Celebrating with some discovered gems and a tribute to Vidya Nath Seth
I recall that on the fifth anniversary of SoY, Gaddeswarupji commented that many promising blogs start losing steam around the sixth year. The sixth year brought in some major constraints in my personal logistics. I had just taken up a new full-time assignment in a city about 1000 km from my settled home. Daunted by the hassles of packing and moving household effects, and going through the same in reverse after a couple of years, I preferred to live out of a suitcase in a guest house – sans internet. Which meant that when I touched base, about twice a month, I had to pray to God that the internet did not conk off, race like Usain Bolt to catch up with fellow bloggers and write some article banks. The wife dear was not amused to find the absentee husband glued to the computer, and my attempts to humour her with romantic dialogues of eternal love one has learnt from Yash Chopra films only infuriated her more.
Thus, there was every reason for Gadeswarupji’s ominous statistics to come true for SoY. When I look back, I think I have not done too badly in the circumstances. I was able to keep up with the comments of the readers, though often with some constraints with mobile data connectivity. I managed to keep the regular flow of articles, hopefully, without decline in quality. Naushad and C Ramchandra celebration and the massive ‘Best songs of the year series’ continued with full vigour. This was followed by Shankar-Jaikishan who will continue in the seventh year. I was also able to write on my great favourites Mumtaz Ali, Khemchand Prakash and Ghulam Mohammad’s Talat Mahmood songs. Mahendra Kapoor happened when I realised that he had some very passionate followers. The veteran Ashok Vaishnav continued his mega series on multiple version songs. But the most remarkable achievement was debut of two guest authors who had already made a mark in the comments section. Shalan Lal heralded the new year with panchhi songs which was highly acclaimed for its breadth of vision. DP Rangan has emerged as a marathon runner with his posts on horses, tonga and moon songs on the trot. He is continuously bubbling with ideas, and there may be many more in the pipeline. Songs of Yore is blessed and I would like to thank all the guest authors.
I don’t know how to thank the readers without sounding formal or clichéd. So, if I am not able to thank them adequately, it is due to limitations of my language, and not envy at their getting most of the credit for the blog (which they fully deserve). Therefore, I limit myself to saying a big Thank You to the readers.
I have started a practice of posting of some discovered gems in the anniversary post. Let me start with Shankar-Jaikishan who are being featured in the current year prominently. Among all the famous music directors, I regarded them as the least likely to have any hidden gems. Right from their first film they straddled the public consciousness. You could trash their Bahaaro phool barsaao or Su ku su ku, but they generally remained in the familiar territory. You are more likely to discover a hidden Monet. Therefore, when I came across this song it was an unbelievable experience. The singer Aparesh Lahiri is the father of Bappi Lahiri. My first thought was that it was CH Atma for whom SJ had composed outstanding songs in Nageena (1951), such as Roun main saagar ke kinaare and Dil beqaraar hai dil beqaraar hai.
1. Jaage mera dil soye zamana by Aparesh Lahiri from Baadshah (1954), lyrics Hasrat Jaipuri, music Shankar-Jaikishan
2. Chhoota watan hamara hafiz Khuda tumhara by Rafi from Khuda Ka Banda (1957), lyrics Shevan Rizvi, music SN Tripathi
In the last anniversary post I had ‘discovered’ a Mahendra Kapoor-Suman Kalyanpur duet, Janam janam ka sath tumhara sath kabhi ye chhote na, from an obscure film Been Ka Jadoo (1963) composed by SN Tripathi, which was an exact replica of his more famous Rafi-Lata duet – Phool bagiya mein – from Rani Roopmati (1959). Every major composer resorts to auto-inspiration and tweaks his famous tunes, but making a karaoke track is different. Recently, I came across this ‘new’’’ song composed by SN Tripathi. Yet the tune was very familiar. He has done it again – simply putting different words in his pre-existing tune of Parwardigar-e-alam tera hi hai sahara from Haatimtai (1956). Here are the two songs in a combined link.
3. Mujhe to Shivshankar mil gaye by Rafi from Shiv Bhakt (1955), lyrics GS Nepali, music Chitragupta
Rafi was literally a Khuda ka Banda. He sang bhajans, too, with equal reverence. His Man tadpat Hari darshan ko aaj in Malkaus and O duniya ke rakhwale in Darbari are all-time classics. On the occasion of Shiv Purnima, I heard this beautiful bhajan in Jaunpuri. History repeats itself in uncanny ways. My last anniversary post had some Jaunpuri delights. I only wish Chitragupta had shown more confidence in the listeners’ ability to accept classical music, and composed the song in slower tempo with aalap to harness the beauty of the raga.
4. Raghukul reeti sada chali aayi (non-film bhajan) by DV Paluskar
As I was soaking in the joy of Jaunpuri, Arunji sent me the link of this beautiful bhajan by DV Paluskar. This bhajan was somehow overtaken in popularity by his other Ram bhajans, such as Thumak chalat Ramchandra baajat paijaniya and Payoji maine Ram ratan dhan payo, the latter being further brought closer to the masses by the violinists like VG Jog and N Rajam making it a fixture in their concerts.
5. Kahin ek masoom nazuk si ladaki by Rafi from Shankar Hussain (1977), lyrics Kamal Amrohi, music by Khayyam
This B-grade movie in the late 70s had wonderful music. Aap yun faaslon se guazarte rahe by Lata Mangeshakar is well known. But this beautiful song was a new discovery for me when Khayyam in a recent interview on Doordarshan mentioned this song and described how overwhelmed Rafi was to get a composition like this at that stage in his career.
Vidya Nath Seth
The second heading of this post mentions Vidya Nath Seth, a name which, I presume, would be unfamiliar to many. So it was for me, therefore, I didn’t take much notice when an obituary was published about him in the Times of India about a year back. A few days later when Mahesh sent m
e a link of the same article I was forced to read it with more attention. He deserves a special place in the history of film music, because one of the greatest singers Rafi, when asked in an interview to name his idols who had inspired him, mentioned three names – KL Saigal and Pankaj Mullick were everyone’s hero, but the third name he took in the same breath was Vidya Nath Seth.
Here is the interview Rafi gave to BBC in 1979 in which he mentions Vidya Nath Seth. You have to ignore his claim that he sang 25/26 thousand songs. All such claims arose out of innocent ignorance. In Rafi’s case, there was also at the back of his mind the Guinness Book’s entry about Lata Mangeshkar having sung 25000 songs, which he had questioned in a public spat. (Rafi’s Hindi film songs would be around 4500. Add a few hundred for his other songs, it would be nowhere the number which was generally bandied about those days. That was before the publication of Hindi Film Geet Kosh.)
Here are excerpts from the obituary in the Times of India.
As many singers of that era, Seth’s style had shades of Saigal although he consciously tried to create his own imprint. He sang only five songs in Hindi cinema, all for Roop Rekha, a 1948 film directed by Samar Ghose. Two of them were duets – one with actress-singer Munawar Sultana, the other with Surinder Kaur, regarded as the nightingale of Punjab. The music directors were Robi Roy Chowdhury and Pandit Amarnath. Seth himself composed one of the songs, O gori kahe preet kare.
Seth lent his confident voice to a wide-ranging repertoire in non-film songs — geets, ghazals and bhajans. Often, he also set them in tune. He sang in both Hindi and Punjabi and made dozens of records for HMV and Columbia in the 1940s. He was a regular for All India Radio, Lahore and later, AIR, Delhi.
“His non-film songs records were quite popular. One of his bhajans, Man phoole phoole phire jagat mein was often heard on Vividh Bharati in the 1950s and 1960s,” says music historian Pavan Jha. Duniya ka darshan hai mela and Woh hamein tadpa rahe hain are two other hit numbers by him.
“My father was in great demand in radio stations across India — Patna, Kanpur, Jodhpur, Dibrugarh. He also performed on invitation at various princely states such as Kapurthala, Bundi, Hyderabad and Kashmir. And he was among the first who sang on Delhi television in 1954,” says his London-based elder son Rami, a raconteur by profession.Nonetheless, singing was his calling and gave him fame and identity. In an interview-based article on Seth, published in the Sept 2008 issue of Listener’s Bulletin, the singer revealed that he got another chance to lend his voice to a Hindi film in 1950. The offer had come from the production house, Film Corporation of India, and he had also taken an advance of Rs 350 but ultimately the project failed to take off. “He quit making records in the 1950s,” says Jha. Seth was also a mentor to bhajan singer Purshottamdas Jalota. “Many bhajans sung by his son, Anup Jalota, have their origins in Seth,” says Jha. Rami also recalls an armed guard coming home in Sitaram Bazaar to escort his father to Red Fort where he sang a number on August 15, 1947 although the family doesn’t have any evidence to back that claim. The Rafi interview is available on YouTube.
Born and bred in Lahore, Seth was the youngest among eight siblings. Interestingly, Seth’s passport records his date of birth as June 2, 1915 making him 100 years old. However, his family members insist that was actually born on Feb 29, 1916. Seth began his career as an insurance agent, a vocation he continued even after migrating to Delhi a few weeks before the Partition. In fact, he was among the earliest LIC professionals
Vidya Nath Seth passed away on June 18, 2015. Thus, 2016 happens to be his centenary year. His first death anniversary falls after a few days.
Here is an interview of Vidya Nath Seth recorded by his family about six months before his death.
A number of Vidya Nath Seth’s songs are now available on YT. Let us hear some of them. A song from Pujarin (1936) – Kis kaaran bhar aaye aansoo – has been credited to Seth by the uploader. That seems to be erroneous. Since the track seems to be speeded up in uploading, the identification is somewhat difficult , but it should be KL Saigal.
6. Aaj geet ke bol bol mein umada hai toofan by Vidya Nath Seth from Roop Lekha (1948), lyrics Hrikrishna Premi, music Pandi Amarnath.
7. Chadariya jhini re jhini by Vidya Nath Seth (non-film)
Kabir’s immortal nirgun in the voice of Purushottam Das Jalota has been my eternal favourite. Now we know where he got his inspiration from.
8. Sajani kyun pyar jagaya tha by Vidya Nath Seth (non-film)
I think Seth predates Jagmohan. This geet seems to be a clear inspiration for Jagmohan style.
9. Wo humein tadapa rahe hain by Vidya Nath Seth (non-film)
You would describe this as a ghazal, another sub-variant of what went by the generic name of ‘private’ songs. Beautiful.
10. Main lagi dil ki bujha lun to chle jaaiyega by Vidya Nath Seth (non-film)
I end my tribute to Vidya Nath Seth with another ghazal which takes you to the vintage style. After hearing Seth, you wouldn’t be surprised that Rafi took his name along with KL Saigal and Pankaj Mullick.
{ 68 comments… read them below or add one }
AK ji,
HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS ON COMPLETING SIX YEARS.
I feel I am a part of SOY and so I am very glad today that WE have completed 6 years. I have observed over the past 3-4 years, that over the years SOY is flourishing with new contributors, readers and knowledgeable commenters. SOY is an example for other Bloggers, how to run a Blog and how people get attracted to the Best in the lot.
I wish SOY many many more years of Blogging.
-Arunkumar Deshmukh.
Let me try to be the first off the block, again. The great benefit is that it ensures feedback messages arrive first in my Inbox, saving me the bother of having to read then en masse.
A most befitting anniversary write-up, AK, with my best compliments. Like you I too had never heard Seth’s name before. I enjoyed his songs, just as the other rare gems that you discovered for all your readers. Thanks again.
Arunji,
Thanks a lot for your good wishes. You have been a big support to me and SoY.
AKji,
Congratulations on the completion of 6th year of SoY and wish you and the SoY family many more celebrations. The by-gone years just looks like yesterday only. A little less than four years have passed since I joined SoY. Thanks for coming out with wonderful posts one after another, in spite of your new assignment and travel schedule.
On a first look, it seems most of the undiscovered gems would be new to me and Vidya Nath Seth was also new to me. Would go through the post and come back, if I have anything further to add.
It is a matter of pride for me to be an active reader of SoY. Best wishes on the journey forward with the expectation of many more years of listening and reading pleasure.
Dinesh,
This time you are second by six minutes. But thanks a lot for your appreciation and good wishes.
Venkataramanji,
Thanks a lot for your kind words and good wishes. You have been busy of late. Do come back after you have heard the songs.
Sri AKji,
Heartiest congratulations to SOY for having completed 6 ‘nostalgic’ years! SOY takes us to the bygone era when one listens to the old songs. We have to sit quietly and think about the present generation who have missed the golden treasure of music.
Thanks for all your efforts to take us through the ‘nostalgic’ years.
AK Sir,
Heartiest congrats. May God bestow long life to SOY.
Regards to all readers.
AK ji;
Many many congratulations on hitting Sixer of SoY . With the bank of articles increasing and so also earning of interest on various blogs ….this is a true spirit of a dedicated person in you who is untiring .
Congratulation goes to fellow members of the SoY family who have contributed the additional inputs from time to time by offering comments and observations .
Let the caravan move on and on in further explorations.
SoY completes six magical years in constantly ascending graph !!
A big congratulation to AKji.
A gem by Rafi , ” mute toa shiv Shankar mil gaye” I was told this song was composed by Dilip Dholakia , Assistant of Chitragupta.
Congratulations, AK. Here’s wishing many more years of SoY. Have heard some of the songs you have listed, haven’t heard some others. Will come back to listen to them.
Sir,
my Heartiest Congratulations on completing Six years. And wishing you all the best for the journey onwards …
Narhariji, Tyagiji, KS Bhatiaji, Jigesh, Anu,
Thanks a lot for your greetings and support to SoY.
Mr Vachharajani,
Interesting information. But it is difficult to segregate the contribution of the Assistant from the main MD.
Good Evening Sir,
Congratulations on this happy 6th Anniversary and wishing many, many and many more happy returns.
Your service to this old time music is considered Divine.
All the best and Good Luck.
Regards
Congratulations AK.
SoY is an excellent item which I enjoyed thoroughly.Congratulations.
Wonderful post sir and congratulations on completing six years! I have commented only once on your blog previously but have been following for over a year now. And talking about rare songs, I found this song by Sudha Malhotra composed by Sudhir Phadkar from the movie Gaj Gauri.
https://youtu.be/7Zx4wtOMqn8
Uma Maheshwar,
Welcome to SoY and thanks a lot for your good wishes.
SSW, KB,
Thanks a lot for your good wishes.
Rahul Sarvanan,
Welcome back and thanks a lot for your good wishes. Heard the song from Gaj Gauri for the first time. Thanks a lot for this beautiful song.
AK Ji
Congratulations to you and all the participants on SoY for the completion of its sixth year a going stronger day by day.
Your posts are coming at such a fast pace plus the additional posts by guest contributors, rather home contributors, that comments become outdated by the time we post. But it’s all fun and I really appreciate your endeavours.
You have spoken about the finds of the year and I have so many that to keep a tab, it’s a real tough job
But I would like to present at least one, a ghazal made famous by the great Mehdi Ali and this version has been sung by another great, Anil Biswas
Gulon me rang bhare penned by Qateel Shifai
https://youtu.be/9w9lAzYLSPI
I hope that you will like it
AK ji,
Let me start with an explanation.
Many sites incl utube have been blocked in my office and unfortunately SOY is one of them. Hence off late I have not been commenting much and even missed appreciating last couple of posts.
I also feel enough justice is not being done to the 1949 post, as many songs can be added and discussed. Trust me there are plenty out there in 1949 especially.
I too join all others in thanking and congratulating you for the efforts and time you put in, in keeping the blog, songs and the flock of knowledgeable contributors together.
I frankly do not know the criteria for adding songs to this post and this addition below maybe totally out of context, but anyway here is a duet from 1949 which I like immensely and especially the pristine voice of Geeta Roy. Its a duet from the film Kamal under SD Burman.
https://youtu.be/aU0uhs3sZzY
AKJi,
Congratulations and many happy returns. I derived great enjoyment from your blog during the last few years and I hope that it will continue for several more years.
You should not take my comments seriously. That started as an observations about research institutes in India which started around the time of independence and many seemed to have a span of 25-30 years before reaching mediocre status. But some like IITs which had continuous interactions with youger people seemed to be doing better.
I grew up in villages as an outsider since my father was a teacher. In one village my best friend was the school peon. I used to watch films paying one half annas since that was the cheapest and saw lot of labourers watch and enjoy films and go back singing some of the songs. So, there is always this thought what film music means to the poor. These were the days when the government banned film songs from AIR. So there is a bit of anti-elite bias in me about various classifications which cut off of common people where I think the renewal probably is. And so on.
For some unfathomable reasons, I am fully back in mathematics since January. Now I find that I do not understand my papers written 15-20 years ago with others. I find that the papers were mostly written by collaborators. My contribution was probably asking questions and may be sometimes ideas. It is probably the same in others areas. I am still a villager puzzled by the big world and always wondering and asking questions.
Great achievement and job well done. Thanks.
Arvinder Sharmaji,
Thanks a lot for your compliments and good wishes. I limit my “discoveries” to a very narrow range – heard on radio, 50s/60s and should ‘sound’very familiar. You probably do it more systematically and naturally your ‘discoveries’ would be too many.
Gluon mein rang bhare – Anil Biswas has chosen a different raga, I don’t know why. Since it is one which does not excite me, it should be from Todi/Shree/Puriya group. Leaving it to the experts. Mehdi Hasan’s is not only the voice but Jhinjhoti that makes it so charming.
