The Gravitas of Sitar in Songs

7 August 2021

SitarSitar makes a very conspicuous presence on the screen due to its size. But it conveys an entirely different image from the piano or the harmonium. If piano is aristocracy, harmonium is plebeian. And what about the sitar? It is elegant classicism; it is not about the social, but musical status. There is gravitas in the sitar on the screen – either it is a classical raga-based song, or a song full of pathos. None of the frivolity you might see with the harmonium, such as in the film Padosan. Even piano has been a venue of some romantic love-play between the lovers.

 

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Kumkum: The Danseuse Butterfly of Bollywood

28 July 2021

Guest article by DP Rangan to pay tribute to Kumkum (22 April 1934 – 28 July 2020) on her first death anniversary

(The dancers had an important place in our films. They came in amazing varieties. There was a tradition of the top actresses themselves being professionally trained in classical or popular dance forms, such as Vyjayanthimala and Waheeda Rehman, to Hema Malini to Madhuri Dixit, Rekha and Aishwarya Rai. Some mainstream actresses performed ‘Item Numbers’ for a lark. The other end was a night club or cabaret dancer, such as Helen, Bindu and Jayshree T etc. Since this was not seen as a very noble activity, they were generally given a small role of a vamp.

In this crowded field, it is to the credit of Kumkum that she carved out her own niche as a dancer with grace on whom some of the most memorable songs of the Golden Era have been picturised. As she had a proper training in Kathak, her dance always showed her class. Her natural talent for dance, her supple body and expressive eyes made her a sought after artist. She did several lead roles or second lead roles in which she showed her acting prowess too. To pay our tribute to her on her first death anniversary is the indefatigable DP Rangan.

As the regulars of SOY are well aware, Mr Rangan is 70-plus going on 17. He is the most prolific guest author on SOY. Undeterred by the difficulty of language, he is always after me what next he should write on. I instantly welcomed his suggestion to write on Kumkum. Thank you Mr Rangan for this tribute to Kumkum we all like so much. – AK)

The lure of filmdom started right after movies started invading everywhere. Men and women in search of fame and wealth had made a beeline for the tinsel towns where studios were rooted and functioning. Our Bharat is no exception to this golden rule. Lahore was probably the first town where this started during the colonial era. Calcutta also emerged as another such centre. Then Bombay joined the bandwagon and thereafter Chennai came into the film map. As part of technical advancement, silent movies were supplanted by talkies with the film Alam Ara in 1931. All with a histrionic talent or with pretensions to it sought fame and riches in this tinsel world of glamour. Most of them came from poor families ready to confront this game of life and death. Success meant stardom, wealth and fame and those who failed to make it count were left by the wayside. Ladies with alluring looks as a powerful weapon had an easier time at grappling with the studio moghuls and those with dancing skills had a decided advantage.

 

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Best songs of 1944: Wrap UP 2

21 July 2021

And the award for the Best Female Song goes to?

If you browse through my Overview Post on the best songs of 1944 and the Wrap Up 1 about the best male solos, two features would strike you immediately. One was the significantly large number of female solos compared to the male solos. And two, while KL Saigal was the Pole Star of male solos, there was no such Pole Star in female solos. There was no Lata Mangeshkar in 1944. I used to think that Noorjehan was the Lata Mangeshkar before her, but now I realise that I was conditioned by all the optics created by Lata herself, and by reading a good deal about Noorjehan-romantics like Dilip Kumar, Khushwant Singh, and proponents of Track-II diplomacy with our neighbour. I give allowance that as she sang for herself, her songs would be less than independent playback singers. Yet a detailed review shows that a large number of female singers sang absolutely melodious songs, making Noorjehan one among many as far as the quality of songs is concerned.

 

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Best Songs of 1944: Wrap Up 1

6 July 2021

And the award for the Best Male Solo goes to?

In my Overview Post of the best songs of 1944, I had mentioned that in the total songs in the years in which the singers’ names were known, male solos to female solos to duets followed a ratio of 1: 3.69: 1.69. Thus, the male solos were about 16% of the total songs in the year. In my shortlist of 80/81 Memorable Songs in the year (one song had a female, and a duet version), the number of male solos is proportionately more at 19, accounted for by the following 9 singers:

 

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Raja Mehdi Ali Khan: Lyricist Par Excellence

25 June 2021

Guest article by D P Rangan as a tribute to Raja Mehdi Ali Khan on his 55th Remembrance Day (b. 1915/1928? – d. 29 July 1966)

(There are at least two dozen lyricists who wrote more songs than Raja Mehdi Ali Khan. Yet every lover of old film songs has the highest regard for him, especially for the exquisite songs he wrote for Madan Mohan. For many of us, it might come as a surprise that his songs for Madan Mohan are about one-sixth of his total output. That underscores the talent of Raja Mehdi Ali Khan.

