Multiple version songs

Twins Phenomena In Bollywood

Guest article by DP Rangan

(The prolific guest writer DP Rangan now writes on the twins in Hindi films, some generic tropes of these films, and gives a selection of songs from some twin films. The highlight of this post is some great songs of the vintage era. This post too has been with me for quite some time. Mr Rangan has been quite understanding of the unavoidable delay in scheduling it. Thank you Mr Rangan for yet another nice post from your pen. – AK)

Ram Aur ShyamFour billion years after the formation of the Solar System, the first elementary form of life emerged. Over the next five billion years, life underwent steady transformation and became more and more complex and advanced. Survival of the fittest was the key element in ensuring continuation of species. Apotheosis was emergence of Human beings (Phylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia) as the last to arrive at the scene. There was no longer any need to have large broods of young ones for species continuation among human beings. Single birth was the norm and over a number of years, a human couple, male and female, brought forth several children, and despite partial infant mortality perpetuation of the race was ensured. Still there were odd instances of giving birth to twins, identical or fraternal. Identical were either male or female, while fraternal could be a male and female child. For this post we are concerned only with identical twins.

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‘Vandya Vande Mataram’: The story of a Song Perennial

Guest article by N Venkataraman to celebrate 70th Anniversary of the Republic

(During our days of innocence we learnt in the school that ‘Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka Jaya He’ was our ‘National Anthem’ and ‘Vande Mataram’  was our ‘National Song’, both of  equal reverence, and we sung both with equal fervour on special occasions.

When we grew up and became more ‘knowledgeable’, we learnt that both the songs had controversy dogging them right since they were created. ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was said to have been written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1911 in the honour of the British King George V on the occasion of his visit to India, and ‘Vande Mataram’  occurring in Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s 19th century novel, ‘Anandamath’, was said to have religious overtones, which might offend the sensibilities of the minority community.

This controversy carried on right through the sessions of the Indian National Congress and, later, Constituent Assembly debates when question as to the declaration of a National Anthem came up. There were strong voices in favour of ‘Vande Mataram’ – as a matter of fact the Constituent Assembly session on 14 August 1947, which is famous for Nehru’s ‘Tryst with Destiny’ at the midnight, began at 11 pm with singing of this song.  However, the hesitation to take a final call continued.  Finally, right on the last day, i.e. 24 January 1950, at the time of signing of the copies of the Constitution, the President Rajendra Prasad made a statement that ‘Jana Gana Mana’ shall be the National Anthem and “Vande Mataram, which has played an important part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honoured equally with ‘Jana Gana Mana’ and shall have equal status with it.”

Today we are again at troubled times because of the sectarian fault lines. As the Indian Republic turns 70,  we wish all the best for our country and its people. To celebrate the occasion, N Venkataraman  writes a scholarly article on the National Song ‘Vande Mataram’. As per the policy of this blog to steer clear of contentious political issues, Venkataramanji has put the focus specially on its rich musical history.

This article has long been in the making. A keen follower and the creator of the mega-series ‘Multiple Version Songs’, Ashok M Vashnav was also contemplating to write on different versions of ‘Vande Mataram’,  but happily passed it up when he came to know that Venkataramnji was at it. I am happy that despite his personal difficulties and other commitments, he has been able to complete it on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Republic Day, which happens to be in the 10th year of this blog. Thanks a lot Venkataramanji. – AK)

Vande MataramLet me backtrack to my early childhood days, a nostalgic trip down the memory lane. At the break of the dawn, as the activities of the house started, I would wake up to the Akashwani signature tune followed by VANDE MATARAM on the National Echo radio-set placed on the shelf of our living room (then it was my bedroom too). It took a minute for the vacuum tube valves to start up and the green magic eye to glow. Initially only a crackling sound could be heard before the station came on air. If I remember right it was 6:00 AM, I have no doubt that most of us and many more woke up to a new dawn listening to the Akashvani signature tune and ‘Vande Mataram’. And that was my first acquaintance with this song.