Mahesh,
I can understand your office having some restrictions. I hope the country you live in has no such restrictions and outside office hours you are able to follow. But it is our loss. Thanks a lot for your good wishes.As you are aware there are hardly any rules for the readers for the songs they decide to add, as long as they consider fitting it with the theme.
Kahne ko hain tayyar from Kamal is a very good song. Thanks for adding it. I wish you could actively contribute to 1949 songs. I thought I had spread the net quite wide.
Gaddeswarupji,
I take a mathematician’s observation very seriously. I hope I have proved your ominous statistics wrong. I am amazed that you have such an inquisitive mind at this age in so many unrelated subjects.
Shashank Vaghal,
Welcome to SoY and thanks a lot for your good wishes.
AK,
Congratulations and best wishes for many more years
to come. This auto fill is irritating.Hopefully will return
soon with more
AK
Soy has completed its six years. Six years is the half of 12 years which is called one “Tăp” in Sanskrit. The word” Tăp” often mean penance. In the Bhagvat Geeta Lord Krishna says,
“These words are not for the one who did no penance or devotion or for those
Who, did not hear from the heart or not truly engaged in my oeuvre. 18.67”
He earlier had said,
“One should follow one’s natural instinct even though there may be some obstacles
All endeavours are always met with problems like the smoke veiling the fire. 18.48”
There are three kinds of joys as well, hear them;
The one who gives himself to the study, frees from pain 18.36
All the above wisdom and deep experience are just reminded me after reading your walk on the wire to please the family and professional commitments and loyalty to the “Soy”.
All my good wishes to you and on this auspicious title “Soy Completes its Six Years!”
And also wonderful new information about the lost singers and wonders of the old composers! It is utter delight!
Shalan Lal
AK sir – Congrats on 6th Anniversary of SOY. Have been a minor participant a few months back – but a very active reader of all the posts. It is always a pleasure to among people who ‘actively’ love old Hindi film songs. Don’t get bogged down by the 6 year old thoughts etc. Keep going – Looking forward to many more wonderful posts from you and others
AK ji;
The songs under discovered gems are fab. and are of rare tag qualities . The songs …..mujhe to shiv shankar milgaye……and….parwar digare aalam……are great to listen to again and again .
While browsing for some old songs I have encountered with some hidden songs which I think many would like to hear again and again .
1.Ankhoan ankhoan mein har raat…….Mubarak Begum….Marvel man…Robin Banerjee…This song is rare for me ; never listened earlier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZw6GO5jitk
2.Barso re barso re……Khursheed…..Tansen……Khemchand Prakash……This is my child hood radio song that was very famous at that point of time . Revisiting is so refreshing .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWm_IYrOsxA
3.Tu kahan mein kahan…..Suman kalyanpur….Vazir E Azam….Robin.B…This song I had posted in the Adda [Open House of SoY] and was liked by many . Refreshing again for wider audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGDQHUMmvw0
Akji,
As I have said earlier, all the songs were new to me. Thus it was indeed a special gift on the 6th anniversary of SoY. Loved the songs, especially the two Jaunpuri numbers. The 1977 Rafi number was also wonderful.
The latter part, a commendable tribute to Vidya Nath Seth, was very informative. Hearing his name for the first time, his songs too were new to me. Enjoyed listening to the last three songs Sajani kyun pyar jagaya tha and Wo humein tadapa rahe hain, based on Raag Malkosh and the vintage Ghazal Main lagi dil ki bujha lun to chale jaaiyega.
The Ghazal Gulon me rang bhare rendered by Mehdi Hasan in Raag Jhinjhoti is, no doubt, charming. I liked the rendition by Anil Biswas too. One may love a particular rendition more than the other. No quarrels about it. I think it is based on Raag Bhatiyar (Marwa That) – a morning raga (Confirmation needed from experts).
Arvinderji,
Thanks for posting the Anil Biswas’s version of the Ghazal Gulon me rang bhare. It was wonderful. You have mentioned in your comment that the Ghazal was penned by Qateel Shifai. I feel the name of the poet should be Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Please correct me if I am wrong. In the clipping we can hear only the first two stanzas of the Ghazal. But in the Mehdi Hasan’s rendition, in the later stanzas, we can hear the mention of the poet’s name as ‘Faiz’.
makaam ‘faiz’ koii raah me.n ja.N chaa hii nahii.n
jo kuu-e-yaar se nikale to suu-e-daar chale
Venkataraman Ji,
Mistake admitted. It was late at night and in the middle of posting through a mobile it’s impossible to see another app like YouTube for the confirmation because the typed text vanishes as soon as you leave for anything else.
