{"id":4612,"date":"2018-12-22T20:27:36","date_gmt":"2018-12-22T14:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=4612"},"modified":"2020-07-21T20:03:21","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T14:33:21","slug":"musically-yours-songs-of-1963-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/musically-yours-songs-of-1963-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Musically Yours, 1963: Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from\u00a0Musically Yours, 1963: Part 2<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>

\"\"Remember, there was no Google in 1963. And while it may have taken me years \u2013 and Google \u2013 to research the events of my birth year, it didn\u2019t take me long to get enamored of the musical world in which I had been born. Nor did it take my loving parents to see what a lost cause I was and gift me what, to date, remains my brightest memory and my most prized possession \u2013 my own little Grundig transistor. Now taped many times over, just to look at it is to slip back into my comfort zone \u2013 a world where neither heat nor cold, day nor night meant anything. That transistor accompanied me everywhere. My girly dresses had to have pockets big enough for the Grundig to accompany me. It sang to me as I slept each night, softly, under my pillow, to avoid getting into trouble with mom. My older sister turned it off after I went off to sleep, most nights. A small act that earned her a fan for life.\u00a0 The Grundig accompanied me to two boarding schools and many homes, even as my family kept relocating every few years, thanks to the spirit of adventure in my father.<\/p>

Armed with that Grundig transistor under my ear, Vividh Bharati as my radio station of choice, my awareness started to extend to sangeetkar<\/em> and geetkar ka naam hai<\/em>\u2026. You\u2019ve heard the saying \u201ctwo is better than one\u201d? Well, apparently, some musicians thought the same! They teamed up with musical partners to create compositions that have stood the test of Time.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

Three composer-duos who made some interesting music in 1963 continued to create waves through the 60s and solicit thousands of requests each week from groups in Jhumri Talaiyya, <\/em>among others, on Vividh Bharati and becoming chart-busters on Binaca Geetmala on Radio Ceylon! These were mostly songs of great energy and rhythm. In fact, music started to change in the 60s to reflect the changes around us. A whole new generation coming of age after Independence, stepping forward from behind the shadows of the hardships faced by their hard-working immigrant parents; the extended family structure breaking down to the nuclear unit of families, youngsters more ready to \u201chave a good time\u201d.<\/p>

This is not to say that the music in the 60s was \u2018bad\u2019. It was different from the music of the 50s. The pattern of orchestration changed. \u2018Beat\u2019 started to become the focus of a song. The lyrics began to get simpler, the poetry becoming less, well, poetic, especially as the 60s marched on. The language became less-Urdu, more-Hindi. \u2018Catchy\u2019 music became the demand and the supply, interspersed, still, by little gems in the tradition of the 50s. And this trend continued until the mid-70s. Songs became more hummable. This was the musical climate in which I was born.<\/p>

Born to hum! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>

LAXMIKANT PYARELAL (L-P)<\/h2>

The duo that started their career graph as composers in 1963 were Laxmikant and Pyarelal. They opened their composer-account with Parasmani<\/em>. And what an account it turned out to be! 35 years of being musical partners and 400-odd films together, until Laxmikant\u2019s death in 1998. Whew!<\/p>

\"Laxmikant
Laxmikant Pyarelal (Pic courtesy: Discogs)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Laxmikant and Pyarelal started out as musicians separately. Laxmikant was a mandolin player, while Pyarelal trained to learn the violin. They started out playing for orchestras, then becoming music arrangers before joining the already established Kalyanji Anandji as assistants, individually.\u00a0 But what\u2019s interesting is that Laxmikant was fond of Shankar Jaikishan\u2019s compositions, as reported by Manek Premchand in Yesterday\u2019s Melodies, Today\u2019s Memories<\/em>.<\/p>

Their first break, Parasmani,<\/em> a B-grade film starring Mahipal and Geetanjali, a fantasy drama, was a \u2018hit\u2019 at the box office. I\u2019m positive the music of the movie contributed hugely to this outcome. It seems as if the duo\u2019s musical abilities had been in incubation and here was the perfect first \u201cbirth\u201d. Six songs, all of which got air space on the radio each week throughout the 60s! And till much later, too. As many as 3 lyricists contributed to the album. Farooq Kaiser, Indeevar and Asad Bhopali wrote simply and charmingly for this album. I could choose to showcase any of these six songs and they would all bring back hours of listening enjoyment for me. Nowhere close to being earth-shattering compositions, this was a beautiful, popular, successful album for the duo to have started off their careers with; it made them audience-and director-favorites for many years.<\/p>

