Showing posts with label Indian Classical Songs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian Classical Songs. Show all posts

Wednesday 1 May 2019

Manna Dey-The Great Versatile Singer of Bollywood



Manna Dey was a very versatile singer and there was no playback singer who could imitate Manna Dey's versatility. The great Mohammed Rafi once commented that though people listen to his songs, he himself hears only Manna Dey's songs. He established his versatility between 1948 to 1954 by singing not only the classical-based film songs but also singing such film songs which were the fusion of Indian classical music and pop music.
 His experimentation with western music too produced many unforgettable melodies resulting in an increase in singing offers in films from 1955. It was an irony that he was typed for classical songs, background songs and sons for comedians specially MehmoodHis deep classical training could have been the reason for this anomaly.
Born on 1st May 1929 was highly inspired and influenced by his Uncle K C Dey the legendary Singer of the late 30s and 40s. He began taking music lessons from Krishna Chandra Dey and Ustad Dabir Khan. During this period, he stood first for three consecutive years in three different categories of inter-collegiate singing competitions.
At the age of 22 years, he started working as an assistant music director first under Krishna Chandra Dey, and then under Sachin Dev Burman. Later, he assisted other music composers and then started to work independently. Dey started his career in playback singing with the movie Tamanna, in 1942. The musical score was by Krishna Chandra Dey and Manna De sang a duet named "Jago Aayee Usha Ponchi Boley Jago" with Suraiya which was an instant hit.
It was only in 1943 that he got his first solo break with Ram Rajya. Incidentally, the producer of the film Vijay Bhatt and its composer Shankar Rao Vyas had approached K C Dey with an offer for playback in the film. When K C Dey refused the offer on the grounds that he would not lend his voice to other actors, they spotted Manna Dey sitting in the corner of the room and offered him the opportunity..

After that Manna Dey gave many hit songs.His songs like "O Prem Diwani Sambhal Ke Chalna" from 1944 film Kadambari composed by Anil Biswas, "Dil Churaney Ki Liye from Dur Chaley" (1946) composed by Jafar Khurshid, his duets with Amira Bahee like "E Diniya Jara Suney" from Kamala (1946) and duet song "Aaj Bor Aayee" with Meena Kapoor from 1947 film Chaltey Chaltey became chartbusters in respective years. Between 1945-47 many Manna Dey-Rajkumari duets like "Hay Gagan Me Badal Tharey" in 1945 for the film Vikaramaditya, "Aowji Morey" from Insaaf (1946), all 4 duets from the film Geet Govind composed by Pandit Indra - "Kit Ho Nando Kumar", "Chorr Sakhi Aaj Laj", "Apney Hi Rang", "Lalit Labang Lata" from Geet Govind became popular.
His first duet with the then-upcoming singer Lata Mangeshkar was "Lapat Ke Pot Pahaney Bikral" composed by Vasant Desai for Narsingh Avtar (1949), With Lata Mangeshkar, Manna recorded around 103 Hindi duets of which songs like "Tere Bina Aag Yeh Chandni" from Awara, "Yeh Raat Bhigi Bhigi" and "Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mein" from Chori Chori, "Pyar hua iqrar hua" from Shree 420, "Woh Chand Muskaye" from Akhri Dao (1958), "Ritu aye", "Dil Ki Girah Khol Do" from Raat Aur Din (1966), "Aya Abdulla Aya" from Juaari (1968), "Soch Ke Ye Gagan Jhume" from the flop film Jyoti (1969) and "Mein Buddho Lambo Lambo" of Buddha Mil Gaya (1971) are still extremely popular. 
Manna Dey recorded popular duets with Mohd. Rafi, Dey sang 101 Hindi songs along-with Rafi which include "Ishq Ishq" (Barsaat Ki Raat) "Tu Hai Mera Prem Devta" (Kalpana), "Mama o mama" (Parvarish), Duniyaan key Liye from Maan Gaye Ustaad (1981), "Main Hoon Tera Prem Aur Tu Ho Meri Pran" from Rahu Ketu (1979), the song "Hindustan Ki Kasam" from Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973), "Hum To Tere Hai Deewane" from Johar Mehmood in Hong Kong, "Badey Miya Diwane" from Shagird, "Ye Do Diwane Dil Ke" from Johar Mehmood in Goa, "Agar Dil Dil Se" from Shola Aur Shabnam(1961).
With Kishore Kumar, it was "Subah Ki Paheli Kiran" from 1951 film Anadolan composed by Pannalal Ghosh. They sang together 6 songs till 1968 but the demand increased after 1972. Their popular songs were "Mere Pyale Mein" from Aamir Garib (1974), "Is Ishq Mein Har" from Mr. Romeo (1974), "Yeh Dosti" from Sholay (1975), "Duniya Me Jeeney" from Naukri, "Kamal Hain" from Karz, "Phool Chaahiye Na" from Pyas (1982) and their last duet was in 1986 film Maqqar .
The trio of Rafi-Kishore-Manna Dey sang together hits like "Tujhme Ishwar, Allah Tujhme" from Nanha Farishta (1969) and "Band Muthee" from Chalti Ka Naam Zindagi (1981).
Some of his greatest songs are non-filmi. He recorded selections from Harivanshrai Bachchan’s Madhushala and his songs such as Nathni se toota moti re and Yeh awaara se din has loyal fans. He sang in many languages like in BhojpuriMagadhiMaithiliPunjabiAssamese, OdiaKonkaniSindhiGujaratiMarathiKannadaMalayalam, and Nepali.
He died of a cardiac arrest at 3:45 pm on 24 October at Narayana Hrudayalaya hospital in Bengaluru, aged 94.

Some of the Most Popular Songs of Manna Dey

Song of  Mashal (1950)


Song of  Shree 420 (1954)


Song of   Chori Chori, (1956)


Song of Dekh Kabira Roya (1957)


Song of Navrang 1959


Song of  Dil Hi To Hai 1963


Song of Meri Surat Teri Aankhen 1963


Song of Bhoot Bangla 1965


Song of Upkar 1967


Song of Padosan 1968


Song of  Mere Huzoor (1968)


Song of  Mera Naam Joker (1970)


Song of Zanjeer (1973)


Song of Sholay 1975

Saturday 23 March 2019

The Great Thumris of Bollywood


Thumri is a com­mon style of light classical music.  The text is romantic and devotional in nature, and us­ually revolves around a girl's love for Krishna.  The language is a dialect of Hindi called Brij bhashaIt arose in pop­ular­ity du­ring the 19th cen­tury. It was made popular among the common people by Hindi films.
Thumris have been used in films right from the very early days of talkies. Rajkumari had sung a number of Thumris in the 30s. K L Saigal had sung a popular thumri, piya bina nahi aawat, way back in 1935, in Devdas. And who can forget, Saigal’s Baabul Mora Naihar, in 1938 movie Street Singer. 
Thumri is basically sung in a slow tempo, later a fast version of Thumri emerged called Lucknowi Thumri and another form Punjabi Thumri also emerged in Hindi films. There were many songs and singers in the 40s and 50s where Thumri became popular.
One name that truly epitomizes the Hindustani classical music of the 20thcentury is that of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Often touted as Tansen of the 20thcentury, this musical genius blended the best of classical music and created a unique style of his own. Some of the famous Thumri are ‘Yaad Piya Ki Aaye’, ‘Aaye Na Balam’ and ‘Prem Ke Phande Men’.
Begum Akhtar was another great singer who was known as the Queen of Ghazal but was also a great Thumri performer.
Here I am giving a few of the Thumris from the Hindi films:
Song of Street Singer 1934