Many thanks for the correction and happy that you liked the ghazal
Regards Sir
Shalan Lal,
Thanks a lot for your generous words.
Many congratulations, AK! Happy birthday to your blog, and may the inspiration never flag. 🙂
Mumbaikar8, Shalan Lal, Madhu
Thanks a lot for your nice words and greetings.
Venkataramanji,
I am happy that you were able to go through the songs and liked them. Thanks a lot for your appreciation.
Parveen,
Thanks a lot for your greetings. From active ‘reader’ what is holding you back from becoming an active ‘participant’?
KS Bhatiaji,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. I liked the Mubarak Begum song. Thanks a lot for posting it. Khursheed’s obviously classic and has been discussed earlier.
Tons tons of congratulations also will not suffice for crossing the milestone of a highly creative, deeply engaging and wonderfully entertaining journey.
Indeed it has been a great privilege to belong to great club of SoY readers and quite an honor to belong to the club of guest writers (for my measly contributions).
The post itself contains almost all hardly heard or not heard at all songs, continuing with blending of good with popular in what is being presented @ SoY.
I also join in wishing the AKji finds all the time he needs from his professional and family priorities to keep SoY running full stream.
AK sir – will try to be an active participant. The problem is that, though a good listener, when you talk of knowledge am a bit low – whether in terms of musical knowledge, anecdotal evidence, or even data. Hence am happy listening, reading and learning. Another problem I have can simply be called ‘inertia’, lol!
The discovered gems in this post were all a discovery for me. Loved them, thanks
Ashokji,
Thanks a lot for your very generous words and good wishes. I must also acknowledge your contribution for the mega series on multiple version songs.
Praveen,
Whatever you are most comfortable with. Active readers are as important as the participants, because you propagate the memory of songs of yore.
AKji
completed 6 yrs..or (-6) yrs ??
bcz the journey started in 1955..and now we are in 1949 !!
Jignesh,
That is an interesting coincidence.
AKji,
Congratulations for completing 6 years. It’s quite remarkable the way you continue to come up with new themes & inspire the fellow bloggers to contribute. With the addition of two guest contributors, the SOY blog has become even more interesting & varied in subjects & themes.
I am sure we will be celebrating the SOY anniversary for many more years to come.
Ravindra Kelkarji,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation and your good wishes.
AKji,
Many congratulations on completing six spectacular years.
Here’s a famous couplet from Majrooh for you –
main akela hi chala tha jaanib-e-manzil magar
log saath aate gae aur karwan banta gaya…
You do have some splendid people for company.
Thanks for introducing Vidya Nath Seth and the special songs.
Here’s one more song special in more ways than one –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c6iudJBpcA
Kalam-e-Ameer Khusrau -“Zihal-e miskin makun taghaful”
Singer:Chhaya Ganguli
Lastly, why is the ever popular Bahaaro phool barsaao such a hated song 🙂
Siddharth,
Thanks a lot for your nice words and good wishes. Main akela chala tha perfectly describes the journey of SoY.
Zihal-e-miskeen by Chhya Ganguly is very good . Thanks for sharing it. A film song from Ghulami starts with these words, but it is filmy.
‘Why bahaaro phool barsaao is such a hated song?’ – there are also fans who would not hesitate to shoot people over this song. But your question is valid. You are yourself an SJ fan. There are several others among SoY followers. Let me write on SJ-Rafi when we can pose this question.
https://youtu.be/hAzJg1WqS0g
The Amir Khusro version sung by Mukesh and Sudha Malhotra under Murli Manohar Swaroop.
The rarity of the mix of Persian and Brij bhasha dialect in the lyrics explained by Shri Kamath ji in the link below.
https://atulsongaday.me/2013/03/16/zihaal-e-miskin-makun-tagaaful/
I am very late in acknowledging the debt I owe to AK. He has been very generous to me, sometimes I think to the extent of folly. But for his encouragement, I would not have ventured on writing on some of the themes which were fortuously not taken up by others as if they anticipated my late entry. AK, I can never adequately thank you for the way you have uplifted me in your blog, much more than I deserve. My recent peregrination from Delhi to Dallas and then to Cincinnati have upset my schedule and now I will settle down to a regular response.
