Wishing a very Happy Holi to everyone
Holi was the time when one went to one’s ‘native’ place – everyone belonged to a place where he came from. In the olden days, going to the native place might involve using multimodal transport – by train to the nearest railhead, from there by bus, and the last mile by tonga, bullock cart, tractor-trailer or foot. ‘Native’ places are disappearing fast. We might have a job or be located somewhere, but we do not belong to any place.
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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 some of his songs which I place at par with the best sung by any of his contemporaries. Chalo ek baar phir se is one such iconic song which had a post dedicated to it. Similarly, I am greatly fond of some of his duets. Some readers also added duets anyway, in their comments on the post, which was dedicated to his solos. Mahendra Kapoor story would not be complete unless I write on his best duets.
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Guest article by DP Rangan
(DP Rangan has been a familiar figure in the comments section. He recently debuted as a guest author with his piece on Bollywood’s love affair with horses. I had introduced him as a member of the very senior brigade, who has the enthusiasm of a teenager. The proof is this sequel to his last post. He had planned to put the cart before the horse, but on my suggestion he has right-sequenced the order. For someone whose first language is not Hindi, the collection of songs is absolutely impressive. Thank you Mr Rangan for another outstanding piece. – AK)
I have written enough about the horses in my earlier post and how they are part and parcel of humans even in the present age of technological advancement. Encouraged by the response of the generous readers to my first effort at ‘writing’, I venture to write its sequel on their use in horse carts, or tongas. Horses continue to be yoked to carts and haul people and goods from place to place. Fortunately, horse carts have been phased out from almost all the metropolis and may be a rare sight in countryside too. I am happy to see them in partial liberation. I hope to see a reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln to free them in totality and ensure they roam in whatever little is left of the wild. Film producers, of late, are not incorporating such scenes in their films. It is only an educated guess as I have not been to a theatre for more than fifteen years and have rarely sat before the idiot box with the technical name of Television. I am a computer nerd and, while trawling through internet, chanced upon SoY and my life thereafter became topsy turvy. I saw many snippets of songs based on tonga/cart scenes and decided to present them to the followers of this blog.
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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 Music. And fate destined Ghulam Mohammad to work for several years as his Chief Music Assistant. Concurrently, he also composed music independently in several films, giving outstanding music. When Naushad broke with AR Kardar finally in 1952, Ghulam Mohammad, too, decided to cease being his assistant. Dil-e-Naadan (1953) was launched with great fanfare typical of Kardar and its music was entrusted to Ghulam Mohammad, hoping that he would repeat the magic of Naushad. Its music was absolutely mesmerizing – not a poor copy of Naushad, but very different and very original. But Ghulam Mohammad was not lucky, the film bombed.
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(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 organically. Next in line, no one deserves this honour more than Shankar-Jaikishan, who were arguably the most successful music director(s) ever, and among the most dominant figures on the music scene for about two decades. I start my tribute to SJ with a special niche of their songs for Lata Mangeshkar which has been my great favourite, and which would make your heart dance. Thank you Mr. Rangan, for the timely reminder. – AK)
Shankar-Jaikishan have come in for some unkind comments on Songs of Yore, not so much for the decline in their music in the later years – everyone has a sunset – but for some of their astonishing Filmfare Awards. When they composed Jai bolo beimaan ki, no one would have realized they meant it literally, and would pull it over Pakeezah. They had achieved a similar feat with Pehchaan. This was no less brazen than their Dil Apna Aur Preet Paraayee victory over Mughal-e-Azam, or Suraj over Guide. Yet, even if we delete all of this, and all that is considered loud and unmusical, what is left is still enormous in scale, and of outstanding quality. Shankar-Jaikishan are by any yardstick among the greatest music directors, and arguably the most successful ever. When I think of them, I remember a very nice line from a story of Nirmal Verma – कुछ झूठ अनावश्यक होते हैं. Siddharth put it very aptly that Beimaan is not their only Pehchaan. One very important part of their identity is their songs for Lata Mangeshkar, and I start my tribute to them with a very special sub-set of their songs for her, which is very dear to me.
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Guest article by Ashok M Vaishnav
(The founder of the mega series Multiple Version Songs, Ashokji brings up another one from his inexhaustible storehouse of multiple versions on different criteria. The multiple versions so far have generally been from the same film. Continuing his series he brings up an interesting variety of songs which have multiple versions across different films. In some cases these may be a traditional bandish, where you may find some versions outside films. Some traditional bandishes have been sung by a large number of classical and semi-classical singers. He has left out such songs for practical reasons. This post too shows his capacity for detailed research. The present post includes less than half of what he has compiled. We may put up the remaining songs subsequently, depending on the readers interest.– AK)
Till now all the multiple version songs that we talked belonged to the same film, except of course, version songs across different languages. We now chart a different trajectory of Multiple Versions of Songs.
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Guest article by DP Rangan
(We started the New Year with our tiny friends – birds – introduced to us by a scholarly guest article by Shalan Lal. At the other end of the spectrum, the large species Horse has been even more integral to us through the history. And introducing these beautiful animals is this erudite article by DP Rangan through Bollywood’s love affair with the Horse.
