Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation) as a tribute to Enoch Daniels on his 90th birth anniversary (b. 16 April 1933) in the continuing series on Arrangers and Musicians
(After their articles on Sebastian D’ Souza and Anthony Gonsalves, the guest authors Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav now write this article as a tribute to another legend Enoch Daniels on his 90th birth anniversary. We are lucky that he is still around, in Pune.
Enoch Daniels is synonymous with piano-accordion. He is among the few Arrangers and Musicians who established their independent identity, through his records and concerts. I am grateful to Piyushji and Ashokji for another excellent article on the legendary Enoch Daniels. – AK)
How to begin the article on Enoch Daniels is the dilemma of choosing between presenting the musician first or his instrument. Accordion has its presence registered in almost all genre of music, such as Rock n Roll, Jazz, Pop etc. The great accordionists like Goody Seervai, Sumit Mitra, Kersi Lord, Dheeraj Dhanak, K. Bharat, Enoch Daniels, Sammy Reuben and Suraj Sathe greatly contributed to the wide-spread use of (piano) accordion in songs, title music, background scores, or anywhere where music had a role in Hindi films in the 50s and 60s. Because of its universal appeal, it seems better to talk about the accordion first.
Accordion is a free-reed portable musical instrument, consisting of a treble casing with external piano-style keys or buttons and a bass casing (usually with buttons), attached to the opposite sides of a hand-operated bellow. Over time, accordion has developed into several types like Button Accordion, Unisonoric and Bisonoric Accordion, Concertina, Bandoneon, Piano Accordion etc. Out of all these, Piano Accordion became popular in Hindi films music, perhaps because of its close musical proximity with the harmonium. However, it overcomes the limitation of the harmonium with a piano-style keyboard to play with few sound-registers (called couplers) that could change the pitch of sound as per requirement.
Part 1 of Saaz Tarang (in Marathi with English subtitles) is an excellent introduction to the instrument featuring a famous accordionist Suraj Sathe who has played the accordion in the songs of the films, such Parinda and Ijaazat for RD Burman. He also plays the famous songs of SJ, OP Nayyar and Ravi, in which the accordion was originally played by the legends like Goody Seervai and Sumit Mitra etc. A must-watch video if you are interested in knowing about the arrangers and musicians who made the songs beautiful and memorable.
+ + + +
16th April (1933) being the birthday of one of the living legendary accordionists, Enoch Daniels, we dedicate our present episode to his contribution to the Hindi film music.
Enoch Daniels was born to a musically inclined family in Pune. He was one among the six brothers. The British missionary culture of the then Pune drew sons of the family to the choir music. Young Enoch was drawn to organ first and then to piano. Seven-eight years of such practice made Enoch quite proficient with these instruments. By the time he was adolescent, he was quite known in Pune music circles and had started getting invitations to play at various local programs.
Aside: The singular prowess with which Enoch Daniels could play these instruments can be ratified by the following song wherein he has played the piano. By the way, he could recall this song when someone reminded him of the song in one of the interviews.
2. Tum apna ranj-o-gham apni pareshani mujhe de do – Shagun (1964) – Jagjit Kaur – Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi – Music: Khayyam
By the time Enoch Daniels entered college, he started feeling the constraint of portability of both the organ and the piano. So, he decided to learn an instrument that was portable. It so happened that he was selected to participate in a youth festival event at Delhi. His friend offered him a baby accordion. Enoch started practicing so vigorously on that accordion that he went on to win prizes at the national event along with a flood of accolades. He was just 20 then.
At this time he was inclined to choose armed forces as a full-time career. During his studies at Wadia College, Pune for the first three years, whatever Enoch Daniels had learnt by playing the piano, he sincerely practiced applying it to the accordion. Around that time, he got an opportunity to buy a full-sized accordion of his own from a European missionary returning to his motherland. That sparked his desire to go professional. So, he shifted to Bhavan’s College, Bombay for the last year of graduation. Here, he got ample opportunities to participate in various cultural events.
The uncle of the friend who had offered him a baby accordion for that youth festival happened to be a film distributor. So impressed was he by Enoch’s talent that he introduced the 22-year old Enoch to S D Burman. Enoch grabbed that opportunity with both hands and never looked back.
3. Jalte hain jiske liye – Sujata (1959) – Talat Mahmood – Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri – Music: S D Burman
The song opens with a soft lower octave intro on piano accordion @ 0.06 to 0.12. The seamless fusion of accordion notes with guitar @ 0.14 -.015 and @ 0.37-0.38 subtly adds to the soft rendition by Talat Mahmood. Then @ 1.43 -1.44 and @ 2.40-2.41 a very brief stroke of accordion blends with the countermelody instruments flute and violin.
At that stage, Enoch Daniels met another famous musician, the Hawaiian guitar player Van Shipley (to be covered in more details later in the series), which was to blossom into a lifelong professional and personal bond between the two.
At the age of 23, Enoch Daniels joined Van Shipley on a concert tour to East Africa. He was also assigned the role of music arrangements at this and all other such trips with Talat Mahmood, Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey over the next few years. Enoch Daniels also had accompanied and arranged Lata Mangeshkar show at the famous Royal Albert Hall, London.
In the mid-50s, instrumental versions of popular Hindi film songs were the in thing. Radio Ceylon regularly used to air a programme of such versions. So it was no surprise that in no time Columbia Records company contracted Enoch Daniels for cutting records of popular Hindi films songs on the piano-accordion. Later, HMV also cut several records with Enoch Daniels. Fortunately, many of these records have reached internet, which gives us an opportunity to listen to many of Enoch Daniel’s accordion versions. Here are a few representative ones.
4. Yun hasraton ke daag (instrumental)
5. Bachpan ki mohabbat ko (instrumental)
6. Yaad kiya dil ne kahan ho tum (instrumental)
7. Ek din bik jaayega (instrumental)
Enoch Daniels’s magical command over the accordion and piano, coupled with his ability to read and write staff notations made him widely popular with music directors like C Ramchandra, Naushad, O P Nayyar, Madan Mohan, Vasant Desai, Kalyanji-Anandji, R D Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
8. Beqaraar kar ke hamein yun na jaaiye – Bees Saal Baad (1960) Hemant Kumar – Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni – Music Hemant Kumar
Accordion play of Enoch Daniel can be heard @ 0.44 to 1.02 and 2.31-2.39 as well several countermelody strikes like the ones @ 1.26-1.27, 2.22-2.23 etc. or at the outro from 3.19 to 3.26.
9. Ye mulaqat ek bahana hai – Khandaan (1979) – Lat Mangeshkar – Lyrics: Naqsh Lyallpuri – Music: Khayyam
Here too, the song opens with intro with accordion in the lead. When the accordion comes back @1.56 to 1.59, it plays in bass scale. And then, it supports counter melody @ 2.07 to 2.09. But a short burst in higher octave @3.37 to 3.39 is just a master stroke.
One of the most profuse and creative users of accordion, Shankar-Jaikishan, normally used to work with other accordionists like Goody Seervai or Sumit Mitra. Enoch Daniels got associated with Shankar Jaikishan much later, in the film Love In Tokyo,1966.
10. Le gai dil gudiya Japan ki – Love in Tokyo (1966) – Mohammad Rafi – Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri – Music: Shankar Jaikishan
The song opens with a short chord note of accordion. Short notes of accordion, like ones @ 0.37, 0.41 etc., innovatively support countermelody vibrato orchestration. Similarly, accordion also blends with other instruments in the interludes.
Since 1963 Enoch Daniels also worked as an arranger for background and film scores. Among his noteworthy films are Kabhi Kabhi, Trishul, Chhoti Si Baat, Pinjra and the entire re-recording in stereo of the classic V. Shantaram film, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje.
Enoch has also written music for several documentaries, commercials, and solo album releases by artistes such as Talat Mahmood (“Film Gems of Talat Mahmood: Melody the Queen – Talat the Prince”), Preeti Sagar (Nursery Rhymes), and Shaguftagi – Fragrance Of Poetry & Melody with poetry by Kaifi Azmi, and arrangement of melodies by Khayyam.
Busy with playing the instruments as well music arrangements, Enoch Daniels does not seem to have taken interest in composing full music for a film, with just one exception, a Konkani film, Suzanne (1983). Being a regional film, the score by Enoch Daniels did not get much attention in the mainstream cinema circles. But the songs have an undeniable Enoch stamp. Here are three songs:
11. Sooraj uge sooraj dhale – Suzanne (1983) – Manna Dey – Lyrics; Bharat Vyas – Music: Enoch Daniels
12. Ajab hai zindagi ajab hai ye safar – Suzanne (1983) – Bhupinder – Lyrics: Bharat Vyas – Music: Enoch Daniels
13. Suzana … Rasbhari madbahri ek pari sab ki jaani pahchani – Suzanne (1983) – Yesudas – Lyrics: Bharat Vyas – Music: Enoch Daniels
When electronic instruments started dominating the mode of music arrangement in films, Enoch Daniels withdrew from the industry and retired to Pune. But that has still not kept him away from his piano-accordion. He keeps playing at public performances with youthful vigour.
14. At Swar Manjari, Jabalpur, Enoch Daniels tunes in with Kishor Desai (on mandolin) to relive their original association for Aage bhi jaane na tu – Waqt (1965)
15. At Gunjan Lalit Kala programme at Bilimora (Gujarat) in 2009, Enoch Daniels teams up with Shyam Raj (Tenor sax) to play Shola jo bhadke (Albela, 1951).
We wish Enoch Daniels many healthy and musically fulfilling years as he enters his 9th decade with a selfie that Piyushji has captured when he visited Enoch Daniels in 2017 at Pune at the latter’s residence.
Credits and Disclaimers:
1. The song links have been given from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog claims no copyright over these songs, which vests with the respective copyright holders. The readers need to click the links which would open in YouTube.
2.The photographs are taken from the internet, duly recognising the full copyrights for the same to the either original creator or the site where they were originally displayed.
Additional References:
https://scroll.in/reel/807573/how-the-accordion-played-a-key-role-during-the-golden-era-of-hindi-film-music
https://www.britannica.com/art/accordion
https://www.youtube.com/@SmrutiGandhaMarathi/featured
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
A nice presentation about a HFM great musician and arranger Mr. Enoch Daniels . I join SOY to wish Mr.Enoch Daniels on his 90th Birthday. This beautiful write up has been aptly timed . Enoch Daniels popularity in public was also because of Radio Ceylon playing his Piano accordion instrumental film songs frequently. I give links to an interview and a talk by Mr Enoch Daniels that is available on the YouTube. We can see him giving his experiences with MDs particularly . These recordings are by SJMF Ahmedabad and would give more about his working/experiences with MD duo Shankar Jaikishan.
https://youtu.be/DIL5bY4NbjQ
https://youtu.be/s015xv1k1lQ
S Joseph #1
Thank you so much for enriching the information on Enoch Daniels by recalling these two video clips of Enoch Daniel’s interviews.
Fortunately, some more of Enoch Daniel’s interviews too are available on YT. These interviews have been recorded at different times, with different people and with different references. Hence, these YT clips provide more insight into the Enoch Daniel’s journey of HFM.
I Remember Enoch Daniels playing highly popular songs of the Golden Era very enterprisingly and many of these songs were sung by Rafi. Nice to remember him along with some of his good songs played and wish him along with SOY!
AK ji,
Thanks for the article on Enoch Daniels.
