Lata Mangeshkar- Sang for Every Generation of Heroines

 

Lata Mangeshkar represented every generation of Hindi cinema from Nargis and Waheeda Rehman to Madhuri Dixit and Kajol. Her first song as a playback singer in Hindi films was in 1947 - Aapki Sewa Mein (paa laagu kar jori...)but this song did not give lata recognition as a singer, Her first major break was in 1948-Majboor (Dil Mera Toda) given by Music Composer Ghulam Haider. After she recorded the hit “Uthaye ja unke sitam” in Andaz (1949), her destiny was sealed, the year 1949 was the turning point of a great career. The year saw the rise of Lata Mangeshkar The song Aayega Aane Wala from Mahal and the songs of Barsat came the same year. After that, she never looked back. She became the voice of all the Major Heroines. In an interview when asked who according to you enacted your songs really well onscreen?. She said that Actresses like Sadhana, Meena Kumari, Nargis, Madhubala, and Kajol, took the effort to understand the song and act accordingly. Jaya Bachchan observed me well and got my mannerisms right - starting with how I stand, how I sing, and how I drape my sari. In Abhimaan (1973), she even chose to wear white saris like me. It was commendable.

From the 1940s to the 1970s, Mangeshkar sang duets with Asha Bhosle, Suraiya, Usha Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, and Mahendra Kapoor. In 1964, she sang "Chanda Re Hoga" with P.B. Sreenivas from Main Bhi Ladki Hoon. she continued to sing with Shabbir Kumar, Shailendra Singh, Nitin Mukesh (Mukesh's son), Manhar Udhas, Amit Kumar (Kishore Kumar's son), Mohammed Aziz, Vinod Rathod, and S.P. Balasubrahmanyam. Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, and Sonu Nigam
In the 2000s, Mangeshkar's duets were mainly with Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam. 2005-06 were the years of her last well-known songs: "Kaise Piya Se" from Bewafa and "Shayad Yehi To Pyaar Hai" from Lucky: No Time For Love, with Adnan Sami and " Lukka Chhupi" in Rang De Basanti (2006 film) with A.R.Rahman. She sang "Ek Tu Hi Bharosa" from Pukar. Other notable songs of this decade were from Veer-Zaara, sung with Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Jagjit Singh, Roop Kumar Rathod, and Gurdas Mann. One of her latest songs was "Jeena Hai Kya" from Dunno Y2 (2014).
Lata Mangeshkar has won several awards and honors, including Bharat Ratna (India's Highest Civilian Award), Padma Bhushan (1969), Padma Vibhushan (1999), Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1989)
SONGS VIDEOS  FOR SADHANA

Song from Parakh 1960

Song from Asli Naqli 1962

Song from Mere Mehboob 1963

Song from Woh Kaun Thi 1964

Song from Rajkumar  1964

Song from Mera Saaya 1966

Song from Inteqam 1969

Song from Ishq Par Zor Nahin 1970

A Tribute to M S Subbulakshmi on her 101st Birth Anniversary

M S Subbulakshmi  was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.She  was born on September 16, 1916 in Madurai, Born into a community of devadasis (women who danced and sang with devotion in temples), she was surrounded by music, from her violinist grandmother to her veena playing mother She started learning Carnatic music at an early age and trained in Carnatic music under the tutelage of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and subsequently in Hindustani music under Pandit Narayanrao Vyas.
Apart from her mother tongue Kannada, M.S Subbulakshmi sang in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, Gujarati, etc.She also did her stint as an actress and one of the most memorable films was Bhakta Meera (1945). The Hindi version of Meera was released in 1947. The versatile singer sang all famous Meera bhajans in her melodious voice and these bhajans are enjoyed by people even today. She attained much acclaim and success in films, but that did not appeal to her. She quit films after some time and continued to give public performances and concerts.  

She was applauded by not just Indians, but foreigners as well. The way she sang, her devotion, her tone, her pitch, her perfect pronunciation is inimitable and flawless.People who did not even understand the language she was singing in said that she is a divine manifestation. Her fan list included Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, among other elite people. Mahatma Gandhi commented that he would rather hear Subbulakshmi speak the songs rather than hear someone else sing it. 

The decade of 1960 was important to Subbulakshmi in terms of her career in Carnatic music. She not just took the music overseas but performed at significant musical festivals including Edinburg International Festival of Music and Drama in 1963 and at the Carnegie Hall in New York at the United Nations General Assembly in 1966. She ended the decade by singing several songs in front of each idol in the Rameshwaram temple in 1969,
In the decade of 1980s, Subbulakshmi carried the legacy of Carnatic music forward by performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1982 and Festival of India in Moscow in 1987.After her husband’s death in 1997, she stopped giving public performances.
Subbalakshmi died on 11th December 2004, leaving behind her large repertoire of classical, bhajan and film recordings.

Ganesha Pancharatnam

The first Song Recorded