Singers

Best songs of 1949: Wrap Up 3

Wishing Lata Mangeshkar a very Happy Birthday on her 87th birth anniversary (b. 28 September 1929) with her best songs of 1949

Lata MangeshkarIt is a no-brainer that Lata Mangeshkar was the best female playback singer of 1949. In later years, that would become routine – she defined the lead female voice. But in 1949, it must have been an amazing phenomenon. Here was a twenty year-old girl who had an inconspicuous debut as a playback singer a couple of years earlier in Aap Ki Sewa Mein (1947). The next year some stories started growing around her – how Ghulam Haider ‘discovered’ her, took her to S Mukherji of Filmistan for Shaheed, but he rejected her as her voice was too thin, whereupon Ghulam Haider famously told him that a day would come when the producers and music directors would line up before her, begging her to sing for them. She did have a couple of memorable songs in the year, but who could have thought that in 1949 a dam would burst with torrent of Lata Mangeshkar songs, leaving the yesteryear stalwarts dazed?

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Best songs of Asha Bhosle by OP Nayyar

Wishing Asha Bhosle a very Happy Birthday on her 83rd birth anniversary (b. 8 September 1933)

OP Nayyar and Asha BhosleWhen I wrote on my favourite ‘special’ songs of Asha Bhosle about five years ago, I was somewhat dismissive of her songs by OP Nayyar. At that time I viewed SoY as a स्वान्तः सुखाय self-indulgence. Five years down the line, I cannot claim that SoY is my blog. The readers have become important stake-holders in the way the blog has developed. Now I have become more aware of different tastes. While I may not have been purged of my biases, I can accept that there could be a large number of persons who are as moved by an Asha Bhosle song as by a Lata Mangeshkar’s. My favourite Asha Bhosle’s songs are predominantly composed by SD Burman, but it is commonly accepted that the most important influence in her career has been OP Nayyar. I have written on OP Nayyar’s songs for Rafi, Mahendra Kapoor and Shamshad Begum. This list cannot be complete unless I write on his songs for Asha Bhosle as my tribute to her on her 83rd birth anniversary. I hope her great fans like Arvinder Sharmaji, Hans, and my friend Arvind who appears to have been off-SoY for a while, would take it as some reparation on my part. I have to also thank our OPN-expert Ravindra Kelkar whose comments have added a great deal of information. I must add here that in that post on Asha Bhosle I did include an OPN composition – Bekasi had se jab guzar jaye from Kalpana (1960).

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Mukesh’s vintage duets

A tribute to Mukesh on his 40th death anniversary (22 July 1923 to 27 August 1976)

MukeshMukesh debuted well into the vintage era with Dil hi bujha hua hai to in Nirdosh (1941). His first few years as actor-singer did not do him much good. He discovered his calling as a playback singer when his relation Motilal, then a leading actor in the industry, introduced him to Anil Biswas for singing in Pahli Nazar (1945). Dil jalta hai to jalne de created a sensation and made Mukesh, Mukesh. Thereafter, he was a very visible singer until another boost came when he became part of the legendary team of Raj Kapoor with Shankar-Jaikishan, Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra with Barsaat (1949). Thus, a long stint pre-1949 gave him an opportunity to sing with most of the famous vintage era female playback singers.

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My favourite Rafi songs by Shankar-Jaikshan

A tribute to Rafi on his 36th death anniversary (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980)

Shankar-Jaikishan with RafiRafi is arguably the best male playback singer of Hindi films, and Shankar-Jaikishan are, by any yardstick, among the greatest music directors. In any case they have been commercially the most successful and dominant figure over two decades (1950s-60s). Therefore, one would expect that any compilation of Rafi’s greatest songs would have a good number of SJ compositions. However, when I think of the best of Rafi, SJ do not pop up in my mind instantly. At the top in my reckoning are Naushad, Roshan, SD Burman and OP Nayyar, followed by a platter of Madan Mohan, Ravi, Chitragupta and Khayyam; thereafter, an assortment of Ghulam Mohammad, Hansraj Bahal, Husnlal-Bhagatram, and even ‘Forgotten Composers’ such as C Arjun, Lachchiram, Iqbal Qureshi etc. Surely, SJ cannot be dismissed in such a peremptory manner. To make sure that I was not missing something, I went through the entire list of Rafi songs closely.

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Shankar-Jaikishan’s songs for Mukesh

A tribute on Mukesh’s 93rd birth anniversary (22 July 1923 – 27 August 1976)

Shankar-Jaikishan and MukeshMukesh debuted as (actor-)singer in 1941 with Nirdosh, i.e. 8 years before Shankar-Jaikishan’s debut in 1949 with RK Films’ Barsaat. After some initial struggle, Mukesh got a chance to work with the music titan of the era, Anil Biswas, courtesy his relation Motilal’s recommendation. Dil jalta hai to jalne de from Pehli Nazar (1945) created a sensation making Mukesh one of the leading singers of the time. Three big films with the successor stalwart, Naushad, in 1948-49 – Mela, Anokhi Ada and Andaaz – further boosted the popularity of Mukesh. Thus, when he first sang for SJ in their debut film, he had already achieved fame for his sweet, mellifluous voice. But this association proved to be the most important factor in the later career of Mukesh.