Both Piyush ji and Ashok ji have done a very good job in presenting the works of Enoch.
Here is an extract from my article on Enoch Daniels. This is only to add further information on Enoch, as my contribution to this excellent post.
“……..Most of the players of western instruments in the Orchestras were from Goa. But there was ONE famous Arranger, who was NOT from Goa, he was from POONA. His name is ENOCH DANIELS.
Enoch ( which means God’s friend ) was one of the most wanted and popular arrangers in the Hindi Film Industry. However his name is known to common people as a Piano and Accordion player, whose 78 RPM records of popular songs of the Golden Era were very famous. On Radio Ceylon, everyday between 7am to 7.15am there used to be a programme titled ‘ Vadya Sangeet ‘. In this programme, Van Shipley’s and Enoch Daniels’ records were played regularly.
His first work as an Arranger was with Bipin-Babul. After arranger Sebastian retired he got opportunity to work for Salil Chaudhari, Shankar Jaikishen, Vasant Desai etc. From Kabhie Kabhie, he was a permanent fixture with Khayyam. In his career, he gave music to only one film- ” House No. 13 “-1991. This was a remake of a Tamil film, ‘ pathimoonam number Veedu. The film was produced and Directed by Deven verma-his close friend. The cast was Anil Dhawan, Reeta Bhaduri, Sharad Saxena, Dilip Raj. 3 new faces were launched-Salim Fateh, Leena Nari and Baby Vijaya. The film was a total flop and disappeared swiftly. The film was released on 16-8-1991…..”
-AD
Arunji,
You are welcome. You have surely added substantial additional information on Enoch Daniels. You are right, in public mind he was synonymous with piano-accordion.
A thought I wanted to share. Instrumentalist to Arranger to Music Director is going up in hierarchy. Many try to take that route for status, but it is often not successful. They find that financially they are worse off. It is same with a dancer becoming a choreographer, or a mason becoming a contractor. Laxmikant-Pyarelal are a rare example that they rose the ladder through all the steps with great success.
LP rose the ladder through all steps to reach the top level, agreed.
What about Shankar Jaikishan One was a tabla player and the other was a Harmonium player. They met, became friends and worked together to give music for stage plays. When they were give a chance to score music for a film they composed super duper music. And then, as they say, rest in history.
KB # 3
Thank yo so much for sharing your love for Enoch Daniels and sharing your views on the subject,
Arunkumar Deshmukh #4
Thank you so much for enriching the information on Enoch Daniels.
R Vasudevan #6, AK #5
The success of an instrumentalist / arranger as music director is also a function of the prevailing circumstances – mainly the then competition, his /her ability to create his/her distinct identity, and of course the luck.
HFM is agog with several such debates – whether Lata Mangeshkar would have succeeded so much had Noor Jehan hand not migrated to , whether Kishore Kumar would have risen to undisputed no. 1 if there was no simultaneous rise of Rajesh Khanna’s stardom etc.
Mr Vausdevan,
LP’s case is clearer. SJ were assistant to Ram Ganguly in Aag (1958), were with HB for a short while. With Barsaat (1949) they scaled the peak. It would appear they started at the peak and remained there. Prithvi Theatre was outside the film world.
AKji, Piyush ji, and Vaishnav ji,
Thanks for another wonderful post covering a great musician. I am so happy that all those who worked behind the scenes are getting their due through this series.
Anita,
Thanks a lot for your appreciation.
Piyush Ji and Ashok Ji-Nice blog on Mr Enoch Daniels. Good initiative by AK ji to honour all the yesteryear arrangers and instrumentalists.
On the topic of arrangers/assistants/instrumentalists becoming independent music composers, apart from the names mentioned already, I could think of few , although they may not have been very prolific. However they did compose some good , evergreen songs.