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Multiple Versions Songs (24): Songs having versions across different films – similar initial lyrics in mukhada

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(The founder of the mega series Multiple Version Songs, Ashokji brings up another one from his inexhaustible storehouse of multiple versions on different criteria. The multiple versions so far have generally been from the same film. Continuing his series he brings up an interesting variety of songs which have multiple versions across different films. In some cases these may be a traditional bandish, where you may find some versions outside films. Some traditional bandishes have been sung by a large number of classical and semi-classical singers. He has left out such songs for practical reasons. This post too shows his capacity for detailed research. The present post includes less than half of what he has compiled. We may put up the remaining songs subsequently, depending on the readers interest.– AK)

Multiple version songsTill now all the multiple version songs that we talked belonged to the same film, except of course, version songs across different languages. We now chart a different trajectory of Multiple Versions of Songs.

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Multiple Versions Songs (23): A Male / Female solo / duet or a Chorus – More than two versions of a song

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(Ashokji is coming to the end of his current enquiry into the songs that have a specific type of multiple version songs.  He has covered songs that have a male solo and a duet or chorus in two parts – MVS (20) and MVS (21), and the ones having a female solo and such versions in MVS (22).  Here he is presenting songs that have at least three versions.  As the SoY regulars are aware, the Mega Series on Multiple Version Songs, has gone into many dimensions, including  songs that have versions across different languages.  You can be sure that with his indefatigable spirit and great capacity to look for details, ably supported by the knowledgeable readers, Ashokji would find many more variations in this umbrella category of songs. You can review the entire series here. – AK)

Multiple version songsThe journey to Male Solo and a Duet Or a Female Solo and a Duet or Chorus has one more fascinating side – the songs that have three versions.

The illustrations that I have been able to collect show that such a route has been used to vividly depict different moods or situations where the same song (or at least mukhda) serves to provide the common linkage.

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Multiple Versions Songs (22): Female Solo and A Duet or A Chorus

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(Ashokji has been currently exploring a specific type of multiple version songs that have a solo and a duet or chorus versions.  In his last two articles, Multiple Version Songs (20) and (21), he explored those songs that have a male solo and its duet/chorus versions.  He continues the enquiry for female solos that have such versions.  As the readers are aware, Ashokji has laid the foundation of the Mega Series on Multiple Version Songs, which has seen contributions from some other guest writers as well. I thank him for his unflagging interest in going to the depths of the subject. – AK)

Multiple version songsWe are onto the multiple versions of a solo song which has a pairing duet or a chorus. In the first sub-variation of this theme, we had a male solo and its duet or chorus version. Presently, we will take up multiple version songs where one song is a solo by a female playback singer and the other version is either a duet or a chorus.

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Multiple Versions Songs (21): Male solo and Duet or Chorus (Part II)

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(Ashokji has been recently exploring songs that have a solo version and a duet or chorus version.  In this series within the Mega series on Multiple Version Songs, he wrote on January 20, 2015 on songs that have a male solo and a duet or chorus version.  This guest article is a sequel to that post, arising out of the comments and responses of the readers to his last article. Ashokji’s perseverance in exploring a subject to the minutest detail is quite impressive. – AK)

Multiple version songs‘Multiple Versions Songs (20): Male Solo and Duet or Chorus’ received an overwhelming feedback from the very learned, active and passionate SoY fraternity. That makes a writer like me overwhelmed by a sense of great joy and deep gratitude. The feedback has thrown up quite a few more songs for this particular variation of A Male Solo and its Duet or Chorus Version as well as for other variations. So, it is matter of a great pleasure to do this sequel to the ‘Multiple Versions Songs (20): Male Solo and Duet or Chorus’.

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Multiple Versions Songs (20): Male Solo and Duet or Chorus

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(Ashokji is the originator of the mega series ‘Multiple Version Songs’, when he expanded the straight ‘Twin’ (male solo and its twin female solo) songs to other varieties of multiple versions. This caught on and, with the help of other guest contributors, expanded into similar version songs in Hindi and other languages, covering all the South Indian languages and Marathi and Bengali. You can view the entire series here. Now the Master resumes the series with a set of articles exploring a variety of multiple versions not covered so far. – AK)

[Songs of Yore is now on Facebook]

Multiple version songsWe have travelled a long distance in our tour of multiple versions of Hindi films songs across several other Indian languages and moods. We revert back to some hard core listing of the songs in this series. We now take a look at one more variant of multiple versions of a song – one version of the song is either a male or a female solo or a duet and the other version is either a duet or a chorus.

