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

Singers

Best songs of Asha Bhosle by OP Nayyar

September 8, 2016

Wishing Asha Bhosle a very Happy Birthday on her 83rd birth anniversary (b. 8 September 1933) When I wrote on my favourite ‘special’ songs of Asha Bhosle about five years ago, I was somewhat dismissive of her songs by OP Nayyar. At that time I viewed SoY as a स्वान्तः सुखाय self-indulgence. Five years down […]

Read the full article

Mukesh’s vintage duets

August 27, 2016

A tribute to Mukesh on his 40th death anniversary (22 July 1923 to 27 August 1976) Mukesh debuted well into the vintage era with Dil hi bujha hua hai to in Nirdosh (1941). His first few years as actor-singer did not do him much good. He discovered his calling as a playback singer when his […]

Read the full article

My favourite Rafi songs by Shankar-Jaikshan

July 31, 2016

A tribute to Rafi on his 36th death anniversary (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) Rafi is arguably the best male playback singer of Hindi films, and Shankar-Jaikishan are, by any yardstick, among the greatest music directors. In any case they have been commercially the most successful and dominant figure over two decades (1950s-60s). […]

Read the full article

Shankar-Jaikishan’s songs for Mukesh

July 22, 2016

A tribute on Mukesh’s 93rd birth anniversary (22 July 1923 – 27 August 1976) Mukesh debuted as (actor-)singer in 1941 with Nirdosh, i.e. 8 years before Shankar-Jaikishan’s debut in 1949 with RK Films’ Barsaat. After some initial struggle, Mukesh got a chance to work with the music titan of the era, Anil Biswas, courtesy his […]

Read the full article

Shankar-Jaikishan’s female dance duets

May 29, 2016

My post on Shankar-Jaikishan’s dance songs for Lata Mangeshkar generated a great deal of enthusiasm. I think the readers were with me that these songs are of exceptional quality and their orchestration and picturisation are very unique to SJ. KS Bhatiaji who has a great liking for SJ, matching mine for Naushad, suggested that their […]

Read the full article

Manna Dey’s songs by Shankar-Jaikishan

May 1, 2016

A tribute to Manna Dey (1 May 1919 – 24 October 2013) on his 97th birth anniversary Mumbaikar8 has rightly pointed out that Manna Dey has not yet got the importance on SoY he deserves. That in a way is also a reflection of his career. Recognised as an unparalleled singer of classical songs, he […]

Read the full article

Shamshad Begum’s songs by OP Nayyar

April 14, 2016

A tribute to Shamshad Begum (14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013) on her 97th birth anniversary When I did two back-to-back posts on Shamshad Begum’s songs by Naushad and C Ramchandra last year there was inevitably a reference to OP Nayyar as he is the third member of the trinity which made the greatest […]

Read the full article

Best duets of the not-so-unloved Mahendra Kapoor

March 14, 2016

I had described Mahendra Kapoor as the most unloved singer in my last post on him. I have to modify that phrase, because the comments on that post indicate that he had more passionate fans and admirers than I had realised. Despite not counting myself among his passionate fans, I have a great liking for […]

Read the full article

The Unlucky Genius Ghulam Mohammad’s best songs for Talat Mahmood

February 24, 2016

Ghulam Mohammad was Naushad’s senior in the music industry by several years. He was an established tabla player, earning Rs 60 per month, with Ustad Jhande Khan, when Naushad joined him, in 1937, as a piano player at Rs. 40 per month. Fate catapulted Naushad to commanding heights, making him the greatest Mughal of Movie […]

Read the full article

Shankar-Jaikishan’s dance songs for Lata Mangeshkar

February 12, 2016

(DP Rangan recently asked me who would be the music director of 2016. Obviously, he presumed there would be one, because I celebrated 2015 as the Year of Naushad (with C Ramchandra in tandem), and the year before that as the Year of Anil Biswas. Concurrently, I also covered SD Burman extensively, but that happened […]

Read the full article

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →