Singers

Book Review: “The Unforgettable Music of HEMANT KUMAR”

The Unforgettable Music of HEMANT KUMAR
By Manek Premchand
Pages: 441
First Edition: 2020
Blue Pencil, New Delhi
(With study of his Bengali repertoire by Antara Nanda Mondal and Sounak Gupta)

Salil Chowdhury once said if God wanted to sing, he would do it in the voice of Hemant Kumar. Lata Mangeshkar said about him, “Listening to Hemant Da songs, I feel as if a Sadhu is singing bhajan in a temple.” A darling of Bengal where he was known as “Chhoto Pankaj” (Little Pankaj Mullick), and one of the top singers of Rabindra Sangeet. There was something divine about his mellifluous voice. I have not met a person who is not deeply passionate about Hemant Kumar’s voice. This blog celebrated his centenary in a very comprehensive manner in 2020, anchored by two erudite articles by N Venkataraman – Hemantayan Part 1 and Hemantayan Part 2 and a number of other articles on Hemant Kumar’s music in different combinations. Thus SOY readers’ appetite whetted  by the capsules on him, they would lap up Manek Premchand’s exhaustive book on Hemant Kumar.

Hemant Kumar was a man of many parts. We love him as a singer, his non-film songs are as mesmerising as his film songs. If he ruled our hearts in Hindi, he was an icon in Bengal. He continued his professional commitments in both Bombay and Calcutta, shuttling between the two cities at a  frenetic pace. He was a composer par excellence where he didn’t show any partiality to his own voice, freely taking other male voices if he considered that more suitable. He also ventured into film production, which barring some exceptions, were a commercial failure. With all that he looked after and provided for a large family. All this, coupled with his smoking habit must have told upon his health. All this is captured in the book in sufficient detail.

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Lata Mangeshkar Lives Forever

The story of my deep romance for Lata Mangeshkar (28.9.1929 – 6.2.2022)

Lata MangeshkarLata Mangeshkar is no more – her mortal body that is. She was over 92, she had been in and out of hospital in recent days, and had been on ventilator support for her last couple of days. This was bound to happen some day – जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युः. But can she ever go out of our lives? I don’t remember a time when I was not aware of her songs, nor can I think of a time when her voice would vanish from the face of the earth.

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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)

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Mukesh’s Non-film Hindi Geets and Ghazals

A tribute to Mukesh on his 45th Remembrance Day (b. July 22, 1923 – d. August 27, 1976) by guest author Ashok M Vaishnav

(Mukesh is among the mainstream playback singers who sang some truly outstanding non-film songs (NFS). Therefore, for any lover of Mukesh, a post on his famous geets and gazals would be most welcome.

Ashok M Vaishnav is a well-known name for SOY regulars. He has written over 20 guest articles for SOY. We know him as a thorough researcher which comes from his engineering and management background.  He has written a comprehensive article on Mukesh’s non-film songs as a tribute on his 45th Remembrance Day. We lost him this day in 1976 of heart attack in Detroit, USA where he had gone for a public performance. Thank you Ashokji for this timely article. – AK)

The saga of performed songs in India is an age-old tradition. The knowledge transfer in the ancient times used to happen by word of mouth. Many lessons were encapsulated into the form of songs, which were rendered in the singing form to make them more interesting and easier to remember.

Ancient saint poets created devotional songs that were easily moulded into singing pattern. On the other hand, social events like festivals or births, deaths, marriages also provided ideal platforms for songs as means to share joy or sorrow. The advent of theatre created another genre of songs – songs that were essential part of the story of the play. These used to be romantic songs or dance songs or songs of national spirit and such varieties. It was not uncommon for a song to be played for the whole night as it would keep getting incessant ‘once more’s.

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Best Songs of 1944: Wrap Up 1

And the award for the Best Male Solo goes to?

In my Overview Post of the best songs of 1944, I had mentioned that in the total songs in the years in which the singers’ names were known, male solos to female solos to duets followed a ratio of 1: 3.69: 1.69. Thus, the male solos were about 16% of the total songs in the year. In my shortlist of 80/81 Memorable Songs in the year (one song had a female, and a duet version), the number of male solos is proportionately more at 19, accounted for by the following 9 singers:

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Dattaram Part 2: Breaking out of the Banyan Tree with ‘Other’ Singers

Second and final part of tribute to Dattaram (1929 – 8 June 2007)

DattaramWe saw in Dattaram Part 1 dealing with his songs for Mukesh and Manna Dey, how his association with the Big Banyan tree, Shankar-Jaikishan, made it difficult to get out of the comfort zone of SJ. The readers Mahesh and Hans Jakhar opined that Dattaram was himself part of the Banyan Tree. We need not presume that it was a millstone around his neck. The association gave him steady work and a sense of importance. Not everyone is entrepreneurial, he was contented with his station in life.