To do full justice to such a highly respected lyricist, you would expect the writer to have very deep familiarity with Hindustani language. D P Rangan is not deterred by minor constraints, such as lack of adequate knowledge of the language. He comes up with another of his very sincere guest articles. He is conscious that lyricists have not been given due importance on SOY, therefore, his article fills up an important gap.

Mr Rangan is a retired government servant, now well into his 70s. We know him for his enthusiasm and zest for life. He has written over two dozen guest articles for SOY, the most by anyone. This article has been in my folder since the last year, but it turned out to be a very crowded year. Mr Rangan  appreciated my scheduling difficulties, and allowed me to post it on a later suitable date.

Let us pay our tribute to the great lyricist Raja Mehdi Ali Khan on Madan Mohan’s 97th birth anniversary, with whom he had the most memorable association. Thank you Mr Rangan for this nice guest article. – AK)

Raja Mehdi Ali KhanA rare combination of poet, writer and lyricist in erudite Urdu is how I think of this gifted individual who streaked across the cinematic field in blazing glory for a brief span of time and embraced eternity by his untimely demise at a very young age of just thirty eight years. His achievements in this brief sojourn in terra firma speak for themselves. Here is my humble effort to pen his biography for scrutiny by blog followers.

 

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‘Hindi Cine Raag Encyclopaedia’ by KL Pandey: Book Review

16 June 2021

Hindi Cine Raag Encyclopaedia
(Reference Edition: Vol. I and Vol. II)
Author: KL Pandey
Sangeet Shilp Prakashan, Lucknow
Second edition (Revised and Enlarged): December 2020
Hardcover ₹3200 on Amazon

(Note: ‘Sur Samvadini’, a glossary of Hindustani Classical Music and a list of 174 raags appearing in Hindi film songs with their basic grammar, available complimentary if ordered directly from the publisher.)

The vast ocean of Hindi film music has attracted several explorers to undertake Samudra-Manthan on different parameters and organise its wealth in convenient compilations, kosh, concordance and encyclopaedias. Considering that songs have been an integral part of our films from the very first talkie Alam Ara (1931) and the data about early decades was scarce or non-existent, the work of pioneers like Harmandir Singh ‘Hamraz’, the compiler of Hindi Film Geet Kosh (in six volumes up to 1985), is truly monumental. KL Pandey’s ‘Hindi Cine Raag Encyclopaedia’, the raag analysis of about 20,000 Hindi film songs from 1931 to September 2020, is another monumental work of enormous significance for music lovers, academics and researchers.

To give you some idea about the scale of the work, over 13000 films were made in the above period having over 80000 songs. Out of this only 65000 songs are available. I have often mentioned that memorable songs over long periods are not more than 15-20% of the total songs. Mr Pandey has covered over 30% of the total available songs, which means any worthwhile song you can think of is covered in the book.

How does one identify the raag of a film song? A lay listener’s method is, if the song sounds like Bhimpalasi, it is Bhimpalasi. This is not the way a knowledgeable person identifies the raag(s) of a song. Except for a few, most music directors were not purists; their main purpose was to  compose a melodious song which fitted into the narrative. If it had classical flavour it was incidental, most songs had a mix of raags.  Mr Pandey has done the complete DNA sequencing of each song by first identifying its Root Note, or its scale, playing its record on a device or online, and in parallel a couple of musicians playing it on the harmonium, or guitar or the keyboard, and some singing it. Then they would meticulously record the sequence of notes appearing in the song. Any difference of opinion was settled by discussing it further with some experts. On this basis the raags in a song and the sequence in which the raags appeared were identified.

Each song would easily take a couple of hours for this analysis. It is no wonder it has taken 14 years for Mr. Pandey and his team to complete this work. He did all this work while he was holding very busy assignments in the Indian Railways, such as DRM Vadodara, Chief Commercial Manager, Kolkata, Chief Operations Manager, Jabalpur and Additional Member, Railway Board until 2014 when he retired from the Railways, and thereafter, Member, Railway Claims Tribunal, Gorakhpur for two years. One can only marvel at his discipline, dedication and time management for carrying on this work during his active service.

Mr Pandey had compiled and analysed so much data that he had originally planned to bring out ‘Hindi Cine Sangeet Raagopaedia’ in 7 volumes. That would have given complete notation of each song. Realising that that was too mammoth and expensive, he published a bilingual Reference Edition in 2017 in 3 volumes running into 2000 pages, covering about 17000 songs. That had become too bulky, therefore, he has brought out this revised and enlarged single-language (English) edition in hardcover in which 3000 more songs have been added.

The scheme of presentation would be clear from a page from the book:

The nine columns contain: Serial Number, Song opening line, Film (Year), Singer(s), Lyricist, Music Director, Taal, Scale, Raags (in the order in which they appear in the song, and not in the order of their prominence in the song).  He has considered only the vocal part in the song for his raag analysis. Since he has all the data available, he plans to bring out 3 companion volumes of raag-wise analysis: Vol. III: Abhogi to Kalingada (82 raags); Vol. IV: Kamod to Neelambari (41 raags) and Vol. V: Pahadi to Zila: (51 raags), i.e. a total of 174 raags appearing in film songs.