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Shankar-Jaikishan’s female dance duets

Aji chale aaoMy post on Shankar-Jaikishan’s dance songs for Lata Mangeshkar generated a great deal of enthusiasm. I think the readers were with me that these songs are of exceptional quality and their orchestration and picturisation are very unique to SJ. KS Bhatiaji who has a great liking for SJ, matching mine for Naushad, suggested that their female duets and the standard male-female duets, too, have outstanding dances, and asked whether I had any plans of writing on them. On female dance duets, I am entirely with him, because a large number of songs pop up in my mind, which are absolutely melodious, and their dance rhythm is equally pleasing. The songs I refer to are not the ones in which you have to storm up the floor, but your heart and the whole being sways to joy in bliss – the feeling of Jhoome jhoome dil mera.

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Manna Dey’s songs by Shankar-Jaikishan

A tribute to Manna Dey (1 May 1919 – 24 October 2013) on his 97th birth anniversary

Shankar-Jaikishan with Manna DeyMumbaikar8 has rightly pointed out that Manna Dey has not yet got the importance on SoY he deserves. That in a way is also a reflection of his career. Recognised as an unparalleled singer of classical songs, he sang songs ranging from classical to romantic to comic, from devotional to patriotic to qawwalis which became synonymous with his voice. Yet his voice could not be identified with any top hero on a sustained basis, unlike Mukesh for Raj Kapoor, Rafi/Talat Mahmood for Dilip Kumar or Kishore Kumar for Dev Anand. Along the way, Rafi, with his range and fluidity, became the voice for almost every major hero, which mantle was taken by Kishore Kumar post-70s. In this marketplace, Manna Dey somehow became typecast as a niche singer. Yet, in this not a very happy scenario for him, if Manna Dey was especially beholden to any music director for doing the most for his career, it was Shankar-Jaikishan.

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Shamshad Begum’s songs by OP Nayyar

A tribute to Shamshad Begum (14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013) on her 97th birth anniversary

OP Nayyar and Shamshad BegumWhen I did two back-to-back posts on Shamshad Begum’s songs by Naushad and C Ramchandra last year there was inevitably a reference to OP Nayyar as he is the third member of the trinity which made the greatest contribution to her. In fact the discussion on C Ramchandra-Shamshad Begum post was wholly dominated by OP Nayyar. The three-way conversation between Ravindra Kelkar, Hans and Arunji was very enlightening on statistics, some popular anecdotes about them and analysis and inferences. While there was general agreement with my observation that Naushad gave the best songs for her, our OPN-expert Ravindra Kelkar felt that OPN’s best ten would be as good if not better than Naushad’s or CR’s. With so much of OPN readily available with me courtesy these three readers, I felt it necessary to write a post on his best songs for Shamshad Begum to complete the picture. As for the comparison, it goes without saying that it is impossible to rank between three sets of outstanding songs. It is largely a matter of personal preference. But suffice it to say that OPN gave some immortal songs for Shamshad Begum. OPN also has the credit for composing her last memorable song Kajra mohbbatwala, a duet with Asha Bhosle from Kismat (1968) – a song which spawned numerous remix versions, bringing Shamshad Begum again in focus among the music lovers.

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Best duets of the not-so-unloved Mahendra Kapoor

Mahendra KapoorI had described Mahendra Kapoor as the most unloved singer in my last post on him. I have to modify that phrase, because the comments on that post indicate that he had more passionate fans and admirers than I had realised. Despite not counting myself among his passionate fans, I have a great liking for some of his songs which I place at par with the best sung by any of his contemporaries. Chalo ek baar phir se is one such iconic song which had a post dedicated to it. Similarly, I am greatly fond of some of his duets. Some readers also added duets anyway, in their comments on the post, which was dedicated to his solos. Mahendra Kapoor story would not be complete unless I write on his best duets.

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The Unlucky Genius Ghulam Mohammad’s best songs for Talat Mahmood

Ghulam Mohammad and Talat MahmoodGhulam Mohammad was Naushad’s senior in the music industry by several years. He was an established tabla player, earning Rs 60 per month, with Ustad Jhande Khan, when Naushad joined him, in 1937, as a piano player at Rs. 40 per month. Fate catapulted Naushad to commanding heights, making him the greatest Mughal of Movie Music. And fate destined Ghulam Mohammad to work for several years as his Chief Music Assistant. Concurrently, he also composed music independently in several films, giving outstanding music. When Naushad broke with AR Kardar finally in 1952, Ghulam Mohammad, too, decided to cease being his assistant. Dil-e-Naadan (1953) was launched with great fanfare typical of Kardar and its music was entrusted to Ghulam Mohammad, hoping that he would repeat the magic of Naushad. Its music was absolutely mesmerizing – not a poor copy of Naushad, but very different and very original. But Ghulam Mohammad was not lucky, the film bombed.

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