Music And Movies

Here is the link to read all parts of this series. Lata Mangeshkar and Rafi were probably seen as a natural pairing due to their being the most in-demand female and male voices, respectively, and also because both were trained in classical music. Their approach to music was different, though. Rafi believed in emoting very explicitly with his voice, while Lata preferred her voice to be under her control all the time. Rafi's tone, too, was different from Lata's. His vocal modulations had a more in-your-face attitude compared to Lata's polished performance in this aspect. Of course, the way they sang depended quite a bit on who the composer was, but overall these can be seen as the major difference in their approach.  Lata and Rafi had some differences in the early 1960s and didn't sing together for a few years. During the rift, Rafi was mostly accompanied by Suman Kalyanpur instead of Lata, while Lata was accompanied by Mahendra Kapoor during that time. (I would say that ...

The link to all parts of this series is given here: Series Links In the last part, we saw the partnership between music director Anil Biswas and Lata Mangeshkar. Anil Biswas was a hugely influential music director and I had mentioned how he had mentored Lata in her early days. The other major music director of those times was Naushad. He was one of the 'hit' music directors of those and was much sought after by everyone. By the time Lata entered the industry, he was already a leading music director who had given major hits with Noorjahan, Zorabai, and others. In this part, we will look at the songs of the Naushad Lata combination. Naushad's orchestration was different from that of Anil Biswas. In Anilda's orchestration, the rhythm is subtle in most songs; it doesn't dominate the song. The singing also requires more modulation. In Naushad's early Lata songs, the domination of rhythm can be clearly heard. The singing is more open-throated. In fact, in the early so...

( You can read the earlier parts here:  Part 1 ,  Part 2 ,  Part 3 ,  Part 4 ,  Part 5 ,  Part 6  ,  Part 7 ,  Part 8 ,   Part 9 ,   Part 10 ,  Part 11 ,  Part 12 ,  Part 13 ,  Part 14 ,  Part 15 ,  Part 16 ,  Part 17  & Part 18 ) SPB career spanned more than five decades and for the majority of the time, he was the dominant singer in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. Now wonder he has left behind a lasting legacy. The most important thing SPB taught many singers is that film singing is a different ball game compared to classical music. He was not a classically trained musician but was able to emote so well that his singing style suited the film idiom perfectly. He gave hope to thousands of singers, amateurs and professionals, who may not have been classically trained, that they too can sing if they put in the required effort and tried to build their own musical personality. SPB's singing ca...

(O.P.Nayyar) Trend-setters in any field disrupt the prevailing order, bring in new ideas and keep the field vibrant. Hindi film music has had many trend-setters starting from C.Ramachandra. One such well known trend-setter was O.P.Nayyar. Nayyar brought in lilting rhythm into Hindi film music. He clashed with the established order of those days, also known as Lata Mangeshkar. He never did a single song with Lata and yet succeeded. He was responsible for the growth of Asha as an artist. A very outspoken person, he gave many hits which are now part of Hindi film music's folk lore. To a certain extent, Rahman reminds me of O.P.Nayyar. Not from the personal characteristic front, in which he is the opposite of Nayyar, but from a musical sense. The initial Rahman rode of foot tapping rhythm, the judicious choice of ragas for his melodies, new recording techniques and new voices, providing a new attractive sound. He took on the established order and paved a new path. Both Nayyar and Ra...

(Sahir Ludhianvi) I don't think there could have been better locality than Boiguda in Secunderabad to grow up in , for it was the most cosmopolitan of all localities. A locality which was populated by Tamilians, Telugus, Anglo Indians, Marwadis and Hindi speaking folks. Populated by the rich marwadis, the middle class government servants and slum dwellers. Populated by Hindus, Jains, Muslims and Christians. Everyone was a friend. And festival ours. As kids we loved festivals for they brought with them things to eat. Thus at an early age I had tasted multiple cuisines. Of all the cuisines, I have a special affection for the Muslim cuisine. (And Telangana cuisine,especially the Bagar Annam) We used to attend Muslim weddings especially to eat. Most of us were pure vegetarians and special care was taken by our friends to ensure we got only the vegetarian stuff. The biriyani, the double-ka-meeta and what not. I still remember the wedding in the family of our local 'Dada', Jah...

(Naushad) "Bhairav is so fundamental to Indian tradition that its impaction on the nation's musical soul can never be overstated. Even the unlettered in the land is familiar with its germ in some form or the other. The overlay of Bhairav strains on an early, bucolic Indian morning affords a purifying experience like no other. Verily, it falls to the lot of the noblest of rAgas, deserving of renewal and reflection in the portals of the mind every single day." Thus wrote Rajan Parrikar in his article for SAWF titled "Bhairav - The Primordial Sound"  . He was talking about the Hindustani Bhairav whose Carnatic counterpart in Mayamalavagowla. Mayamalavagowla has been used a lot in Tamil film music. An old gem that I heard is in the movie 'Pattinathar', which starred T M Soundarrajan as the hero. The song was, "nilave nee oru sedhi sollaayo" and was tuned very similar to the Tyagaraja's famous krithi, "thulasi dalamulache". Then we h...