being Ghulam Haider).

Mr Rangan has long retired from government service and he is well into his seventies. Because of his frail health and his handicap of language I have been advising him to take it easy. But he has boundless energy. This exhaustive article is a proof. Thank you Mr Rangan for filling an important gap on the SOY. – AK)

Ghulam HaiderHuman beings are highly individualistic in nature and each has his own unique personality and attributes. What sets apart some from the multitude is their innate good nature, getting along with fellow human beings, caring for the sensibilities of others, readiness to nurture and encourage talents of those they are frequently interacting with, besides being highly proficient in their chosen field of activity. This is a sine qua non in film industry to avert ego clashes. Ghulam Haider (hereinafter referred to as GH in the post) is unique in this regard as he had all these qualities fused in him. He cared for his fellow workers and had an uncanny ability to spot talents among budding singers and nurture them in right ways. He was a pioneer in revolutionising the way music was set for films and was a pathbreaker. In his career of 18 years in film music composition from 1935 to 1953, he gave music for just about 32 films of which roughly one fourth were Punjabi films. Quality always takes precedence over quantity while judging a music director’s calibre and he came out with flying colours when viewed in this light.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Rafi’s songs with some unrecognised composers

Guest article by Sivanandam Palamadai as a tribute to Rafi on his 42nd Remembrance Day (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980)

(Rafi was the most dominant male playback singer of the Golden Era of film music. Yet he remained an unassuming, simple-hearted person with malice to none. The stories of his kindness and support to unrecognised music directors are legion. If his singing could help a struggling music director, he was willing to sing free for him. He sang some of his unforgettable songs for now-forgotten music directors.

Sivanandam Palamadai is relatively a new member of SOY, but is already an active participant. He is a passionate fan of Rafi and has been writing regularly for a forum dedicated to Rafi. When he offered to write on Rafi for SOY, we tossed ideas back and forth. I suggested this topic to him which can be worthy as a debut article on SOY.

Mr Palamadai is in his late 50s. He is a native of Tamil Nadu, but has lived in Pune for over 25 years. He has been a marketing professional all his working life, now in semi-retirement by choice to be in control of his career options. He is a keen listener of all kinds of music: film songs, non-film songs of Hindi and other languages, Hindustani, Carnatic and Western classical music. It gives me great pleasure to introduce a new guest writer with this superb article on Rafi’s songs for some unrecognised music directors, as a tribute to Rafi on his 42nd Remembrance Day. – AK)

RafiThere is a famous quote from Shakespeare’s play ‘Twelfth Night’: Some are born great; some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them. With due apologies to Shakespeare, we should add one more category to this: “Some are unfortunate in this world to be denied their greatness!!”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Duets (+) of Mukesh: With Male Singers

Guest article by Ahok M Vaishnav as a tribute to Mukesh on his 99th Birth Anniversary (b. July 22, 1923 – d. August 27, 1976)

(Once SOY-veteran N Venkataraman remarked that there has been a post on Mukesh every year. If it was there, I or a guest author must have had something new to write on. It was not mechanical. The enthusiastic reader-cum-guest author Ashok M Vaishnav has noticed that a post on Mukesh’s duets with male singers is missing.

One reason for this omission is that MM duets are very few in number compared to the conventional MF duets, and these do not cause same waves as MF duets. But for a gold prospector like Ashokji, this is no deterrent. The result is a very thorough article on Mukesh’s duets with some male singers.

As the SOY regulars are aware, Ashokji is a retired engineer and now a freelance management training professional. He has been a prolific writer on this blog. Thank you Ashokji for yet another superb article on Mukesh as a tribute to him on his 99th Birth Anniversary. – AK)

Mukesh and his male co-singersFilms in India, by and large, revolve around different themes of love between a boy and a girl. As such, songs come in very handy as a very strong and direct, easy-to-comprehend, medium to express the different shades of feelings of love. Traditionally, the solo songs occupied the space of prime importance. During vintage era this was more a necessity because the singers were generally actors themselves. Moreover, the recording technology also was in the development stage, which made recording a duet song with two vastly different musical qualities of pitch and timbre of a male and female voice was quite difficult in comparison to the recording of a solo song.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Nathli se toota moti re: Manna Dey’s Non-film Hindi Gems

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav as a tribute t0 Manna Dey on his 103rd birth anniversary (1 May 1919 – 24 October 2013)

(Manna Dey has been described by some as an enigma among singers. That was a reference to his apparent defensiveness about his place among the contemporary playback singers, despite having the most solid training in classical music. I take it as his modesty and accepting the reality that singing in films is different from classical music, and that there was something in Rafi which he didn’t have. I contrast it with the public grumbling by the later era Suresh Wadkar, how thorough was his training in classical music, yet Bollywood has been so unfair not to give him his due. 

Manna Dey was a man of many parts, and he was a singer of many parts. One important part of his singing – non-film songs – has not yet been covered on this blog. Ashok M Vaishnav identified this omission and fills the gap by this article.

Ashokji is a retired engineer, and now a freelance management professional. He is a keen lover of different forms of music and a prolific writer on this blog. Thank you Ashokji for this comprehensive article – AK)

Manna Dey

Among his contemporaries of the 1950s Manna Dey was considered as versatile as others.  His voice had unique strength even when being inherently soft. Devoid of any jerks, his voice radiated a feeling of eternal peace despite the extreme passion embedded in the rendition. As such the connoisseurs of film music fondly credited his voice to be capable of delivering the poetry along with music and melody. He was considered artist among fellow artistes and a singer of singers. It was perhaps his being so respectfully perched on a high pedestal that kept him away from being considered as ‘popular’, ‘mass’ singer.