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Aao bachcho tumhein dikhayen jhanki….ki

Independence Day greetings to India and Pakistan

Jagriti-BedariFill in the blank in ‘Aao bachcho tumhein dikhayen jhanki…ki’. We all know the answer – ‘Hindustan’. If you think of it, ‘Pakistan’ also fits in perfectly. It is quite befitting that this is so, because no two countries have such shared history, shared culture, language, musical tradition, dress and appearance. India and Pakistan both got independence on the same day (August 15/14) from the British rule by the same Act of British Parliament, ‘India Independence Act 1947’. This was more like a surgeon separating two children at birth, with the ‘surgeon’ Radcliffe cutting the land into two by drawing his scalpel on the map, creating two nation-states.

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Multiple Version Songs (18): Hindi-Telugu exchange

Guest article by Arunkumar Deshmukh

(The Living Encyclopaedia, Arunji, needs no introduction to the readers of SoY or other music related blogs.  His first guest article in the series on Multiple Version Songs was on Hindi-Marathi, naturally.  When I was struggling to look for someone to write on Hindi-Kannada, Arunji surprised me by doing the favour.  Telugu is one of the many languages he is proficient in.  So it was only a matter of time that he would write on it. With this, all the four South Indian languages are covered – Venkataramanji and Anuradha Warrier having already done guest articles on Tamil and Malayalam respectively.   The series conceptualised by Mr Ashok M Vaishnav has grown way beyond what he may have thought initially.  Arunji is known for the depth of his research and capacity for great detail. I thank him, as also Priya Laxmiji, Ambrish Sundaramji and Sudhirji, who have helped him in his endeavour.  – AK)

Bhakta Prahlad 1931I had the advantage of being born in a multi-language state like Hyderabad. It was a composite state of 8 Telugu speaking districts (which have now become Telangana state), 5 districts of Marathi speakers and 3 districts of Kannadigas. Hyderabad being the Capital city, people from all sectors had settled here. I had many Telugu and Kannada friends. I picked up these two languages easily as a child. Urdu was the medium of instruction till the 5th standard and Marathi was my mother tongue, while Hindi was the language of communication. No wonder I became a multi-language person, with English (and now Gujarati) to boot!

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Multiple Versions Songs (17): Haunting Melodies in Different Moods And Settings

Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav

(As the SoY regulars are aware, the series on  Multiple Version Songs has grown in dimension well beyond what was originally envisaged by Ashokji, about a year and half back.   Fortunately, SoY family has some tremendously talented and knowledgeable people, and they chipped in with guest articles, on my request, to cover various aspects of this theme. 

Following close on the heels of the last post on Rabindrasangeet-Pankaj Mullick, written by Venkaramanji, which was 16th in the series on the Multiple Version Songs, this post on Haunting Melodies in Spooky Films  just shows the enormous range of MVS.  The haunting melodies are meant to be repeated a number of times in the movie to create an effect of suspense, mystery, fear and eeriness.  It takes an analytical mind with sharp observation, like Ashokji’s, to decipher the varied moods and settings of the different versions of  such songs.  I am happy to present this article by him which widens the exploration of MVS. – AK)

Haunting MelodiesThe journey exploring a definite genre of Hindi film songs – Multiple Versions of A Song – has had several streams till now.

‘Haunting Melodies’ is a genre in itself in the film songs. These types of songs are normally the cornerstone of a thriller or a suspense drama. Typically, the song either precedes ‘that’ event in the narrative which builds the suspense or helps build aura of suspense around a character or a set of events in the film. In that sense, quite a few of the haunting melodies simply repeat in relation to the flow of the story. But there are quite a few which have major, or sometimes subtle, variations in lyrics, rhythm or orchestration – to amplify the differing events / situations in the film narrative.

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