A tribute to old Hindi film music. Songs of the 30s through the 60s.

Guest Authors

SD Burman: Pioneer in Composing Tune First

October 24, 2019

Guest article by Moti Lalwani (Which comes first – the lyrics or the music – has been a recurring debate in any discussion on film music. In the continuing series on celebrating October 2019 as the month of SD Burman, Moti Lalwani writes the third guest article after his last two articles showing how Burman […]

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SD Burman: ‘The Courage of His Convictions’ (Establishes Geeta Dutt As a Frontline Singer)

October 16, 2019

Gust article by Moti Lalwani (We are aware that SD Burman had an uncanny ear for selecting a singer for a particular song. In this he didn’t care for the reputation of a celebrity artist, director, producer, or singer. He was the Master of Music, and he made the final choice. That is why there […]

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SD Burman: ‘The Courage of His Convictions’ (Has his way on Hemant Kumar)

October 8, 2019

Guest article by Moti Lalwani as a tribute to SD Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975) ‘Ye raat ye chandni phir kahaan’ by Hemant Kumar, lyricist Sahir Ludhiyanavi, composed by SD Burman (When I wrote a review of HQ Chowdhury’s book ‘Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman’ sometime back, I had mentioned that an acknowledged […]

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‘Would there ever be another Lata Mangeshkar?’

September 28, 2019

Wishing Lata Mangeshkar a very happy 90th birth anniversary (b. 28 September 1929) with a guest article by Shalan Lal (Lata Mangeshkar turns 90 today. This momentous occasion demanded something special befitting the milestone. However, in the year of the Ravi celebration on SoY, most readers almost took it for granted that today I would […]

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Shakeel Badayuni: Revitalising bond with Ravi

September 18, 2019

Guest article by Hans Jakhar (This is the second guest article by Hans Jakhar on the trot after his debut with Asha Bhosle’s songs by Ravi. He had given enough indication that he would be writing on Shakeel Badayuni’s partnership with Ravi. Hans’s forte is mastery over data. And you see full evidence of this […]

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Ravi and Asha Bhosle: A class combination

September 8, 2019

Wishing Asha Bhosle a very happy 86th birth anniversary (b. 8 September 1933) with a guest article by Hans Jakhar (Asha Bhosle, despite being the most recorded artiste by miles, remained the ‘other’ singer for most music directors of the Golden Era. All the accolades and the most melodious songs went to her elder sister […]

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Bharat Vyas: Lyricist Extraordinaire in Hindi

July 4, 2019

Guest article by DP Rangan as a tribute to Bharat Vyas on his 37th death anniversary (18 December 1918 – 4 July 1982) (One oft-repeated complaint against Songs of Yore is that it does not give due importance to the lyricists. I have given my reasons from time to time, which may not be very […]

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Chorus Songs in the Hindi Films of Yore: Part 3

May 26, 2019

Guest article by Shalan Lal (After the earlier two articles covering the 1930s and 1940s, Shalan Lal concludes her three-part thesis on chorus songs with the Golden Decade of the 1950s. As we have come to expect from her, these articles do not merely present the representative songs of the period, but also take us […]

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Chorus Songs in the Hindi Films of Yore: Part 2

May 14, 2019

Guest article by Shalan Lal (In the first part of her three-part dissertation on chorus songs in the films of yore, Shalan Lal covered the first decade of the 1930s, dominated by three major studios: The New Theatres of Calcutta, Bombay Talkies of Bombay and Prabhat Film Company of Poona. This was published on 2 […]

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Chorus Songs in the Hindi Films of Yore: Part 1

May 2, 2019

Guest article by Shalan Lal (Readers are aware, when Shalan Lal writes on a topic she writes a research paper as if for an academic seminar, even if it is for a blog like ‘Songs of Yore’. She does a similar comprehensive work to discuss the chorus songs of the films of yore. This is […]

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