-Dattaram Gaikwad–SJ’s long time assistant and percussion arranger
-Sonik- Omi: Uncle and Nephew duo-were assistants / instrumentalists to many including Roshan and Madan Mohan
-Sapan Chakravarty-RD Burman’s assistant
-Basu -Manohari–again for RDB
In Tamil films the legendary Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy were once assistants to C R Subbaraman and due to untimely death of latter, took up the responsibility of completing his unfinished film and that gave them the break to start off as independent composers.
Even the present day maestros , Ilayaraja and A R Rehman were once instrumentalists and arrangers for veteran composers like GK Venkatesh, Salil Chowdhury ( during his innings in South films). There is an anecdote that when Salil da observed the young Ilayaraja’s talents when he was in his orchestra , he predicted that one day this young person would become a great music composer . Those words turned to be so true–some 7000 + songs from 1000 +films!!
Anita # 9
Thank yo so much for the appreciation for the article.
It becomes possible to bring up many aspects of these unsung behind-curtains-heroes because much of what is written or known, about them has still filtered on to internet.
However, we have to recognize the fact this is hardly a very small part of their work.
Moreover, there are many more artists and technicians (like sound recordists ) who still remain covered under the shadow of lack of documentation.
Shivanadan # 11
So generous appreciation from the SoY family members like you is what provides the inspiration to present the best possible from the available resources. Thank you so much.
Like any other field of the life, Film world has its won share of highly talented artists not getting their due.
We can only feel satisfied that by presenting the work of such talented artists, even though so belatedly, we have done at least some justice to our duty.
Ashok Vaishnavji
I read with great pleasure the posts on music arrangers, the neglected lot in finding their niche on film song writeups in film magazines, articles and posts. I meant to pose my conundrum in the very first post itself. Overwhelmed by the Carribean calypso spirit of postpone for tomorrow what should have been done yesterday, I am now venturing to raise it in the third post.
According to my poor understanding due to my rudimentary knowledge of anglais, interludes in a song are the sole prerogative of music arrangers and tune for lyrics that of music directors. Interludes have to fuse properly with a song and this dichotemy seems unrealistic to me. I feel that music director would lay down the tune behind preludes and interludes while composing the tune, probably using harmonium, with which all of them are proficient. They would then leave it to music arrangers to fine tune it to merge seamlessly with the song. Music directors have their own preferences for musical instruments to use, i. e., piano accordion by SJ, clarinet by OPN etc. C Ramchandra has his own style of how interludes would sound in a good many songs. Music arrangers have to be a genius themselves to adopt their skills as per the dictates of music directors. Looking at the cacophony of what passes as film songs in current era, I sometime wonder whether music arrangers start the process and music directors follow suit. I have also come across songs where preludes are out of balance with the song that follows.
Out of Delhi with no computer, I have to work hard to write this in my cell phone with a touch pen which I purloined from my son in USA where I spent the winter to protect my spouse from Delhi pollution. Enough of digress on my part.
D P Rangan #13
Thank you so much for really generous appreciation.
Also, thank you for the extra mile that you have moved so as to post your views.
There is no doubt that it is the music director who has the first, and the last, say over the way the orchestration has to be arranged so that it not only synchronizes with the tune but also of the mood that the song is expected to convey.
Most of the major music directors certainly not only would lay down their specific choice of instruments, they also used to have the final say about which instrumentalist would play which instrument, and sometimes, even how. That is why, perhaps, the maximum credit for the was the song, and the background score, vested with the music directors.
Even then the arranger would have far greater freedom and flexibility in how he actually translates these ideas into the detailed orchestration.
As such, many a good music directors used to take their arrangers too along them during the ‘story sessions’. And it was very common for not only music director, but also the lyricist to remain present when the arranger sets up individual and collective rehearsals. Even the knowledgeable directors too used to attained these sessions and contribute actively to the shaping of the song.
However having said these, since this series focuses on the contribution of arranger / musician, the slat seems to tilting more towards the contribution of these artists. But that is occupational hazard that we have to bear with.