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Dattaram Part 1: Under the shadow of big banyan tree with songs of Mukesh and Manna Dey

A big banyan tree gives shelter and protects you from elements. But this may become a trap because one may be deterred from venturing out on one’s own for the risks involved. But a human being also has an urge to venture out and stand on his own. That involves a vertical progression from earning from one’s skill to being an entrepreneur: Mason to a contractor; dancer to a choreographer; instrumentalist/ arranger/ assistant to becoming an independent music director; paid employee to a free-lancer.

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N Datta-Rafi: When they meet it is GOLD

Guest article by Hans Jakhar as a tribute to N Datta (12 December 1927 – 30 December 1987) on his 93rd birth anniversary with his songs for Rafi

(You can’t get a more passionate fan of Asha Bhosle than Hans Jakhar, and she was the principle female playback singer for Ravi. Therefore, he was the most natural choice to write on her best songs for Ravi in the series of tributes on him last year. The discussions on that post led to N Datta for whom Asha Bhosle was even a more predominant singer. Hans again became the natural choice for writing on her anniversary this year with her best songs composed by N Datta.

A most welcome bonus was that he offered to write on N Datta’s songs for Rafi. This was the classic case of one thing leading to another, but he became terribly busy with his personal affairs. It was very kind of him to, nevertheless, squeeze time for this post, though we have overshot N Datta’s 93rd birth anniversary by a day.

Readers are aware that Hans never does anything half-heartedly. This post too bears his exhaustive research, and you get not only an excellent selection of songs, but also an overall perspective on N Datta’s rise and fall, and despite that, his great talent in composing some everlasting songs.

Let us pay a tribute to the unlucky genius N Datta with his songs for another genius Rafi, on his 93rd birth anniversary. Thank you Hans for you efforts. – AK) 

N Datta-RafiLast year in the series on Ravi, I wrote on Ravi-Asha Bhole and Ravi-Shakeel Badayuni. In my second post, Mumbaikar8 commented that she would have liked me to write on Ravi-Rafi. By that time both of Ravi-Rafi posts had already been written by AK. I am sure every reader on SOY knows that not only AK’s write-ups and song selection are exemplary, but also the song descriptions. I am sure Mumbaikar8 agrees with me on that and the reason for her wish was due to the fact that she wanted to see a write up from the perspective of a Rafi fan. AK also agrees to the difference of perspectives and because of that he asked me to write on N Datta-Asha Bhosle, though he has already written a number of great posts on her. This time I requested him to allow me to write on N Datta-Rafi to which he kindly agreed.

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Hemant Kumar’s Non-film Songs

Concluding the series of centenary tributes to Hemant Kumar (16 June 1920-26 September 1989) with his non-film songs

Hemant KumarMy introduction to the last post by Ashok M Vaishnav on Hemant Kumar’s solo songs under the baton of other music directors conveyed that that rounded off his centenary celebrations. But it rankled me that his centenary celebrations would be incomplete without a post on his non-film songs. Fortuitously, a slot made itself available in the calendar year, enabling me to fulfil my desire and round off the centenary celebrations with my favourite non-film songs (NFS) of Hemant Kumar.

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Hemant Kumar’s solo songs under ‘other’ batons

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav in the series of Centenary Celebrations of Hemant Kumar (16 June 1920-26 September 1989)

(SOY has launched a befitting Centenary Celebration of the much loved music and film personality Hemant Kumar, starting with N Venkataraman’s foundational article Hemantayan Part 1 on his Birth Centenary, 16 June 2020, which covered his life and career up to 1960. Venkataramanji anchored the post-1960 till the end part of his career with Hemantayan Part 2, published on his 31st Remembrance Day, 26 September 2020. In tandem with that, Ashok M Vaishnav took a closer look at Hemant Kumar’s career as music director with three articles covering his female playback singers, male playback singers and duets.

In the course of his exploration Ashokji felt that with this series, Hemant Kumar’s songs as a singer need a detailed separate post. His songs under his own baton are quite well-known. His songs under the baton of S D Burman and Ravi have been covered earlier in the series on these music directors. Ashokji never chooses the easy path. He expressed a desire to write another article on his songs under the baton of other music directors. I am happy to present it in this calendar year to round off the grand Centenary celebrations of Hemant Kumar. Thank you Ashokji. – AK)

Hemant Kumar with Kishore KumarEvery major article written on Hemant Kumar, invariably runs into a debate of his being more a complete music director or a singer. The discussion invariably moves to the question – whether he sang better under his own music direction or under the direction of ‘other’ music directors. As can be expected, most of such discussions end with the participants divided equally on either side. However, one view which emerges more often than not is that what he lacked in the range as a singer, he was able to more than compensate that by creating songs that other singers could do justice to. Moreover, it is also very commonly agreed that even when he had had some of the most outstanding songs under ‘other’ batons, use of his range as a singer was utilised in a very narrow band by other music directors.

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