One song at a time - 31. Kanchi Re Kanchi Re

It was early evening and Siva, Murthy and I, as usual, had gone to Gymkhana to listen to some songs. Someone played a song which transported me to my very early school days, transported me to a small lane in Boiguda, a sloping lane, a lane in which all houses had raised platforms. A lane where by 8 o clock all movement would cease and the soanpapdi-wala would ring the bell and bring along the flaky soan papdi in his huge bell shaped glass jar. Did you guess the song which transported me to this lane? Yes, you are wrong!! It was not 'Kanchi Re Kanchi Re' but another song from the same movie, 'phoolon ka taaron ka'. That made me think of 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna' days and automatically to the evening hours of Boiguda. Probably the earliest of my remembrances.

I had a neighbour called Roop who was senior to most of us in the street and the unofficial gang leader. His elder brother and friends had a small music troupe which would practice in his house. We would all gather together on the raised 'thinnai' (platform) and peep in through the windows to watch them practice. Seeing the musical instruments like guitar, bongos and congos was a great thrill. All these guys would appear to us as if they had arrived from some other planet when they played these instruments. Such was the thrill of watching a live orchestra practising. The song they used to practice often was 'kanchi re kanchi re'. Roop later went on to become an excellent mandolin player and in one of our function played a superb 'yeh mera dil pyar ka deewana'.

The 70s was dominated by the music of R D Burman, formerly known as Pancham, then Pancham Da and now called as 'Boss'. His name keeps changing but his music still has the same impact that it had during the 70s. Anyone born during those times had no choice but to grow up with RD's music. That he was the great S D Burman's son and could still chart out a path of his own, shows the potential he had and also shows that he made use of that potential very well. To me, R D Burman is one music director whose influence on Indian film music has been enduring. Be it music directors like Sathyam, in who RD's influence can be heard directly or be it Illayaraja, in whose music you can hear the influence in a subtle way, he influenced all of them. And he keeps influencing them. The number of remixes of his songs stands testimony to that fact.

Each one has their own favourite RDB song(s). I have many but I chose 'kanchi re kanchi re' for it always evokes a very nice feeling inside me. The success of RD's music lies in the fact that he was able to create a very ideal soundscape. The first few chords of the guitar or a piano and automatically you are transported to a very idealized world. I still marvel as to how he does it. (I had written about lot of people being enamoured by Illayaraja's music because of his ability to create an idealized world. You can read it here. R D Burman had the same ability.) Another aspect of his music was Kishore Kumar. A combination none of us can forget. Kishore's voice took you the place that RD wanted to take you. And he did it effortlessly.  The moment Kishore starts 'he kanchiii' and the flute joins in, you are already somewhere in Himachal Pradesh. In some 'pahadi' ilaaka. You don't even need to see the scene. The whole landscape opens in front of your close eyes. Such was the power of R D Burman's tune and Kishore's voice. a glowing Mumtaz is an added bonus. No wonder the guys next to my house were practising days on end.

Sometimes you don't realize how lucky you are while things are happening. Now when I look back I personally feel we had the best growing years with respect to music. First it was R D Burman. And just when we were having our fill, Illayaraja happened. More than two decades of our youth was taken care by two genius musicians. What more can you ask from life!!!