The movie has only two of its songs in Eastman Color; the rest are in Black & White, to match the story. The movie gets all sorts of magical hues once the fantasy part of the story starts! Hansta hua noorani chehra<\/em>, written by Faooq Kaiser and sung with gusto by Kamal Barot and Lata was hugely popular on radio; as was the other colored duet, Vo jab yaad aaye, bahut yaad aaye, <\/em>with its sweet poetry by Asad Bhopali. A huge personal favorite, the words of viraha<\/em> connected instantly with the listener with a dhun<\/em> that stayed with you long after.<\/p>

Aaahtein jaag utthin, raaste hans diye,<\/em>
\nTthaam kar dil utthe, hum kisi ke liye<\/em>
\nKayi baar aisa bhi dhokha hua hai, <\/em>
\nchale aa rahe hain vo nazarein jhukaaye\u2026<\/em><\/p>

And\u2026<\/p>

Magar rote-rote hansi aa gayi hai<\/em>
\nKhayaalon mein aa ke vo jab muskuraaye\u2026<\/em><\/p>

But\u2026<\/p>

Bahut koshishein ki, magar dil na behla<\/em>
\nKayi saaz chhede, kayi geet gaaye\u2026<\/em><\/p>

The black-and-white songs of this movie did not get any less attention. It hardly mattered as it was the Radio that certified hits and misses in our musical world at that point of time.<\/p>

\"\"
A 35-year-long partnership (Pic courtesy: Discogs)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The Mukesh-Lata chhed-chhad Chori-chori jo tumse mili to log kya kahenge<\/em> with that shehnai and Lata\u2019s high-pitched solo, Mere dil mein halki si vo khalish hai jo nahi thi<\/em> with that absolutely fabulous flute trilling placed at exactly the right moments to create flutters in the listener\u2019s heart are catchy compositions that put a spring in your day.<\/p>

The Helen-Lata-Farooq Kaiser Ooi ma, ooi ma ye kya ho gaya<\/em> is a whirlwind! Especially the interludes that feel almost like gusts of wind that come knocking at your window heralding a storm. In fact when the antaras start you almost want to take a moment to catch your breath! L-P do something unusual here, in my layman opinion. The interludes and the antaras are given different treatments and different instruments, like many other composers do. But what is intriguing is that they don\u2019t really do a serious Western-Indian split. The interludes, while being high energy and racy retain a tethering to the Indian and yet are completely different from the antaras, while flowing effortlessly into them.<\/p>

Can you tell I\u2019m a fan of this song?<\/p>

And, yet, to highlight this album, I would choose the softest one of them all! The lyrics by Indeevar, the expression by Rafi and the composition by this duo, birthing their first \u2018child\u2019; how can it be any other?<\/p>

Rafi\u2019s humming, with Mahipal\u2019s sitar in the visuals but, actually, what sounds suspiciously like the strumming of a guitar, followed by the softest of alaaps and a strong chhann<\/em> of the ghungroos that disturbs the soft strumming. It feels like someone special is about to arrive!<\/p>

Roshan tum hi se duniya, raunaq tumhi jahaan ki<\/em>
\nPhoolon mein palne waali, raani ho gulsitan ki, salamat raho.o.o.o\u2026<\/em><\/p>

I wonder if I\u2019m the only one that thinks there is something more than romance in this song. There is an element of protectiveness that makes the song even more appealing with its<\/p>

Jeeti raho yun hi tum, meri bhi umr le lo<\/em>
\nKis din dua na maangi hum ne tumhari jaan ki\u2026salaamat raho\u2026<\/em><\/p>

Roshan tum hi se duniya<\/strong><\/em> (Parasmani<\/em>, 1963) Laxmikant-Pyarelal \/ Indeevar \/ Rafi<\/span><\/p>