Song of Devdas 1935


Song of Bharthari 1944


Nirmala Devi


Song of Shabab 1954


Song of Naubahar 1954


Song of Musafir 1957


Song of Kala Pani 1958


Song of Rani Roopmati 1959


Song of Mughal e Azam 1960


Song of Mughal e Azam 1960


Song of Dil Hi To Hai 1963


Song of Dooj Ka Chand 1964


Song of Pakeezah 1971


Song of Amar Prem 1972


Song of Swami 1977


Song of Mein Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki 1978


Song of Kudrat 1981










Saturday 12 January 2019

The Raga based Bollywood Songs- Raga Pahadi Part-1


I must appreciate the Musicologist and bureaucrat KL Pande who compiled 14000 Raga based Hindi film songs in a book in 7 volumes. The most interesting thing he noticed that The use of ragas in Indian cinema kept changing with films and composers. “In the ’30s and ’40s, there was extensive use of Raag Kafi and Khamaj as these correspond to serious moods of mythological films. You won’t see a lot of sweet-sounding ragas such as Bhairavi and Pahadi. They appeared in the ’50s and ’60s with the advent of composers like Shankar-Jaikishan and Lakshmikant-Pyarelal,
In this blog I have selected a few songs based on Raga Pahari. This Raga is the most popular Raga used in Hindi film songs.
Song of Anmol Ghadi 1946

Song of Dulari 1949


Song of Baazi 1950


Song of   Albela 1951


Song of  Udan Khatola 1955


Song of Chaudavin Ka Chand 1960


Song of Aarti 1962


Song of Shola Aur Shabnam 1961


Song of TajMahal1963


Song of Dosti 1964


Song of  Kashmir Ki Kali 1964


Song of Waqt 1965


Song of Mamta 1966


Song of Aradhana 1969



Friday 4 January 2019

The Great Raga Based Songs of R D Burman


R D Burman has been credited with revolutionizing Bollywood music. He incorporated a wide range of influences from several genres in his scores. The sheer breadth of his music, allied with a unique ability to not only make folk and classical music accessible to the modern listener, but present them in an original, yet contemporary manner for young listeners.
 While we mostly associate a more western sound with RD, I think of him as a composer who simplified the most complex Hindustani classical music and made it accessible to the masses. Here are some great Raga based songs created by him.
The first film R D Burman gave the music was Chhote Nawab released in 1961. The first song he composed in this film was  Ghar Aaja Ghir Aayi Badra in Raga Malgunji sung by Lata Mangeshkar.


Song of Chhote Nawab 1961


Song of Chandan Ka Palna 1967



Song of Amar Prem (1972)



Song of  Parichay (1973)



Song of Kinara 1975



Song of Mehbooba (1976)



Song of Khoobsurat 1980



Song of Kudrat (1981)



Song of Agar Tum Na Hote (1984)








Wednesday 31 January 2018

Suraiya -The Top Singing Star of Independent India


There was a time when traffic jams at Marine Drive (Mumbai) were caused not due to a long line of cars, but because of a young charismatic actress - Suraiya..
During the mid-forties the two faces which dominated the film world with their music were Suraiya and Noor Jehan. 
Noorjehan left India after Partition so she became the Top Leading Singing Star of Bollywood.Both of them appeared together in that celebrated Mehboob’s musical Anmol Ghadi. Though overshadowed by Noor Jehan, it goes to her credit that Suraiya, even in a supporting role, was able to hold her own and make her presence felt with her evergreen melodies like “Socha tha kya, kya ho gaya” and “Man leta hai angrahi”.
Suraiya with her distinct individual style, her sweet seasoned voice and direct simple diction succeeded in captivating the listeners and her popularity knew no bounds.She had 3 box-office hits in quick succession were “Pyar ki Jeet” (1948), “Badi Behan” (1949) and “Dillagi” (1949).In her heyday she was known as 'Malika-e-Husn' (queen of beauty), 'Malika-e-Tarannum' (queen of melody) and 'Malika-e-Adakaari' (queen of acting), all rolled into one.
She was born on 15 June 1929.She was the only child of her parents.She received basic training in music when her mother used to take her to a Hindustani music teacher or 'Master ji' for training. She first sang for a children's program for All India Radio in 1937. Later on Naushad gave her on the job 'training', while recording. She went on to become one of the most successful singing film stars of Bollywood.  

