2024

Harmonica songs

Thumbnail image for Harmonica songs May 14, 2024

In my series of articles on musical instruments starting from the grand piano I have gradually covered smaller instruments, the last being the flute. I end the series with a still smaller instrument. Harmonica is a pocket-sized most intimate instrument as you play sliding it over your lips and blow air into its holes. Behind […]

Read the full article

Best songs of 1941

Thumbnail image for Best songs of 1941 May 3, 2024

And the winners are The regulars of SOY who have been following year-wise reviews of the best songs of the year would have noticed an interesting feature. Every vintage year was characterised by some film(s) whose music became timeless. If we had Rattan in 1944 by Naushad, we had Kismet and Tansen in 1943, and […]

Read the full article

Book Review: DIRECTOR’S CHAIR

DIRECTOR'S CHAIR April 22, 2024

DIRECTOR’ CHAIR Hindi Cinema’s Golden Age By Manek Premchand Published by: Blue Pencil 2024 ISBN: 978-81-956660-8-9; Pages: 571 Price (Paperback on Amazon): ₹750 Manek Premchand is a familiar name to the readers of Songs Of Yore. He has written a number of books on Hindi film music and music personalities. The title of this book […]

Read the full article

The Sculptors of Film Songs (14): Four Shades of the Dusk of the Series

Bhanu Gupta-Homi Mulan-Kishore Sodha-Ranjit 'Gamzer' Kancha April 11, 2024

The concluding article in the series on Arrangers and Musicians by guest authors, Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) & Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation), wishing everyone Eid Mubarak (As we celebrate Eid, our guest authors Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav mark the happy occasion with their concluding article in the series on Arrangers […]

Read the full article

The Sculptors of Film Songs (13): Ramprasad Sharma & Sons

Ramprasad Sharma & Sons March 30, 2024

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation) (Ramprasad Sharma may be an unfamiliar name to many, but Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo were the biggest guys on the film music scene. They broke all the records: for number of films for which they composed music, total number of songs by them, […]

Read the full article

Rafi’s Centenary Special: 35 songs from 35 years (1946-1980)

Rafi March 19, 2024

Guest article by Sivanandam Palamadai as a tribute to Rafi with 35 songs in 35 years (1946-1980) in the continuing series of articles on Rafi’s centenary (24th December 1924-31st July 1980) (Songs Of Yore is celebrating 2024 as the centenary year of Mohammad Rafi. I heralded the year with his solos from A to Z. […]

Read the full article

Female bonding and their duets

Thumbnail image for Female bonding and their duets March 8, 2024

Commemorating the International Women’s Day with female duets Men may not be from Mars nor women from Venus, but there is a fundamental difference in the way the two genders bond with each other. In semi-urban settings at a party, the two genders automatically segregate, each forming their own group. We generally ascribe it to […]

Read the full article

The Sculptors of Film Songs (12): The “Lords”

The Lord Family February 25, 2024

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation) (The “Lords”, i.e. the father Cawas Lord and his two sons – Kersi and Burjor Lord – have lorded over the instrumental music in Hindi film songs right from the beginning of the talkies till the 1980s when the era of […]

Read the full article

Street Dancers of Bollywood

Thumbnail image for Street Dancers of Bollywood February 13, 2024

Guest article by DP Rangan (An interesting feature of our films is the dances performed in the streets, often by unknown actors. Sometimes the main protagonists also take to dancing and singing in the streets. Naturally a big crowd assembles around them enjoying the performance. These songs generally come at a critical juncture in the […]

Read the full article

Book Review: Forgotten Artists of Early Cinema (2)

Thumbnail image for Book Review: Forgotten Artists of Early Cinema (2) February 1, 2024

Forgotten Artists of Early Cinema and The Same Name Confusion (2) Author: Arunkumar Deshmukh (Copyright) Publisher: Professor Toofanii Publishers, Lansing, MI USA (2023) Editor: Professor Surjit Singh Price: ₹450 plus postage (Paperback) at pothi.com Have you heard of Indurao Nimbalkar, Zohra Jan, Raja Sandow or Renuka Devi? They are important names from vintage era of […]

Read the full article