Mr Rangan is a latecomer to the SoY, but he has made his presence felt by his active engagement and informative comments. He is diligently devouring the previous posts of SoY, and like Shalan writes to me long mails on various topics. From his mails I have gathered that after retirement from government service long ago he has become a globe trotter, spending time with his sons who are settled abroad and touching home in Delhi periodically. Well over seventy, he joins the senior brigade of SoY, but has the enthusiasm of a teenager. We are fortunate to have grand opening by two guest authors at the beginning of the year, and I am sure we are going to see many more from them. Welcome Mr Rangan formally at the top line and thanks a lot for this excellent piece. – AK)
Horse is no stranger to us bipeds and its life is closely interwoven with that of humans. As an utilitarian they have no equals. They served mankind, albeit unwillingly as mounts, beasts of burden, plough draggers, stagecoach haulers, Victoria pullers, transporting royals and dignitaries to name a few.
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A tribute on Mahendra Kapoor’s 82nd birth anniversary (9 January 1934 – 27 December 2008)
I have made a number of discoveries during my association with SoY. I mentioned some in my last anniversary post. But the most startling discovery I have not yet mentioned – we are now aware of at least two persons on this planet who are deeply fond of Mahendra Kapoor. So this post is also dedicated to the readers KS Bhatiaji and Arvinder Sharmaji who have declared their great liking for MK, so much so that they would have preferred some well-known songs of Rafi in MK’s voice. Bhatiaji takes the cake for remembering Mahendra Kapoor on the recent birth anniversary of Rafi. Now we find that Hans, too, has very courageously declared his fondness for him, though he wound not go as far as to put him at par with Rafi.
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Bird-watch in the Songs of Yore
Wishing Happy New Year to all the readers with guest article by Shalan Lal
(Once upon a time there were birds around us and they were a part of our lives, songs, mtyths and legends. When the crow cawed we knew it was advance intimation of a guest coming; when the koel cooed in the monsoon rains it pierced the heart of the lonely lady pining for her lover who was away; when the papiha sang far away the lovers knew the night was only half left; when Shakaracharya heard a parrot uttering deeply metaphysical aphorisms like स्वतः प्रमाणं परतः प्रमाणम् he knew he had reached the house of Pandit Mandan Mishra; and when Valmiki heard the heart-rending cry of a crane whose partner was killed by a hunter’s arrow during mating, from his grief-stricken heart came out the first verse of the mankind that made him the आदि कवि.
If you think about it, the once familiar birds are becoming rarer. Songs of Yore heralds the New Year remembering these birds with this guest article by Shalan Lal. Shalan has discovered SoY late, but has since become its avid follower. Besides the very learned comments she posts on the blog, she often sends me long comments as she catches up with the old posts when she feels these may appear outdated on the blog. Our interaction has led to several interesting ideas that can develop into articles. While we were discussing some other topics, I was pleasantly surprised to get this beautifully written piece in mail.
Shalan is based in London where she works with women’s issues. She is widely travelled, she has had academic association with the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and some other universities. Her interests range from politics to literature to religion. This article bears out her wide-ranging inetersts and international outlook.
Thank you Shalan for this article and welcome to SoY as a guest author. – AK)
This is a bird’s eye view of the Songs of Yore over the Hindi films. In the English culture often the word Bird was used for a young girl by the male youths in the sixties and seventies. I was young then. There were other words for the young girls used in those days as well for example “a doll”, a babe and the vulgar term “a crumpet” as well. There could be more.
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Wishing Merry Christmas to all with a tribute to Naushad, Rafi and Noorjehan
I heralded 2015 with Naushad’s Crown Jewel, Rattan (1944), and decided to celebrate the year as The Year of Naushad. I cannot think of a better way to conclude the year than to remember his next Priceless Moment in his career, Anmol Ghadi, which came two years later. A blockbuster of its times, it is the only movie which links Naushad with two other greats together – his would-be most favourite male singer, Rafi, and the reigning actor-singer of the era, Noorjehan. Naushad, Rafi and Noorjehan are also linked in an incredibly eerie way – Rafi was born on 24 December (1924), Noorjehan’s death anniversary falls on December 23 (2000) and Naushad’s birth anniversary falls on December 25 (1919). If you believe Raju Bharatan, Naushad was actually born on December 24, but he chose December 25 as his ‘official’ birthday for better optics (Naushdanama). Had the shared birth anniversaries something to do with Naushad, later, firmly settling for Rafi even after tasting great success with Mukesh and Talat Mahmood? And the contra-anniversaries, with the fact that Anmol Ghadi remained Naushad’s first and the last work with Noorjehan? Though the film links the three greats, ironically Rafi did not have a duet with Noorjehan – with Surendra being the singing star of the film, there was no occasion for such a duet (though they would have a duet a year later in Jugnu – Yahan badla wafa ka bewafaai ke siwa kya hai – but that was composed by Firoz Nizami, who was also among those who migrated to Pakistan along with Noorjehan).
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