When I thought of the ‘Qawwali songs’ post in December, it wasn’t planned to be a series. But as I went through the songs, I found it appropriate to divide it into several parts so that I can include the majority of my favourites. So far I have published qawwalis from the 40s to the 80s in three parts. Today’s part, the last in the series, will focus on qawwalis from the 90s and onwards. In the previous parts, the majority of the songs stuck to the basic structure of the qawwali. In the 90s and beyond era, I noticed that a few of the songs took a sort of inspiration from the qawwali, and incor ..read more

Continuing the series based on Rafi’s association with Bangla Composers, today I am presenting the fourth part. So far I’ve covered five composers, Anil Biswas, Salil Chowdhury and Hemant Kumar in Part 1, S D Burman in Part 2 and R D Burman in Part 3. The journey was of course very interesting with so many melodies to listen to. After covering the prominent composers of the golden era, it’s time now to explore the other composers. I have a list of more than 15 composers who were from Bengal and composed songs for Rafi. For convenience I’m going to divide it in two parts. Today’s part, the fou ..read more

The Hindi film industry is of a very weird kind. To survive in the industry you need to have talent, no doubt! But in addition a lot of other things also manifest themselves in the final outcome. Destiny and luck are such factors which are beyond our control, but do play a significant role in shaping up one’s career. Support of big banners, composing for superstars also influence your place in the industry. There were a number of artists in Hindi films during the golden era who couldn’t survive long despite their talent. They couldn’t get enough opportunities to showcase their talent or even i ..read more

The Hindi film Qawwali series continues on the blog. We visited the qawwalis from the 40s and the 50s in Part 1 , with Part 2 covering the 60s. The first couple of parts had a number of my favourites, and it was difficult for me to choose songs. The present part covering the 70s and the 80s was relatively easy as the number of my favourites were less and new additions if any were also good making the job easy for me. As I always confess, I’m rather weak in my knowledge from the late 70s till the mid 80s. As per my observation, the qawwalis from the covered period were good, but of course much ..read more

Wishing a very Happy Birthday to Shreya Ghoshal. I still remember the reality show SaReGaMa, when teenager Shreya Ghoshal won the season in 2000. Even as a participant she won everyone’s heart. Soon after that I bought an audio cassette with her Marathi songs. If I remember correctly, the cassette had devotional songs as well as bhavgeet (भावगीत), a popular non film genre in Marathi. I think all were cover versions. Then one fine day, I watched Bairi Piya from Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas on television. I was fascinated by the sweet and expressive voice. I was pleasantly surprised that it wa ..read more

After opening the series in April 2019, I decided to review each year of the decade of the 90s separately and compile a list of my favourites. It’s been a wonderful journey down the memory lane, where I got an opportunity to relive my school, junior college and the medical college days. I started with 1991 and ending the decade with 2000. As I look back, I realise how important the decade had been as far as my academics go. I got admission in medical college in 1996 and 2000 was the final year of MBBS. The final year is very important for a medical student as he appears for the major clinical ..read more

Last month I started the series on Hindi film Qawwalis and I covered the 40s and the 50s in the first part. Roshan’s Qawwalis from Barsaat Ki Raat were roaringly popular and it had reverberations in the 60s. The 60s saw a lot of Qawwalis being incorporated in Hindi films. Hence when I started collecting qawwalis from the 60s, I thought of coming up with a separate part dedicated to the 60s. Jani Babu Qawwal and Shakila Bano Bhopali both had heydays in the 60s and I have one song each picturised on them. Both of them had a hand in popularising Qawwali in general public and also Hindi films. So ..read more

I started the series of yearly reviews of Lata Mangeshkar’s Hindi film songs on 6th February 2022. Today as we commemorate her second death anniversary, I’m presenting the next part in the series. Before I proceed let me once again add that all the standard books on Hindi films mention the film with the year of getting censor certification. The movie may not have been released in the same year. So far I’ve covered till 1960. Lata Mangeshkar started her career in 1947 with the film, ‘Aap Ki Seva Mein’, under the baton of composer Datta Davjekar. What an apt name to start the career! And she had ..read more

I was thinking about this post for a very long time. All of us are, in general, fond of listening to Hindi film Qawwalis for their vibrant presentation, the captivating rhythm and a typical way of repeating the verses. Though the original Qawwali and filmy Qawwali are not the same, the latter must have contributed to its popularity in the general public. This time, I actually had a few posts up my sleeves. But somehow when I started reading those song lists, I couldn’t enjoy the songs. I was unable to think over the themes. So I decided to look for another theme. So I thought of giving this th ..read more

Today on the auspicious occasion of प्राण प्रतिष्ठापना of idol of Lord Ram at Ayodhya, I take the opportunity to post a devotional song list dedicated to Lord Ram. Image Courtesy – Times of India The Epic Ramayan is very close to the people’s hearts. The deity is worshiped with a lot of respect, love and emotional bonding. Ram Mandir at Ayodhya is a dream come true for every Indian who believes in Ram. Every City in India is decorated to celebrate the occasion and the enthusiasm among devotees is phenomenal. To commemorate the occasion, I’m presenting a list of devotional songs both Hindi fil ..read more