She made her debut as a child artist in Madam Fashion in 1936 as Miss Suraiya, along with Nargis as Baby Rani. The film was directed by Jaddan Bai, mother of Nargis, with Jaddan Bai herself as heroine,
As a child artist, she acted and also sang in Tamanna (1942), Station Master (1942), and Hamari Baat (1943). As an adult, Suraiya initially played as a heroine in K. Asif's Phool as Shama, with Prithviraj Kapoor as hero,and as a co-star in Mehboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi (1946), (which was written by Aghajani Kashmeri, also known as Kashmiri) and Dard (1947).
She acted as a heroine in the film Tadbir (1945) on the recommendation of K. L. Saigal, who liked her voice during a rehearsal of a song for Jayant Desai's film Samrat Chandragupt (1945) in which she was acting. He recommended her to Desai, opposite himself in Tadbir (1945). She went on to co-star with K. L. Saigal in Omar Khayyam (1946) and Parwana (1947 film).Suraiya appeared in scores of films, including at least 25 between 1946 and 1950, and at her peak was one of Bollywood’s highest-paid stars. She worked only a few films after 1952 and retired in 1963 at the age of 34.
She played the leading role with almost every famous star of her time and also sang with the leading playback singers like Mohammad Rafi, Talat Mehmood and Mukesh

The most striking and much-publicised episode of Suraiya’s life was her romance with the upcoming young actor Dev Anand in the early 1950s. It was then the ‘talk of the town’, the very stuff legends are made of. She was Dev Anand’s heroine in seven films which had moderate success . During the shooting of a film, a boat capsized and Dev Anand saved Suraiya from drowning. This incident was the beginning of their romance. Suraiya fell in love with him and both of them planned to get married but Suraiya’s grandmother opposed the relationship and persuaded her to turn down Dev’s marriage proposal. She chose to remain unmarried throughout her life and died a lonely woman on 31st January 2004.
Suraiya's Great Songs

The first recorded song of Manna De and Child Suraiya
Song from Tamanna (1942)


Song from Tadbir (1945)


Song from Anmol Ghadi 1946


Song from Dard 1947


Song from Parwana 1947


Song from Pyar Ki Jeet 1948


Song from Vidya 1948


Song from Dillagi 1949


Song from DASTAN 1950


Song from Rajput 1951




Song from Mirza Ghalib (1954)


Song from Waris 1954


Song from Shama (1961)






Tuesday 26 December 2017

NAUSHAD-Once All of India was crazy about his Melodies.


Naushad(26 December 1919 – 5 May 2006 )began his career in 1940 with Prem Nagar, but took off in 1944 with Ratan, where he created his own style. All of India was crazy about him. His music had that simplicity. Songs like Jab dil hi toot gaya and Gham diye mustaqil from Shahjehan touch you.
He was one of the first to introduce sound mixing and the separate recording of voice and music tracks in playback singing. He was the first to combine the flute and the clarinet, the sitar and mandolin. He also introduced the accordion to Hindi film music and was among the first to concentrate on background music to extend characters' moods and dialogue through music. 
He was the first composer to have developed the system of western notation in India. The notation for the music of the film 'Aan' was published in book form in London.He was the first to use a 100-piece orchestra.for Aan in 1952.

 His greatest contribution was to bring Indian classical music into the film medium. Many of his compositions were inspired by ragas and he even used distinguished classical artistes like Amir Khan and D.V. Paluskar in Baiju Bawra (1952) and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan in Mughal-e-Azam (1960). Baiju Bawra (1952) demonstrated Naushad's grasp of classical music and his ability to bring it to the masses, for which he won the first Filmfare Best Music Director Award in 1954.

He was very innovative,iUran Khatola (1955), he recorded an entire song without the use of orchestra, having replaced the sound of musical instruments with choral sound of humming..For Mughal-e-Azam (1960) song Ae Mohabbat Zindabad, he used a chorus of 100 persons. He asked Lata Mangeshkar to render a part of the song "Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya" in a bathroom that had glazed tiles and then recorded the music to get the echo effect.
Naushad made Suraiya stand on a stool for the 12-year-old schoolgirl's voice to be able to reach the microphone on her debut, Boot karoon main paalish baaboo (from A R Kardar's Nai Duniya in 1942). It was under him, likewise, in another A R Kardar songathon, Dastan (1950), that Suraiya vocally peaked with Mohabbat badhakar jooda ho gaye.
 This master composer first made both Mukesh (Andaz) and Talat Mahmood (Babul) sound surpassingly individualistic on Dilip Kumar He was, near clandestinely, getting Mohammed Rafi ready for the big leap. From his first Anmol Ghadi solo, Tera khilauna toota baalak (1946), to O door ke musafir on Dilip Kumar in Uran Khatola (1955), Rafi came a long, long way, once the Baiju Bawra (above) miracle happened in 1952..