I also forgot to add something more. While trawling through the internet sometime in September 2015, I stumbled upon this site. Immediately I contacted AK and he gave me directions to read all his blogs. I read through the entire gamut of articles from inception in about one month of intensive perusal. I was hooked line and sinker and my introduction was also in the sixth year. I fully realise and appreciate the amount of hard work AK has put in to keep this blog running in a well oiled manner and expect it to go ahead in similar vein in future. His habit of encouraging guest author is an added fillip and will enrich the blog. Let me wish him many more anniversaries.
Mahesh,
Thanks for linking the Mukesh-Sudha Malhotra version of Zihaal-e-miskin makun tagaaful and the link of Sadanand Kamathji’s article. Amir Khusro’s poems have transcendental quality. Mukesh’s voice has natural poignancy. His Kaahe ko byahi bides from Suhagraat is also exceptional.
DP Rangan,
Thanks for your very generous words and good wishes. You are surely being very modest. It s difficult to believe that you have been with us for less than a year. As a guest author you have already made a big mark here.
AK @44
AK, when you say “…but it is filmy”, do I discern a touch of disdain! I hope not, on a site dedicated to film songs.
Reverting to the Ghulami song, elsewhere I had invited your erudite readers to enlighten others like me about the meaning of the initial Persian (?) wordings of the song “Zihal-e masti makund ranjish…”, but oddly no response so far…
Dinesh,
We have to see this in context – ‘Filmy’ may be lees than other forms where the singer has more freedom to elaborate.
The meaning of those words are available on sufipoetry.wordpress.com:
“Do not overlook my misery by blandishing your eyes and weaving tales;
O sweetheart, why do you not take me to your bosom.
AK
Of course you are right about the context.
And thanks for the link for the meaning of those words.
Hearty congratulation on 6 th year completion of SOY
A fine website for hearing golden oldies and to know more
about those great men and women who were associated with
the Hindi film music. Keep up the good work
Raghu Vasudevan,
Welcome to SoY and thanks a lot for your good wishes.
I join all others in congratulating you for this tremendous achievement, even under adverse circumstances.
I pray to God to bless you with good health, lots of relaxed time and good internet connection, so that you can continue to spread joy among HFM lovers.
Giriji,
Thanks a lot for your very generous compliments and good wishes. SoY is now driven by readers’ support.
Congratulations on the sixth anniversary, AK!
By the way, did Gaddeswarup really point out that blogs start to lose steam specifically around the sixth year? This is an idea that I also discussed with Greta (Memsaab) and Madhulika (Dustedoff) back in 2012-13.
As I recall, first I was conversing online with Greta sometime in 2012 (I think) and we talked about how we both seemed to have started to hit some bumps in our respective blogs after we’d reached the fifth-anniversary point. Then, sometime later, I discussed this point with Madhu, when her blog also reached its fifth anniversary. And I have actually found a comment from her fifth-year anniversary post, where I said to her, “I hope that you don’t experience a fifth-year slowdown” (with a winking reference to a prior conversation). (Although I think I got a bit confused and I should have said “sixth-year slowdown,” right?)
https://madhulikaliddle.com/2013/11/04/this-blog-is-5-years-old/#comment-25541
And, incidentally, AK, you were in that comments section, too!
In any event, that is all irrelevant, because your blog did very well in its sixth year in spite of the personal obstacles that you related. And I am sure it will continue to go strong for years to come.
Richard,
Thanks for your compliments and good wishes. Since Mr Gaddeswarup is regular on your blog too, he might have picked up the 5/6 year bump from there. But, Insha Allah, SoY should continue with full steam for some more years.
Congratulations on not only completing 6 years but also giving your readers such an insightful article. I enjoyed most of the songs. Almost by the end of the article I was pleasantly surprised because I was familiar with the tune of “main lagi dil ki bujha loon”. Though I had never heard of Vidya Nath Seth, I remember my father gungunao the song and remembered the opening melody.
Your second entry “choota watan humara” has yet a third song with the same opening tune. Kanto mein rehne waale, kanto se kya darenge” sung by Mukesh. http://youtu.be/-INgDesH5Ss.
Lastly the song from Gaj Gauri is mentioned sung by Sudha Malhotra, but youtube mentions Suman Kalyanpur. Pleasant song.
AKJi and Richard at 58,57: I remember saying it only about an year ago either on Facebook or Richard’s blog. I think Richard responded by saying that he slowed down because of Facebook and others like Madhulika were still going strong. But I cannot locate these now. My observation was an offshoot of one about research institutes in India as I said in comment 23 above. In any case, this blog is going strong with more and more innovations and I am sure that it will continue for a long time and continue to give pleasure in my old age.
