Welcome to June, 2014 edition of Carnival of Blogs on Golden Era of Hindi Film Music.
We begin our carnival with visits to our regular blogs:
Suraiya’s songs by SD Burman
“Since SD Burman made his debut late, his songs for Suraiya are much less compared to, say, Naushad’s, but as was his wont, he had a talent to create something for every singer, which would easily rank among his/her landmark songs, even if we just count Man more hua matwala and Nain deewane, Suraiya’s songs by SD Burman have a place among her greatest songs.”
Songs of Yore completes four years – With a tribute to Juthika Roy
“Born in 1920, she sang her first song on the radio at the age of 7, which was a Rabindra Sangeet, Aar dekhona, andhaare aamaay dekhate daao. Her first HMV record was of two Bengali songs, which was followed by two Meera bhajans in Hindi in 1935-36. She became synonymous with Meera bhajans and achieved enormous popularity during the 40s through 50s. Kamal Dasgupta composed most of her songs, with whom she also sang a number of duets, including some naats and qawwalis.”
Shri Arunkumar Deshamukh has also guest-written an article on Juthika Roy – Mandir ho har kadam pe pooja ho subah shaam@ atul’s bollywood song a day- with full lyrics. The song presented here is a duet of Juthika Roy with Kamal Dasgupta.
Whilst on the subject of Juthika Roy, let us also enjoy Juthika Roy’s interview on Vividh Bharati, on 25th February 2009 @ Anmol Fankar.
The incredible brother-sister in music: Anil Biswas’s songs for Parul Ghosh
“Her swan song in films was in Aandolan (1951) – Vande Mataram – with Manna Dey and Sudha Malhotra, composed by Pannalal Ghosh. She sang about 100 songs in all in 25 films. She died on August 13, 1977 after prolonged illness in Bombay. The song list (not exhaustive) at Cineplot shows that she sang for most of the top composers of the time, but her most famous songs are by his brother.”
Ten of my favourite Sunil Dutt songs is the collection of solo songs Sunil Dutt sings on the screen. The list does not contains only song from a given film.
Twin Songsare true back-to-back songs, songs that segue into each other with no dialogues or scenes in between. The compilation presents 14 sets of such songs in one go, which one can be listen here too.
Forgotten Melodies (Part 1) – My Favourite Dance Sequences From My Father’s Filmscaptures some of more favoured dance sequences from films in which Tarun Bose has played a role.
Lively songs from Naushad“is devoted to the multitude of lively songs that Naushad composed through the 1940s, 50s and 60s.Lively here does not “mean only songs that celebrate joy or abandon”. It also includes “songs that have a (relatively) lively and attractive pace when compared to slow, brooding songs. Some of his lively songs may actually be sad situations. But the songs may be lively with a relatively fast tempo or with lyrics, expressions or situations that appear cheerful!.” For an uninterrupted listening, do use this playlist.
We now turn to the archives of the other blogs and articles:
4 June was the birthday of Nutan. We recall Nutan’s Biography, and supplement it with Lady Nutan, wherein very interesting aspects of her life have been presented. The article has sourced a good deal of material from Cineplot.
Jaikishan – The Eternal Prince of Hindi Film Music is an exclusive interview with Bhairavi Jaikishan, daughter of famed Jaikishan of Shanker Jaikishan duo. – “Listen to the soulful Rafi number ‘Yaad Na Jaaye Beete Dinonki” from Dil Ek Mandir. And listen to the Spanish ‘original’ Besame Mucho and one is left awestruck! The feel is similar but to the Indian ear – it is the pathos of the SJ-Rafi rendition which touches the heart! This was a typical Jaikishan characteristic.”
Evolution of the Hindi film song (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6) traces the way Hindi Film Sings evolved. Presented here are some excerpts:
“We saw the late 30s and early 40s responsible for the entry of singers such as GM Durrani, Arun Kumar, Parul Ghosh, Zohra Ambala, Amirbai Karnataki, Rajkumari, Shamshad Begum and Suraiya. Now a newer generation of singers followed them. Among the male singers, Shankar Rao Vyas introduced Manna Dey with Ram Rajya in 1943, Naushad introduced Mohd. Rafi to Hindi films with Pehle Aap in 1944 and Anil Biswas introduced Mukesh in Pehli Nazar in 1945. Of these perhaps the most important talent was undoubtedly Mohd. Rafi.
“While Rafi, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar went on to rule the Hindi Film Industries from the 1950s, there were other male playback singers whose contribution could not be denied – Manna Dey, Talat Mehmood and Hemant Kumar….. Meanwhile the 1940s had also thrown up some of the best female talent in playback singing – Meena Kapoor, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt and of course the one and only Lata Mangeshkar…”
And now, we move over to our regular Mohammad Rafi-related video clips and articles:
Mohammed Rafi – VOA Tribute – Rare interview and his own selection of songs –
The special program is a joint production of the staffers of VOA Urdu Service and the VOA English division. This is based on a rare interview of the legendary Bollywood singer, Mohammad Rafi, recorded during one of his visits to London in 1977 by Subhash Vohra of VOA English, who was then working for the BBC Hindi Service. This program, devoted to the memories of Rafi, also includes his own selection of songs.
You can also listen to very intimate observations of the famed Bollywood personality, Ameen Sayani, who is still adored in South Asia for his masterly music presentation over several decades.
Yasmin Khalid Rafi, daughter-in-law of Mohammed Rafi published her book- Mohammed Rafi – My Abba, A Memoire. In a review of the book on “Outlook”, With A Song on His Lips, Sathya Saran has this to state – “Few sang as Rafi sang, few touched so many as he did. A mellow, melancholy memoir recalls a master we don’t know.”
We have chosen to remain brief and focused in this episode. How would you to react to this style?
The world is too small? or Is it? 