Where is the mukhada gone, where is antara gone? For most of the history of Hindi film songs they did not go anywhere, they remained rooted where they were supposed to be. The classic structure of our songs was a mukhada with a catchy tune and refrain. This was followed by interlude music and two or three antaras with different tunes from the mukhada. Each antara would end with a connector line which would neatly segue into the mukhada/refrain.
{ 1 comment }
The book review as a tribute to RD Burman (27.6.1939-4.1.1994) on his 31st Remembrance Day
R. D. Burman: The Music, The Man
Authors: Anirudha Bhattacharjee & Balaji Vittal
Publisher: HarperCollins India, 2011
ISBN: 978-93-5029-049-1
Pages: 342+24 (Index, Acknowledgements)
Price: Amazon (Paperback): ₹399
I have to admit I am an R. D. Burman-skeptic; in fact, I belong to the cohort which considers RD Burman too loud, and responsible for destroying the melody of the Golden Era of music making. Yet I have no hesitation in saying that “R. D. Burman: The Music, The Man” is an outstanding book. The authors are unabashed fans of RD Burman, yet the book is not too hagiographic. They declare they didn’t want to write a biography either. But while discussing RD Burman’s music, they discuss the man too, and it has everything you expect from a good biography. The book is written in a lucid style, and is full of interesting trivia about songs, films and related things. They know a good deal about technical aspects of music, I find on Amazon reviews someone was put off by the technical details. I am illiterate in music, but I am not put off. I have become the authors’ admirers, at least they know what they are saying. That is not to say they have made me an RDB-convert. Then why this review at all?
{ 25 comments }
A tribute to Rafi with his duets concluding his centenary celebrations (24 December 1924 to 31 July 1980) and wishing Merry Christmas to all
Rafi would have been a hundred years old today. His life was cut short at a young age of 56 years, but in this short span he gave joy to millions of music lovers all over the world and established himself as the undisputed most versatile male playback singer. I greeted the new year 2024 with a tribute to Rafi with his solos from A to Z. That was about his solos starting with different letters of alphabets (25 songs with ‘X’ not feasible). That gave ample idea of his diversity, but with the emphasis on alphabets there was some imbalance in music directors. Since my selection was spontaneous, i.e. I put in my most favourite song starting with a particular alphabet that first came to my mind, some music directors were overrepresented, and a great music director, SD Burman, was inadvertently left out. Some readers rightly pointed out this omission.
{ 121 comments }
A Journey with Dilip Kumar (11th December 1922 – 7th July 2021) and Mohammed Rafi (24th December 1924 – 31st July 1980)
Guest article by N Venkataraman in the series of Centenary Celebrations of Rafi with his songs for Dilip Kumar on his 102nd Birth Anniversary
(Dilip Kumar is the undisputed thespian of acting. Rafi is unarguably the most versatile singer. He became identified with the voice of many heroes. No wonder he also became the voice of Dilip Kumar, with Naushad as the admirer of both and the music director in a succession of their films. Surprising, because Naushad came wholesale to Rafi quite late in the day. Dilip Kumar is known to have asked for Talat Mahmood as his voice in some early 50s’ films. Naushad himself used Mukesh as the voice of Dilip Kumar with great success in ‘Mela’ (1948) and ‘Andaaz’ (1949). Mukesh was his voice in some more films under the baton of other music directors.
Thus, if you were on a journey with Dilip Kumar, it was not obvious that Rafi would become identified as his voice, helmed by the great Naushad. Today happens to be the 102nd birth anniversary of Dilip Kumar. Venkataramanji takes us on a fascinating journey of the two maestros in tandem as only he could. Originally from South India, he is based out of Kolkata and is a polymath in the quintessential Bengali bhadralok tradition. Thanks a lot Venkataramanji for this double treat of 102nd birth anniversary tribute to Dilip Kumar and a tribute to Rafi in the series of his centenary celebrations. – AK)
Once upon a time, in the bustling city of Peshawar, there lived a well-bred, energetic, handsome teenager, who was one of the beloved sons of his parents and the light of his family. He was oblivious of where his destiny was leading him to. Roughly 400 kms away, another young boy, a radiant soul, lived in a sleepy village near Amritsar, who possessed a heart of gold, an infectious smile and tenderness. He cherished to conquer the world with his god-gifted melody. Both of them embarked upon a captivating journey, one in pursuit of an unknown destiny and the other in pursuit of his cherished dream, traversing the landscapes of life in the process with grace and determination. This Safarnama unfolds on a prestigious train, echoing their splendid and eventful future. The Frontier Mail is about leave the Peshawar station and let me jump in to make it my Safarnama too. To waltz through the ups and downs of their journey I am inviting everyone to make it a part of OUR journey, with a caveat that it is going to be a long haul and an exhaustive one too.
