The concluding article in the series on Arrangers and Musicians by guest authors, Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) & Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation), wishing everyone Eid Mubarak (As we celebrate Eid, our guest authors Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav mark the happy occasion with their concluding article in the series on Arrangers and Musicians. In the thirteen earlier articles, eleven focussed on individual talented artistes, such as Anthony Gonsalves, Van Shipley, Enoch Daniels etc, and two were devoted to families whose more than one generation comprising several artistes ..read more

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation) (Ramprasad Sharma may be an unfamiliar name to many, but Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo were the biggest guys on the film music scene. They broke all the records: for number of films for which they composed music, total number of songs by them, total number of songs for the biggest singers, Lata Mangeshkar and Rafi. They went through the grind, climbing all the ladders from the beginning: musician, arranger, assistant music director and finally the pinnacle. Pyarelal was the son of Ramprasad Sharma, who was ..read more

Guest article by Sivanandam Palamadai as a tribute to Rafi with 35 songs in 35 years (1946-1980) in the continuing series of articles on Rafi’s centenary (24th December 1924-31st July 1980) (Songs Of Yore is celebrating 2024 as the centenary year of Mohammad Rafi. I heralded the year with his solos from A to Z. He has been the most prolific and versatile singer. Therefore, he can be discussed in several combinations and on many parameters. Sivanandam Palamadai is a well-known Rafi fan. He writes regularly for a site dedicated to Rafi. My natural thought was to sound him whether he would be int ..read more

Commemorating the International Women’s Day with female duets Men may not be from Mars nor women from Venus, but there is a fundamental difference in the way the two genders bond with each other. In semi-urban settings at a party, the two genders automatically segregate, each forming their own group. We generally ascribe it to patriarchy. But at a recent get-together for three days at a resort with colleagues, including women colleagues and their spouses, we were at a dinner hosted by a local friend. As the number of guests increased, there was a need for some to move into another room to deco ..read more

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati original) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation) (The “Lords”, i.e. the father Cawas Lord and his two sons – Kersi and Burjor Lord – have lorded over the instrumental music in Hindi film songs right from the beginning of the talkies till the 1980s when the era of live orchestra by musicians and arrangers in the music room was caming to en end. The SOY regulars will recall the review of Greg Booth’s “Behind the Curtain“. Therefore, it is very befitting that the guest authors, Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav, now write on the most illustrious f ..read more

Guest article by DP Rangan (An interesting feature of our films is the dances performed in the streets, often by unknown actors. Sometimes the main protagonists also take to dancing and singing in the streets. Naturally a big crowd assembles around them enjoying the performance. These songs generally come at a critical juncture in the film, for relieving the tension, or as a surrogate the inner feelings of shy lovers, or a gangster’s mole distracting the attention of the people for the gang to commit their act. These songs were key for taking the story forward. Often these songs became the hig ..read more

Forgotten Artists of Early Cinema and The Same Name Confusion (2) Author: Arunkumar Deshmukh (Copyright) Publisher: Professor Toofanii Publishers, Lansing, MI USA (2023) Editor: Professor Surjit Singh Price: ₹450 plus postage (Paperback) at pothi.com Have you heard of Indurao Nimbalkar, Zohra Jan, Raja Sandow or Renuka Devi? They are important names from vintage era of our films. Some of them started during the silent era and moved into talkies with great success. Or much later in Shree 420 (1955), who can forget the character of Seth Sonachand Dhrmanand, the stocky man with handlebar moustac ..read more

Guest article by Piyush M Pandya (Gujarati) and Ashok M Vaishnav (English translation) (Continuing their series on Arrangers and Musicians, now the guest authors Piyush M Pandya and Ashok M Vaishnav throw the spotlight on one of the most respected musicians, Goody Seervai, who became synonymous with piano accordion. The songs they have mentioned have been our eternal favourites, but for most of us it would be the first time that we would be able to associate with the accordion player who sculpted these songs with his tunes. Thank you Piyushji and Ashokji for another excellent article, 11th in ..read more

Guest article by DP Rangan paying a tribute to Qamar Jalalabadi on his 21st Remembrance Day (b. 9 March 1917 – d. 9 January 2003) (Among the main markers of a film song – the film, the singer, the lyricist and the music director – the lyricist, whose words gave birth to the song, is remembered the least. SOY regulars used to comment about lack of due recognition to the lyricists on the blog. No longer; thanks to several guest writers many lyricists have since been well covered. Today’s guest writer, DP Rangan, himself has contributed a number of articles on them. Qamar Jalalabadi is very well ..read more

Wishing the readers and their friends and families a very Happy New Year with Rafi’s centenary year celebrations (b. 24 December 2024, d. 31.7.1980) Mohammad Rafi is the undisputed most versatile playback singer of Hindi films. You think of genres – bhajan, qawwali, romantic, patriotic, ghazal – he could do all. There was another unique aspect about his voice – he had the unique ability to modulate his voice to sound like the character he was singing for on the screen, without much conscious effort. He personified Dilip Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, and he was the voice of Johnny Walk ..read more