His association with Mohammad Rafi had marked the most golden combination which galvanized the outstanding music composed during the golden age in Indian music, the 50s and 60s. His composition in the film Dulari, 1947, for Mohammad Rafi titled “suhani raat dhal chuki” makes a music lover addicted and it has an appeal even after 60 years of its composition.
 Naushad’s composition in Son of India, “dil torneewale”, duet for Rafi and Lata, shows the effective use of instruments in that age when recording was not developed to that extent. In Dilip Kumar’s Kohinoor, 1960, Rafi’s songs “madhuban me radhika nachere”, “do sitaron ka zamee par hai Milan aaj ki raat” marks Naushad’s control over bhajans and songs with chorus effects. In Rajender Kumar’s Mere Mehboob, 1963, Naushad had explained the transformation of nasams into ghazals. His songs “mere mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam”, “tumse izhaar-e-haal kar baithe”, “ai husn zara jag tujhe isq dikhaye” enchanted the listeners. Naushad’s compositions were as outstanding as Shakeel Badayani’s lyrics and Rafi’s golden voice.
 Naushad had used folk songs to a great extent where the subjects in the films required them. For example in the film Ganga Jumna, 1961, his composition for Rafi including “nain lar jaihe” was created with bhojpuri effect, and Rafi had succeeded in pronouncing it in the manner expected from him. Rafi’s songs in Rajender Kumar’s Palki, Ganwar, composed by Naushad were also outstanding.
It is tragic that the film industry, could not utilise Naushad’s talent in 1970s and 80s, 
He gave  35 silver jubilee hits, 12 golden jubilee and 3 diamond jubilee mega successes. Naushad was conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Padma Bhushan in 1982 and 1992 respectively for his contribution to the Bollywood film industry.
Some of the Immortal songs of Naushad
Song from Rattan 1944


Song from Anmol Ghadi 1946


Song from Shahjehan 1946


Song from Shahjehan 1946


Song from Dard 1947


Song from Mela 1948


Song from Andaz 1949


Song from Babul 1950


Song from Deedar 1951


Song from Baiju Bawra 1952


Song from  Uran Khatola 1955


Song from  Mughal-e-Azam 1960


Song from Gunga Jumna 1961


Song from Mere Mehboob 1963

Tuesday 28 November 2017

The Great Classical Vocalists in Hindi Films


Among all genres, Hindustani classical music has had arguably the greatest impact on Hindi film music. Thousand of songs have been composed based on Hindustani ragas.There are some such songs those were sung by the Great Classical vocalists in Hindi films other than our great playback singers.
 Great Hindustani vocalists, right from Pandit D V Paluskar to Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ustad Amir Khan,Pt Bhimsen Joshi,Kishori Amonkar,Pt Jasraj, Nirmala Devi have lent their voice to the Hindi films occasionally. 
Some of these songs  are  Aaj gawat man mero in Baiju Bawra by Pt D V Paluskar and Ustad Amir Khan;  jhanak jhanak payal baje by Ustad Amir Khan from the movie Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje, the title song in Geet Gaya Pathoron Ne, sung by Kishori Amonkarand Humein Tumse pyaar kitna in Kudrat sung by Begum Parveen Sultana are known to one and all. A few others–such as prem jogan banke by Ustad bade Ghulam Ali Khan from Mughal-E-Azam and Ketaki Ghulab Juhi by Pt Bhimsen Joshi in Basant Bahar–are well-known .
Though these songs were not hit or popular among masses but they are precious gems.The trend of Classical Songs has diminished in our films but still there are some Music Directors who take the services of Hindustani Classical Vocalists. Vishal Bhardwaj in Maachis  composed a song with  Sanjeev Abhyankar. In this blog I have taken the songs sung by these great Classical singers.
Song from Baiju Bawra 1952


Song from Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje,1955


Song from Geet Gaya Pathoron Ne 1964


Song from Basant Bahar 1956


Song from Mughal-E-Azam 1960


Pt Sanjeev Abhyankar from Godmother 1999


Song From Kudarat 1981