{ 71 comments }
And the SOY Award for the Best Music Director of 1941 goes to?
We are now coming to the end of the review of the best songs of 1941. After the Overview Post, Wrap Up 1 of the best male solos, Wrap UP 2 of the best female solos and Wrap Up 3 of the best duets, we can now take a holistic view of the best songs of 1941 and discuss who deserves to be anointed the Best Music Director of the Year.
While the Vintage Era was characterised by a large percentage of unknown songs, some films and their songs became everlasting. Doctor was one such landmark film with actor-singer-music director Pankaj Mullick giving his best. RC Boral with Lagan starring KL Saigal and Kanan Devi was another film with superb music.
{ 10 comments }
After I had covered the best songs of Kalyanji-Anandji for Mukesh and Rafi, I once browsed through their songs for ‘other’ male singers for a lark. I was amazed to find an enormous variety of singers they had chosen. Though all the songs were well-known it had not registered in my mind instantly. The result was a post on Kalyanji-Anandji’s best songs for ‘other’ male singers. That was, of course, KA1.0 (up to 1970).
{ 34 comments }
I had written my first post on Kalyanji-Anandji about ten years ago on their best songs for Mukesh and had titled it “Made for each other”. I used that phrase studiedly because that was my instinctive feeling. Nudging by a reader made me explore their more songs – for Rafi, Other male singers, and Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers in the current year. I now discover that he composed more than twice the songs for Rafi as he did for Mukesh. But I still hold on to “Made for each other” tag for KA-Mukesh. All this discussion was limited to the 50s and 60s.
{ 27 comments }
Concluding the series of tributes to Usha Khanna with her best songs for Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers
Usha Khanna’s debut score in Dil Deke Dekho (1959) sounded so much OP Nayyar-ish that you may get the impression that she too would exclude Lata Mangeshkar completely and her female singer would be predominantly Asha Bhosle as she was in Dil Deke Dekho. But from her very second film Hum Hindustani (1960), just as she showed great felicity with Mukesh, she also composed a superlative Lata Mangeshkar song in the film, Chori chori tori ayi hai Radha, kadam tale haule haule. Usha Khanna showed remarkable competence for composing for most of the prominent female playback singers, such as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Suman Kalyanpur and others. My first post was on her best songs for Rafi, and second on Mukesh and other male playback singers. In these two posts I have also included their male-female duets. The third and last post in the series of tributes to Usha Khanna is on her best songs for Lata Mangeshkar and other female singers. Since their duets with male singers are already covered this would be limited to their solos, and female-female duets.
{ 47 comments }
Continuing the tribute for Usha Khanna, her best songs for Mukesh and other male singers
The last post was on Usha Khanna’s best songs for Rafi on her 83rd birth anniversary (b. 7 October 1941). This was also a tribute to Rafi as a part of his centenary celebrations. How does she do with other playback singers? This is where she presents a big surprise. After her debut with Dil Deke Dekho (1959), her main male playback singer in Hum Hindustani (1960) was Mukesh! She gave many memorable songs for Mukesh subsequently, such as Teri nigahon pe mar mar gaye hum, Gori tere chalne se mera dil kurban, Chaand ko kya maloom chahta hai use koi chakor, Aaj tumse door hokar. Each a quintessential Mukesh-gem. It seems quite a misnomer to include Mukesh among ‘other’ singers. It is as if Usha Khanna was born to compose great songs for Mukesh. Similarly I remember an all-time great song by Manna Dey and one by Mahendra Kapoor composed by Usha Khanna. Her spread of singers for their memorable songs is not very wide, but enough to include her among important music directors of the Golden Era. In this post I present a sample of her versatile talent; I would also include duets of these male singers.
{ 40 comments }
Continuing the Centenary Celebrations of Rafi with his songs by Usha Khanna (b. 7 October 1941) wishing her Happy 83rd Birth Anniversary
Music direction in our films had been generally a male monopoly. Usha Khanna was the only one in the Golden Era to break the glass ceiling. Long before her, in the Vintage Era that honours belonged to Saraswati Devi of Bombay Talkies who created everlasting songs sung by non-singers like Ashok Kumar, Devika Rani and Leela Chitnis. Though on record Saraswati Devi was preceded by two more female music directors, Jaddan Bai (Talaash-e-Haque, 1935) and Ishrat Sultana aka Bibbo (Adal-e-Jahangir, 1934), it is Saraswati Devi and her songs that are remembered till today. That is about all regarding female music directors. That makes Usha Khanna’s rise to the top very remarkable, and significantly she created a storm with her very first score Dil Deke Dekho (1959).
{ 39 comments }
