That I am an inveterate fan of Lata Mangeshkar is nothing exceptional. She was ‘the’ female playback voice of the Golden Era. Now the readers are aware I am fascinated even more by Naushad. Therefore, I took it for granted that I have already written on Lata Mangeshkar’s best songs by Naushad, as I have done on her songs with other composers. When I tried to recall the songs I had included in that post, I realised, to my surprise, that I have not written it at all. Had I done that, ‘Tere sadke balam’ would have come in for some special mention. A fellow blogger has written he could listen to this song a hundred times continuously without getting tired of it. I have done that, and more, because it was more than a song for me; it was a binding element, an anthem with which are associated my memories of some most fascinating people at the Patna Secretariat tennis courts, where I was a regular for about eight years, until I shifted to Delhi.
Lata Mangeshkar
Best songs of 1951: Wrap Up 3
Songs of Yore Award for the Best Female Playback Singer goes to Lata, Lata, Lata…Lata Mangeshkar, with Happy Diwali greetings to all
All superlatives fall short of describing Lata Mangehkar’s dominance in 1951, just as we saw in 1955 and 1953. Mahesh even said that the best female playback singer other than Lata Mangeshkar is Lata Mangeshkar herself. Many of us would give 1 to 10 slots to her, and still feel that many more everlasting songs are still left out. Since the year also had career landmarks of several ‘other’ singers, we decided to split the female singers in two parts. ‘Other’ singers have been covered in the Wrap Up 2. In this Wrap Up (3), devoted exclusively to Lata Mangeshkar, we can discuss her best without being constrained to look over our shoulders to include ‘others’ for equity.
Kishore Kumar’s duets by SD Burman
A tribute on Kishore Kumar’s death anniversary October 13
It is befitting that I am completing my (renewed) series on SD Burman with the singer he was most fond of. With 115 songs, he gave Kishore Kumar more songs than any other (male) singer. Surjit Singh’s site indicates that out of this only 53 were solos, and 62 were duets and other songs. If you just start recalling their songs, duets are as likely to flood your memory as the solos. Can SD Burman-KK be complete without Kora kagaz tha ye man mera, Gata rahe mera dil, Aasman ke neeche hum aaj apne peeche or Chhod do aanchal zamana kya kahega? Therefore, when I resumed the SD Burman series with his different singers, it soon became clear that I have to do Kishore Kumar duets, too, to complement his solos I did last year.
The Swar-Saamraagyi and the the Sangeet-Maartand: Best of Lata Mangeshkar by Anil Biswas
Continuing Anil Biswas Centenary series, his best songs for Lata Mangeshkar as birthday greetings to her
Anil Biswas occupies an important place among the music directors who played a major role in grooming and developing Lata Mangehskar. She was an artiste par excellence, but Anil Biswas taught her the craft of playback singing: the importance of words, as she came from a tradition which emphasized taans; breath control before mike to take breath without anyone noticing it, and maintaining the vocal quality at any pitch. Anil Biswas was to Lata Mangeshkar what GH Hardy was to Srinivas Ramanujam.
Rafi’s duets by SD Burman
A tribute to Rafi on his death anniversary, July 31
If you revisit my earlier post on Rafi’s songs (solos) composed by SD Burman, along with the readers’ comments, you realise the high regard in which the music lovers hold their combination. In spite of his known fondness for Kishore Kumar, SD Burman had something special for Rafi. Canasya finds Rafi’s songs by SD Burman even more mellifluous and romantic than by Naushad. That is some high compliment!
