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

Singers

Sudha Malhotra: The last of the niche singers of the Golden Era

November 30, 2013

Wishing her a very happy 77th birth anniversary A female playback singer in the 1950s and 60s, if she did not bear the name Lata Mangeshkar or Asha Bhosle, was in a very unenviable position. She knew she had to remain consigned to the outer orbit. The world of male playback singers was a complete […]

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KC Dey’s songs in ‘Devdas’ (1935)

November 20, 2013

You need not rub your eyes; this post is indeed about KC Dey’s songs in Devdas (1935). I know that this movie is synonymous with KL Saigal and his eternal songs – Balam aye baso more man mein, Dukh ke ab din beetat naahi and his rendering of Abdul Karim Khan’s thumri, Piya bin nahi […]

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The ultimate SD Burman: His pure Bengali songs

November 10, 2013

In the radio era, when the faintest strains of Sun mere bandhu re or O re majhi mere sajan hain us paar fell into my ears from a distant radio, I would be inexorably drawn towards it, as if pulled by a magnet. SD Burman’s either of these two songs would tower over twenty other […]

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Remembering SD Burman’s Manna Dey

October 31, 2013

Mera sab kuchh mere geet re sang Manna Dey for SD Burman in Zindagi Zindagi. In a sad coincidence, in the midst of my SD Burman series, Manna Dey passed away exactly a week ago at the age of 94 (b. 1 May 1919, d. 24 Oct 2013). Today happens to be SD Burman’s death […]

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SD Burman’s Bengali songs and their Hindi versions

October 22, 2013

Multiple Version Songs (14) With this post my SD Burman journey is intersecting Ashok Vaishnavji’s mega-project on multiple version songs. My journey has taken many interesting turns. I started with the idea of doing a post on my top ten favourite songs of SD Burman, which would have included his film as well non-film Hindi […]

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Kishore Kumar’s best songs by SD Burman

October 13, 2013

It is widely reported that SD Burman had a special fondness for Kishore Kumar. In my earlier posts some statistics has also been discussed regarding SD Burman’s number of songs with different singers. Kishore Kumar has more than any other male singer – beating his nearest rival Rafi by 53 solos to 46 (115 to […]

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Lata Mangeshkar’s best songs by SD Burman

September 28, 2013

Wishing Lata Mangeshkar Happy 84th Birthday The most discussed aspect about SD Burman-Lata Mangeshkar combination is their break up for about five years, 1958-62, rather than their music. In that, he is among a long line of film and music personalities with whom she had one of her famous run-ins. But there is a vital […]

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Best songs of 1953: Wrap Up 2

Lata Mangeshkar, Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum, Asha Bhosle

September 18, 2013

Songs of Yore award for the Best Female Playback Singer goes to Lata, Lata,.…..Lata Mangeshkar Continuing the string of posts on the best songs of 1953, and Wrap Up 1 on the best male playback singer, I present here the second wrap up on the best female playback singer, based on the readers’ comments and […]

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Asha Bhosle’s best songs by SD Burman

September 8, 2013

Greeting her Happy Birthday on her 80th Anniversary Two music directors – OP Nayyar and RD Burman – are credited with the making of Asha Bhosle. Since everyone says this, I am not going to question it, but my own preference is different. RD Burman-Asha Bhosle is essentially a post-69 phenomenon, when music was RD […]

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Mukesh’s best songs by SD Burman

August 27, 2013

A tribute on his death anniversary August 27 For someone who is a great fan of both Mukesh and SD Burman, the most intriguing question is why did SD Burman use him so sparingly. Whenever he did use him the results were stunning. The best example is O janewale ho sake to laut ke ana […]

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