Neeru,
Thanks a lot for your greetings. I am happy the song Main dil ki lagi bujha loon rang a bell. For me Vidya Nath Seth was entirely unknown.
Gaddeswarupji,
You don’t have to be defensibve. I have to thank you for it made me specially aware of the pitfalls of complacency.
AK,
You have given a lot of credit to readers for the success of this blog. While that is true, I would reiterate the views of Arunji, that it is the quality of the blog which attracts the best, which consequentially makes the blog better. You have always tried to improve the blog and also given a balanced treatment to the management part.
Look at this anniversary post, which normally are routine affairs, but you make them innovative. This year we have got Vidya Nath Seth. He to me, seems to be a very versatile singer and his variety is quite visible even in these 5 songs. His last song reminded me of two very famous songs which ended with words ‘to chale jayiyega’. One is from Lata (film Farar-1965, md Hemant) ‘dile nadan ko sambhaloon to chale jayiyega https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxMSgGDb5kE
The other is ‘thahariye hosh men aaloon’ by Rafi, Suman from Mohabbat Isko Kahte Hain, music by Khayyam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXdFbP_DMB8
Out of your discoveries, the Aparesh Lahiri and D.V. Paluskar songs were knew to me. The remaining are Rafi songs and I being a Rafi fan are well known to me. Regarding Shiv Bhakt I would like to say that this was a landmark film in Chitragupta’s career, as it started his association with Lata. Lata had till that time ignored him but the success of Tulsidas in 1954 changed her mind. I had mentioned this fact in the Lata-Chitragupta post and had posted three of her solos in that film. Lata had 4 solos, the same as Rafi (which all were gems). Lata’s entry made way for the long list of sweet Lata-Rafi duets by Chitragupta. But, they had no duet in that film. I am posting a Rafi-Asha duet from Shiv Bhakt which is very sweet and one of my favourites. The song is ‘jise banana use mitana kaam tera’ and worth listening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZNIG6tX1bI
Normally I listen to the songs posted here in a separate window. For the Paluskar song I typed the first words and I discovered a song with the same starting words from Bharat Milap (1942) by Durrani. I was pleasantly surprised by the fine rendering of the chopais by him. Till now I had listened to such chopais only by Rafi, Mukesh, Manna Dey and Mahendra Kapoor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VsPZVgv0uE
Thro 6th anniverary posting I entered this beautiful and informatve webiste on old Hindi film songs and I am through it alost daily. I have
two questions.
1. How to post a new topic or posting to comments from our
members.
2. Can any one tell me who the music director of Mrig Trishna which
had a lovely classical based song navi kalpana …….. sung by the one
and only great singer called Mohammad Rafi. I am a huge fan of him.
And also what raaga is this song is based.
Hans,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation and the additional information. I always regarded Chitragupta as one of the best melody makers for Lata Mangeshkar. My first post on her combination with an MD was with Chitragupta.
GM Durrani’s rendering of the chaupai is a discovery. He is following the traditional style of its recitation.
Vidya Nath Seth’s last song reminded me more of KL Saigal’s style of ghazal singing – for example, the antaras of Nuqta chin hai gham-e-dil or Bazaar se guzra hun kharidaar nahi hun.
Mr Vsudevan,
Welcome to SoY and thanks a lot for your appreciation.
1. Your comment is already up. Now you know how to post comments or suggestions. There is also an
2. YT mentions Shambhu Sen as the music director. As a lay listener it sounds Yaman to me. But there are experts here whose view we may await. Here is the song.
Vasudevanji,
AKji is absolutely right. I would like to add some relevant information.
The song Nav Kalpana Nav roop se was based on the Raag Yaman set to a cycle of 7 beats (3-2-2). The Carnatic equivalent of the Raag Yaman is Kalyani, composed by Sambhu Sen. I believe, the excellent lyrics too were penned by Sambhu Sen, son of the forgotten composer Jamal Sen. Akji had written an article on Jamal Sen sometime in July 2013 as a part of his series “Forgotten Composers”. Jamal Sen had three sons, Shambhu Sen, Madan Sen and Dilip Sen. Madan Sen died young, while in his 40s. Dilip Sen- Samir Sen duo (Sambhu Sen’s Son), were successful as music directors. Sohail Sen, son of Sameer Sen, is carrying on with the tradition of composing music for films.
Thank you Mr Venkatraman for furnishing more informaion about
the song, the composer etc.