Lata Mangeshkar’s best songs by SD Burman
Wishing Lata Mangeshkar Happy 84th Birthday
The most discussed aspect about SD Burman-Lata Mangeshkar combination is their break up for about five years, 1958-62, rather than their music. In that, he is among a long line of film and music personalities with whom she had one of her famous run-ins. But there is a vital difference. From all accounts, this one did not have the acrimony common to her other fall-outs. And when they finally came together, my understanding is – again from accounts available in public domain – that it was with mutual respect. In the hiatus of five years SD Burman was none the worse as he continued to give some of the greatest music of his career, now with Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle, but he realized he had something beyond, where only Lata Mangeshkar could reach. She also felt that there was something unique in Dada’s music, without which she would remain incomplete. Thus their second innings led to another set of great melodies in Bandini, Guide, Tere Mere Sapne, Prem Pujari, Talash, Anurag, Abhiman etc which continued till the very end of his career. For those interested, here is one account of their split and patch-up. (Note: While most accounts mention Bandini (1963) as their patch-up film, she has a couple of songs in Dr Vidya (1962). Mr Arunkumar Deshmukh has informed me that their first song after patch up was ‘Pawan diwani’ from Dr Vidya.)
Best songs of 1953: Wrap Up 2
Songs of Yore award for the Best Female Playback Singer goes to Lata, Lata,.…..Lata Mangeshkar
Continuing the string of posts on the best songs of 1953, and Wrap Up 1 on the best male playback singer, I present here the second wrap up on the best female playback singer, based on the readers’ comments and my own preferences.
Who is the best female playback singer of 1953, is really a no-brainer. You can give slot 1 to 10 to Lata Mangeshkar, and there would be another ten outstanding songs, anyone of which could have made it to the list. So, writing the second wrap up on female playback songs boils down to looking carefully at the songs by ‘other’ singers to see how many can be included in the final list of ten, leaving the rest for ‘The Female Playback Singer’ of the Golden Era.
Best Songs of 1955: Wrap Up 2
SoY award for the best female playback singer goes to Lata, Lata, Lata, Lata….Mangeshkar
(It is a while since I wrote the survey article on the Best songs of 1955 and its first wrap up on the Best male playback singer of 1955. Then a number of interesting themes came up, and completing this string of posts somehow went out of sight. By the time I remembered, it was coming quite close to Lata Mangeshkar’s birth anniversary. Therefore, I am coinciding it with her anniversary as my greetings to her. I realise this is not a satisfactory way of handling this series. Hopefully from the next year onwards I should be able to complete a particular year’s posts in continuity. – AK)
When I wrote the first wrap up on the best male playback singers of 1955, I posed it with a question mark, and as we saw, there was indeed a tough choice between all the six great male playback singers – Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mahmood, Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar. The scenario changes completely in the case of female playback singers. Not only in 1955, but most of the 50’s and 60’s you could pick up ten top songs and they might all be Lata Mangeshkar’s. Never had any playback singer dominated more than this, nor anyone has done so since. Therefore, my using a similar question mark to maintain the form would be like a recent award function anchored by Shahrukh Khan. This was when Vidya Balan was wining all the awards for Dirty Picture. After the customary ‘And the award for the best actor (female) goes to..’, the envelope containing her name was announced. When she jumped with excitement, Shahrukh Khan snapped at her, ‘Vidya, you should stop acting, you know that you are going to get the award.’
Duets of Talat Mahmood: Breaking the image trap
A tribute on his birth anniversary February 24
When you think of Talat Mahmood you think of his iconic soft, sentimental melodies like Meri yaad mein tum na aansoo bahana, Jalte hain jiske liye, Humse aya na gaya tumse bulaya na gaya, Ae dil mujhe aisi jagah le chal jahan koi na ho, Zindagi denewale sun, Jayen to jayen kahan etc. These are all solos obviously, as would be the case if you have to choose the best songs of any great singer. Then why I am doing my first Talat Mahmood post on his duets?
Roshan: the great melody maker for Lata Mangeshkar
A tribute on his death anniversary on November 16
I have expressed great admiration for Roshan at several places in my blog. Among the greatest and most melodious songs of Lata Mangeshkar, Roshan compositions occupy a very high place. He did not achieve big commercial success as some of his peers, but for music lovers he was among the greatest, especially as regards his songs for the two titans Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. His compositions were unmistakably identifiable with incredibly beautiful use of the flute and sarangi.