Songs of Yore Anniversaries

Songs of Yore completes six years

Celebrating with some discovered gems and a tribute to Vidya Nath Seth

Songs of Yore Sixth AnniversaryI recall that on the fifth anniversary of SoY, Gaddeswarupji commented that many promising blogs start losing steam around the sixth year. The sixth year brought in some major constraints in my personal logistics. I had just taken up a new full-time assignment in a city about 1000 km from my settled home. Daunted by the hassles of packing and moving household effects, and going through the same in reverse after a couple of years, I preferred to live out of a suitcase in a guest house – sans internet. Which meant that when I touched base, about twice a month, I had to pray to God that the internet did not conk off, race like Usain Bolt to catch up with fellow bloggers and write some article banks. The wife dear was not amused to find the absentee husband glued to the computer, and my attempts to humour her with romantic dialogues of eternal love one has learnt from Yash Chopra films only infuriated her more.

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Songs of Yore completes five years

Celebrating with some discovered gems, Jaunpuri, Darbari and Mukhtar Begum

Songs of Yore 5th AnniversaryThe fifth year of Songs of Yore has been more eventful than any preceding year. The year saw centenaries of four great music personalities – Anil Biswas, Begum Akhtar, Khursheed and Kavi Pradeep (the last one in the current calendar year). We remembered all of them – Anil Biswas in a grand manner, befitting his status as the Bhishm Pitamah of film music, with inaugural post by his daughter, and eight other posts on his combinations with different singers. Coincidentally, he also emerged as the Best Music Director, for 1951, which was reviewed in detail last year. The mega-series on SD Burman also concluded last year, notching up 15 posts in all. Arunji’s guest article on Hindi-Telugu in the meta-series on Multiple Version Songs completed the quartet of South Indian languages. Hindi-Bengali similar songs have many dimensions, some of which had been covered earlier. In the year gone by, SSW made a debut as a guest author with his article on Salil Chaudhary, which is likely to be the beginning of a series on him, as he is one of the most versatile talents in films and music. The Master of Multiple Version Songs, Ashok Vaishnav, resumed his super-fine explorations with songs that have hybrid multiple versions. Subodh kept up his date with his series on classical music, with his article on Pilu.

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Songs of Yore completes four years

With a tribute to Juthika Roy

Songs of Yore_4 yearsI have often said I started blogging स्वान्तः सुखाय. As Songs of Yore completes four years today, I find I have become a little less selfish. Now I do a lot of things that are suggested and driven by the readers. And, you don’t need a preacher to tell you that nothing pleases a person more than knowing that what he does also pleases a lot of other people. So, I have to thank all the readers for making the journey of Songs of Yore so delightful.

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Songs of Yore completes three years

Celebrating with three triad songs

Songs of Yore Third AnniversaryToday SoY completes three years. When I look back, it is not merely more of the same. To be sure, the frequency has increased from the preceding two years. Thirty-three posts in the year gone by, i.e. a post every 11 days, is far more than the preceding two years. But more important is the variety. With songs on themes like River, Naiya, Kinare, Jigar; personalities like Asit Baran, Mubarak Begum, Minoo Mumtaz, some potpourri like Wrap Up of Songs of 1955, Mahamoorkhon ke gaane, and historical-musical travelogue of Rangoon/Burma, I have indulged in my freewheeling wanderings. I have to admit, as I have said earlier, that there is an element of स्वान्तः सुखाय here, borne out of the fact that I am the host of the blog. But what is really gratifying is that a lot many people with tremendous amount of knowledge have joined me in sharing my delights.

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Songs of Yore completes two years

clip_image001Today Songs of Yore completes two years. While the first year was somewhat tentative and kind of groping its way around, it has become surer of its steps in the second year. I have generally maintained a frequency of a post every two weeks. SoY has also become more interactive. The readers’ comments, views and observations have added a great deal to the blog. They have introduced us to several unknown or little known marvelous songs. Some novel ideas for themes have come from readers’ comments. One example is a string of posts on year wise survey of the best songs of pre-Filmfare Awards. The first post in the series for the year 1955 attracted a lively discussion. This itself gave another idea to write wrap up posts on different categories. I have done the first wrap up on the best male playback singer; three more are still to come.

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Songs of Yore completes one year

 

Songs of Yore Today Songs of Yore completes one year, and like any new born in its first year, it has looked at the beautiful world of old Hindi film music with wonder and amazement, flitting its gaze from one beautiful sight to another spontaneously and randomly.

My articles so far have been on themes which were on top of my recall and on features I found most interesting.

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