Mr Pandey’s preface and articles in the two volumes give a perspective how different raags occupied pre-eminence in different periods.  Kafi and Khamaj dominated in the 30s and well into 40s, when towards the end Bhairavi stole the limelight and became the most popular raag in the succeeding decades. Pahadi, which is the most common raag in film songs, surprisingly, is a late entrant towards the end of the 1940s. Another interesting observation Mr Pandey makes is that Carnatic raags, such as Kirwani, Kalawatti, Charukeshi, Hansdhwani, which are quite popular now, are hardly seen in the 30s and 40s.

Expectedly, Mr Pandey mentions different music directors’ preference for particular raags, such as Roshan’s for Yaman, Khayyam’s for Pahadi etc. (Remember what Subodh Agrawal said: Lagta hai Khayam Saheb pahad se kabhi utare hi nahin.)

What is raag? The literature defines raag as ‘Ranjayati iti raagah’  (रंजयति इति रागः) – a combination of notes which delights the heart of listeners is raag. We generally associate raag with classical music which has a grammar and, thus, accessible only to the initiated. But if any form of music is melodious and it pleases your heart, it has some underlying raag(s) which adds myriad colours to a blank canvas. This is equally true of film music.

A common question may arise in the minds of millions of lovers of film songs: I love, I enjoy film songs. I do not know classical music or any raag, nor do I care about it. What is the use of this Encyclopaedia? We can paraphrase the same question to Mr Pandey, “Why did you do this backbreaking work? What is the purpose of all this?” Let us hear the answer in his own words, “To make our grand cultural heritage of Hindustani classical music reach the masses through a very easy and powerful medium which is Hindi film music.” Many lovers of film music are passionate listeners and collectors of classical music,  without knowing anything about raags or their grammar.  This two-volume set is an important contribution in the study of raags in Hindi film songs.

Are there any flaws in the book? In such a massive work, I don’t want to quibble over minor aberrations in proof reading and printing in the preface and articles preceding the main book. I have drawn Mr Pandey’s attention to what appeared awkward to me. As for the raag analysis, Mr Pandey acknowledges that there may be difference of views among experts about the raags in some songs, and he welcomes any comments, suggestions or corrections.

Acknowledgement: The book parcel came to me when I was yet to order it. I was trying to find out how to pay for it when I realised that it was a gift from our regular DP Rangan. Thanks a lot Mr Rangan for your wonderful surprise.

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Songs of Yore completes eleven years

7 June 2021

Songs of Yore_11 years

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,…. it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” Charles Dickens started his “A Tale of Two Cities” with these lines. If we look at the last two months, this has been a period of unmitigated darkness, the winder of irredeemable despair. In fact, the eleventh year of the SOY began in a state of Lockdown, but then it was a piece of statistics for us, these things do not happen to us. The recent second wave has been ferocious beyond imagination, and there is hardly anyone who is unaffected by it.

 

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Dattaram Part 2: Breaking out of the Banyan Tree with ‘Other’ Singers

29 May 2021

Second and final part of tribute to Dattaram (1929 – 8 June 2007)

DattaramWe saw in Dattaram Part 1 dealing with his songs for Mukesh and Manna Dey, how his association with the Big Banyan tree, Shankar-Jaikishan, made it difficult to get out of the comfort zone of SJ. The readers Mahesh and Hans Jakhar opined that Dattaram was himself part of the Banyan Tree. We need not presume that it was a millstone around his neck. The association gave him steady work and a sense of importance. Not everyone is entrepreneurial, he was contented with his station in life.

 

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Dattaram Part 1: Under the shadow of big banyan tree with songs of Mukesh and Manna Dey

20 May 2021

A big banyan tree gives shelter and protects you from elements. But this may become a trap because one may be deterred from venturing out on one’s own for the risks involved. But a human being also has an urge to venture out and stand on his own. That involves a vertical progression from earning from one’s skill to being an entrepreneur: Mason to a contractor; dancer to a choreographer; instrumentalist/ arranger/ assistant to becoming an independent music director; paid employee to a free-lancer.

 

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‘क्या भूलूँ क्या याद करूँ’

30 April 2021

Bhooli hui yaadonWe had thought we would try to forget 2020 as a bad dream. The pandemic last year for most of us was a piece of statistics, a news item. It would not affect us, we all thought. Suddenly in a span of the last few weeks its second wave has struck us as a mighty river in full fury after breaching a dam. Now it has reached our doorstep. Everyone knows of some close acquaintance whose dear one has gone through unimaginable medical crisis. Now clichés, such as ‘we would get over this’ sound like insensitive platitudes for those who have gone through personal tragedies.

 

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