However, I was lucky that my awareness, and in turn liking, for Manna Dey’s voice occurred during the very early years when I was unconsciously getting groomed to liking the films songs, much before I started reading about those divergent views about Manna Dey’s singing. As a result, all that I read about his singing never affected my very own liking for that enchanting voice.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The Teary-eyed Songs

Guest article by Anita Rupavataram

(Mukesh once famously sang, ‘Hazaaron tarah ke ye hote hain aansoo’ (song #5 in this post). There are literally thousands of types of tears.  Of joy, of sorrow. Of victory, of defeat. Of success, of failure. Of love, of break-up. Of parting, of union. Involuntary tears caused by music, painting, dance, theatre, cinema, sports. Anita Rupavataram makes her debut as a guest writer on SoY, with this excellent post on the songs of tears in different situations.

Anita has been a recent active participant on SoY. She herself writes an interesting blog titled, Trivia: The spice of Life. In her own words, “Trivia is what adds flavour to life. At the end of a day, when you sit back and reflect, what you rejoice and reminisce are the little things that occurred which made your day – a small thank you message from a friend, a song that you heard after years, a parrot that you saw perched on a branch outside your window – the list could be endless. It is this trivia that distinguishes one day of life from another.”

With her busy professional career, being a homemaker, mother to two daughters, amateur singer,  part-time Radio Jockey, an aficionado of handlooms and handicrafts, writer of a blog, Anita is truly a Multitasker as she describes herself on her blog. She has quite an insight into literature. I was pleasantly surprised by her offer to write an article for SoY, which she could very well have done for her own blog.

It was a pleasure to interact with her in the course of preparing for this post. She was very receptive to my random ideas, even if these came after she had done and dusted her final draft and had already mailed it to me. Coming soon after our collective grief on the passing away of Lata Mangeshkar, this is a very timely post. I have great pleasure in welcoming and presenting before the readers a new guest author. – AK)

Have you ever wondered why we cry? Albert Smith, an English international footballer once said, “tears are the safety valve of the heart when too much pressure is laid on it.” Tears release stress-relieving hormones. Once copious tears have been shed, one feels much better, with all the pent up emotions having found a vent. I am reminded of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s famous lines for a woman who has lost her husband in war. She is unmoved, even after seeing his mortal remains. The maidens around her say, “She must weep or she will die.” This line, perhaps, consummately sums up the significance of tears.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Mohammad Rafi’s Non-film Hindi Geets and Ghazals

A tribute to Mohammad Rafi on his 97th Birth Anniversary (b. December 24, 1924 – d. July 31, 1980) by guest author Ashok M Vaishnav and wishing Merry Christmas to all

(Ashok M Vaishnav is a solid Rafi fan, without wearing it as a medallion, and without picking up a sword to slay anyone at the slightest suspicion that he might be slighting Rafi. His love for Rafi is evident in this article on his non-film geets and ghazals. This does not cover his non-film bhajans and naats. Therefore, there is a possibility that at some opportune time Ashokji might have plans for covering that too.

Ashokji is a retired engineer, now a freelance management trainer, based out of Ahmedabad. He has written a number of guest articles on SOY. He anchored the mega series on Multiple Version Songs. Thank you Ashokji for this impressive tribute to Rafi on his 97th Birth anniversary, which would be befittingly the last post of the year. This is also to wish Merry Christmas to all the readers and their families. – AK)

In the 1930s and 40s, it was a normal practice for the recording companies to contract singers with exclusive rights. That would require other companies to launch non-film songs with other singers to make their presence felt in the market. That probably laid the foundation of the practice of publishing the records of non-film songs. By the turn of the 1940s, the singers turned freelancers, hence the major recording companies took up to buying the rights of the entire album of the films. That again led the smaller players to approach the singers for recording non-film songs. In the 1950s, 60s and thereafter, the market forces kept changing the rules, but non-film songs had created such a niche for themselves that the genre has survived and thrived. (A contra view: Jagmohan, Juthika Roy, etc. emerged primarily as NFS singers. It is difficult to accept that they became NFS singers because leftovers came their way. –AK)

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Rajendra Krishna with Chitragupta and Ravi: Reaching for the skies

Guest article by Hans Jakhar in continuation of his series on Rajendra Krishna

(When some readers observed that the lyricists have not been give their due importance on SOY, Hans Jakhar offered to write a series of articles on Rajendra Krishna’s combination with different music directors. He has already written two articles in the series on his association with two of his most famous combinations – with C Ramchandra and Madan Mohan. Continuing the series, in this article he covers Rajendra Krishna’s prolific combination with two other music directors, Chitragupta and Ravi. Among his several guest articles, he had earlier written on Shakeel Badayuni’s combination with Ravi.

Not everyone relates to lyrics as intensely as Hans Jakhar does. In most music lovers’ mind a great song is associated with the voice (singer) and the tune (music director). We often lose sight of the contribution of the lyricist, except for a very few prominent ones. Hans has shown his special expertise in analysing the lyrics of a song.

Once Hans takes up a work, he does a thorough job of it in spite of time constraints. He has done this article in face of his personal difficulties. Thank you Hans for another thorough article on a lyricist-music director combination. – AK)

Rajendra Krishna with Chitragupta and RaviWith Chitragupta and Ravi we move into the Rafi territory. It is not that C Ramchandra (CR) or Madan Mohan (MM) did not use Rafi enough, but their main focus was Lata Mangeshkar. CR did not care for Rafi after he got settled with Lata Mangeshkar, and even for MM, Rafi was in an assisting role. When in the 1960s MM used Rafi on a larger scale his use of Rajendra Krishna declined due to Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and Kaifi Azmi getting the lion’s share of good Rafi songs in that phase of his association with MM.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE