Music Directors

Lata Mangeshkar’s best songs by Hemant Kumar

Lata Mangeshkar and Hemant Kumar September 28, 2017

Wishing a very Happy Birthday to Lata Mangeshkar (b. 28 September 1929) on her 88th birth anniversary and a tribute to Hemant Kumar (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989) on his 28th death anniversary Hemant Kumar was endowed with one of the most sonorous voices in light music. His film songs are universally popular. […]

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OP Nayyar’s influence on other Music Directors

OP Nayyar August 31, 2017

Guest article by Ravindra Kelkar (OP Nayyar was a craze for some years from the mid-50s. Every music director was imitating his style, composing OP-type songs from time to time. If you thought it was simply a bandwagon effect, our OP Nayyar-expert Ravindra Kelkar unravels several factors that were at play. Some did it voluntarily, […]

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The first duo Husnlal-Bhagatram (2): Their songs for ‘other’ singers

Husnlal-Bhagatram August 11, 2017

(While I had already scheduled the first part and was working on the draft for this part on Husnlal-Bhagatram, I was also in touch with Pt Husnlal’s US-based son, Dinesh Kumar Prabhakar, and Pt Bhagtram’s Mumbai-based son, Ashok Bhagatram Sharma. Communication with Ashokji was difficult as he has kept himself outside the digital word, but […]

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OP Nayyar-Geeta Dutt: A peerless combination

OP Nayyar-Geeta Dutt July 20, 2017

A tribute to Geeta Dutt on her 45th death anniversary (23 November 1930 – 20 July 1972) by guest author Ravindra Kelkar (A general grievance against SoY is that Geeta Dutt has not been given her due place on the blog. There has been one exclusive post on her best songs by SD Burman which, […]

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The first duo Husnlal-Bhagatram (1): Their songs for Suraiya, Lata Mangeshkar and Rafi

Husnlal-Bhagatram July 11, 2017

I have signed off the series on Shankar-Jaikishan recently. Before that I had done series on Anil Biswas, Naushad, C Ramchandra and SD Burman. As the readers now expect the next famous music directors in line, there are some yesteryears stalwarts who shone like meteor for a short while, or who gave great music consistently over […]

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Shankar Jaikishan’s duets (2)

Shankar-Jaikishn May 16, 2017

In the first part of Shankar-Jaikishan’s duets, I covered the songs in which either Mukesh or Rafi sang with a female singer. They being the predominant singers, one would think that that post would cover most of the famous duets composed by them. But SJ were hugely talented and diversified, and played a key role […]

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Shankar-Jaikishan’s duets (1): Mukesh/Rafi with female singers

Shankar Jaikishan April 25, 2017

In the last calendar year I did a series of posts on Shankar-Jaikishan’s songs: singerwise for Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh, Rafi, Manna Dey, ‘Other singers’ and two posts on their dance songs – for Lata Mangeshkar and female dance duets. Several readers rightly remarked that SJ’s series would not be complete without covering their duets. That […]

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Shamshad Begum with 3G

Shamshad Begum April 14, 2017

A tribute on Shamshad Begum’s 98th birth anniversary (14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013), and  wishing the readers a very happy Baisakhi, Vishu, Bihu and Tamil New Year. Shamshad Begum has been a perennial favourite on SoY. Earlier, there was a reference to the great trinity of Naushad, C Ramchandra and OP Nayyar who […]

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The three distinct phases of OP Nayyar’s career

OP Nayyar January 28, 2017

A tribute to OP Nayyar on his 10th death anniversary (16 January 1926 – 28 January 2007) by guest author Ravindra Kelkar (After I had written on OP Nayyar’s best songs for Mahendra Kapoor, Rafi, Shamshad Begum and Asha Bhosle, I had no intention of writing any more on him. But the readers’ clamour for ‘Ye […]

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Best songs of 1949: Final Wrap Up 5

December 24, 2016

The SoY Award for the Best Music Director goes to? For the final wrap up, I can do no better than quote Mahesh: “The year 1949 itself was the biggest winner of all.” That refers to the historical place of the year in the evolution of Hindi film songs which we have discussed in the […]

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