Noorjehan

Best songs of 1942: Wrap Up 2

And the SOY ward for the Best Female Singer goes to?

In my overview post of the best songs of 1942, I had mentioned that the ratio between male solos and female solos in the songs in which singers were credited was 1:2.55 in the year as a whole. I had included 84 songs in my list of MEMORABLE SONGS in the year. The Wrap Up 1 of the best male solos listed all the 23 male solos that were in the list of MEMORABLE SONGS. These were divided among 15 singers, but KL Saigal naturally dominated the list. During his years of dominance the male singing was mostly a one-horse race.

How does female solos compare with this picture? In the list of MEMORABLE SONGS I had included 34 female solos divided among 17 singers as follows:READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Lata Mangeshkar vs Noorjehan

Would Noorjehan have survived the 1949 Lata tornado?

lata-mangeshkar-noor-jehan
Noorjehan’s migration to Pakistan in 1947 left behind the enduring question – if she had stayed back in India, would Lata still have reached the commanding heights as she did in the following three decades? As Lata’s early songs had a distinct Noorjehan tinge, the suggestion is that Noorjehan’s absence from the scene in a way helped Lata’s rise; with her around Lata might have perhaps remained a copy of the original.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE