Concluding the series on SN Tripathi with his best songs for ‘other’ female playback singers
It is time to conclude the series on SN Tripathi after a comprehensive coverage of his multi-faceted talent in the Vintage Era (1949 and earlier) in Part 1 as a singer, actor, music director and dialogue and story writer; Part 2 (post-50s) about his best songs for Rafi; Part 3 (post-50s) about his best songs for Mukesh and other male singers; and Part 4 (post-50s) about his best songs for Lata Mangeshkar. I also mentioned that during post-50s, while we know him primarily as a music director, he continued to act and added a new talent to his immense portfolio – as a director of famous films, such as Rani Roopmati (1959). While writing on Lata Mangeshkar I discovered that she did not appear much in SN Tripathi’s music in her Tsunami years of 1949 through early 50s. He used several ‘other’ female playback singers, with Geeta Dutt and Shamshad Begum appearing quite frequently.
And the SOY ward for the Best Female Singer goes to?
In my overview post of the best songs of 1942, I had mentioned that the ratio between male solos and female solos in the songs in which singers were credited was 1:2.55 in the year as a whole. I had included 84 songs in my list of MEMORABLE SONGS in the year. The Wrap Up 1 of the best male solos listed all the 23 male solos that were in the list of MEMORABLE SONGS. These were divided among 15 singers, but KL Saigal naturally dominated the list. During his years of dominance the male singing was mostly a one-horse race.
How does female solos compare with this picture? In the list of MEMORABLE SONGS I had included 34 female solos divided among 17 singers as follows:
Continuing the series on SN Tripathi with a tribute to Lata Mangeshkar on her 94th birth anniversary (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022)
It is matter of satisfaction that after a reader noted the omission of SN Tripathi, I have been able to cover him in some detail, though late. I have already posted three articles on him: Part 1 about his multifaceted talent – actor, singer, music director, story and dialogue writer – in the Vintage Era (pre 50s); Part 2 (post 50s) about his best songs for Rafi, Part 3 (post-50s) about his best songs for Mukesh and other male singers. There cannot be a better way to continue the series than with his best songs for Lata Mangeshkar as a tribute to her on what would have been her 94th birth anniversary.
Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) & Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation)
(V Balsara was an extremely talented musician encompassing proficiency in all the links in the vertical chain of producing music – instrumentalist to arranger to music director. He was a master of many instruments. He was also a rare exception for a non-Bengali to make a reverse migration from Mumbai to Kolkata and made a mark in Bengali music scene. We are grateful that our guest authors Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav, continuing the series on Arrangers and Musicians, now cover one of the well-known musicians V Balsara. He had the unique talent of creating piano accordion sound with harmonium in many landmark songs. Thank you Piyush ji and Ashok ji for another excellent article on the sculptors of film songs who were not adequately credited. – AK)
V(istasp Ardeshir) Balsara (B: 22 June 1922 – D: 24 March 2005) was a musician of trinity of talents – as an instrumentalist, arranger and music director. He was considered uncrowned wizard of instrumental orchestration. A master keyboardist, he was an ace player of instruments like harmonium, organ, piano, piano accordion, melodica and univox. He is considered instrumental in popularising these instruments in the recording industry. Rich in the knowledge of Indian and Western classical music, he has left behind a legacy of his recorded albums of Indian and Western music and the fusion of both these schools. He has also composed music for around 12 Hindi films and 32 Bengali films and several timeless non-film compositions.
Wishing everyone a very Happy Janmashtami with best songs on Krishna and the flute
Thanks to several TV serials, Amar Chitra Katha mythology comics, and other sources everyone knows Lord Krishna story by heart. The cruel King Kans marries off his dear sister Devki to his close friend Vasudev (वसुदेव), and decides to drive them in his chariot himself to her marital home, when he hears a prophecy from the sky, You fool! The eighth child of this couple would be the cause of your death. An enraged Kans takes out his sword to slay them when his sister Devki pleads with him, Brother! you need fear only the eighth child. Pregnancy cannot be hidden, just take away the eighth child, and please spare our lives. A worried Kans puts them in prison anyway under his guards. And not taking any chance that the eighth child may decide to be born randomly, kills each newborn by smashing its head on stone block.
A tribute to Mukesh on his 47th Remembrance Day (22 July 1923 – 27 August 1976) in the series on SN Tripathi
Last month radio, print and visual media was awash with tributes to Mukesh on his birth centenary (22 July 1923 – 27 August 1976). All the tributes were unanimous that he was gifted with an extremely sonorous and melodious voice. He touched the hearts of the listeners with his voice which had a natural pathos. He didn’t sing too many songs, but there were movies with superhit songs galore, but just one song of Mukesh soared over the others. He repeated his magic with SN Tripathi too. Just remember his Laut ke aa…aa laut ke aa ja mere meet tujhe mere geet bulate hain (Rani Roopmati, 1960). And there are more timeless songs: Nain ka chain churakar le gayi (Chandramukhi, 1960); Thane kajaliya bana lun (Veer Durgadas, 1960) and so on.
Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai’s Film Studios
Author: Gregory D Booth
Publisher: Oxford University Press 2008
Pages (including Index and References): 321
Price (Amazon Kindle Edition): ₹357
The SOY readers’, especially S Joseph’s, request to write a review of “Behind the Curtain” predates the series on Arrangers and Musicians, and my own desire to review the book goes further back by some years, well before the pandemic, when I would have written it as “In Conversation with Gregory Booth” – because during one of his regular visits to India, I had set up a meeting with him, but at the last moment he got stuck up in a small town in Western UP due to a medical emergency in the family of his musician friend he was visiting.
Guest Article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) & Ashok M Vaishnav (English Translation)
(Continuing their series on the Arrangers and Musicians our guest authors Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation) now write on S Hazara Singh who played several instruments, but became a legend with Hawaiian guitar. His Hawaiian guitar pieces became the identity of many superhit songs of OP Nayyar and several other music directors. His independent LP albums of tunes of old film songs he played on the guitar sold like hot cakes.
Piyush ji and Ashok ji have demonstrated through this series how important was the role of the musicians and the arrangers in embellishing the songs. S Hazara Singh is one of the legends whose Hawaiian guitar pieces in many songs transformed a shell into a beautiful sculpture. Thank you Piyush ji and Ashok ji for another excellent article in the series, and making us aware of S Hazara Singh’s contributions. – AK)
In the initial phase of film music, the instruments like harmonium, shehnai, flute, sarangi were used mainly for the music support of a film song. However, with advent of new generation of experimentalist music directors like Pankaj Mullick, Anil Biswas, Khemchand Prakash etc. instruments like piano and different types of violins, accordions, guitars, pianos, saxophones etc. also found way into film music compositions. With arrangers and instrumentalists from Goa Christian Western music also joining the film music industry, film music underwent a fundamental shift.
In this period of transformation of Hindi film music, sometime around 1942, in the city of Karachi, of the then undivided India, a young man worked as a craftsman of peti (harmonium). He was also very good at crafting the reeds and ‘tuning’ the assembled harmonium pieces. Not before long, he also started working on different string instruments. As the providence would have it, he came to the notice of Ram Singh, the famous saxophone player of the early era during his frequent travels between Bombay and Karachi for recordings. He invited this young man to Bombay. After initial hesitation, somewhere around 1947, the young man did land up in Bombay. The luck was favourable to him as he immediately got his chance to play guitar in the Khemchand Prakash orchestra for the two iconic songs Aayega aanewala and Mushkil hai bahut mushkil (Mahal, 1949).
A tribute to Rafi on his 43rd Remembrance Day with the continuing series on SN Tripathi
In SN Tripathi Part 1 (1930s and 40s) we became familiar with his multi-faceted personality: an actor, a singer, a music director, and surprisingly also a director – though of post-50s films. But post-50s we know him mostly as a music director, and we slot him in a narrow range – generally for his sweet melodies and classical-based songs and dances.
And the award for the Best Male Singer goes to?
KL Saigal in most of his active years was a colossus and, thus, the answer to this rhetorical question was a foregone conclusion. In 1942, Saigal had just one film, Bhakt Surdas, but that was enough to make his songs etched in the memories of music lovers forever. To be sure, there were many other male singers as well, such as KC Dey, Surendra, GM Durrani, Khan Mastana, Rafiq Ghaznavi etc. Out of a total of 84/85 songs in my list of MEMORABLE SONGS in the overview post, there are 23 male solos, distributed among 15 singers as in the table below.
