Kishore Kumar and Salil Chowdhury
Srijit Kumar Bhadra
http://bhadra.wordpress.com/2006/07/02/kishore-kumar-and-salil-chowdhury/
Best Regards,
Srijit
Kaustubh Pingle
KCP
Arup
Kaustubh Pingle wrote:
> Please translate, somebody ?
>
> KCP
Here is my translation. I was hesitating to translate such a long
blog. It has some incendiary material that can fuel some Kishore Rafi
wars again. Then again, language should never be a barrier to a good
fight :-)
Regards,
-Arup
TRANSLATION OF THE BLOG BY BHADRA.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Kishore Kumar and Salil Chaudhury are two of my favorite artists.
Between Hindi and Bengali, there are few songs where Salil directed
Kishore. Even though, the few songs where they collaborated have
become quite popular. In the Wikipedia article on Salil, there is no
reference to Kishore. The songs may have been few but nothing to
dismiss. Some songs are exquisite like the Hindi song "Guzar Jaaye Din
Din" (from Annadata) and the Bengali song "Suno Suno Go Sabe" (from
movie Kavita). It saddens me to note that there are no modern non-film
(Adhunik) songs tuned by Salil and sung by Kishore.
Why is it so? It will probably never be known. I have not seen much
discussion on this in internet forums. After Kishore's demise, Salil
had reminisced about Kishore in many newspapers and magazine. I have
some of these. Reading these, my personal opinion is that there was a
distance that developed between these two men for some reason. Salil
would feel the lack of classical training in Kishore's singing.
Here is an excerpt from the edition of Anandalok (a Bengali
cine-magazine) dated 31st October, 1987. Salil has said -
"There is no doubt that Kishore possessed an exceptional voice. But
voice alone is not everything. I have to say that if Kishore had
classical training he would have been a different Kishore. Not only by
popularity, but also by the yard stick of qualitative merit of singing
Kishore could have reached the place occupied by Rafi. However, if I
have to evaluate Kishore as a singer, it would probably be fair to say
that Kishore brought in a new style of singing - something close to the
pop style. In this style, there was no one close to him. I can say
that with confidence."
At one point, Kishore felt that Salil preferred Yesudas to him. In the
same interview in Anandalok, Salil goes on to say -
"There were often times of misunderstandings and hurt feelings. Like
this instance from the early seventies. I had used Yesudas for one of
the songs in the movie Andarmahal directed by Basu Bhattacharyya. In a
previous movie, I was supposed to have Kishore sing a song. For some
reason, that did not materialize. Kishore assumed that I was
extracting my revenge by using Yesudas in this movie. This
misunderstanding went for quite a while. Once I met Kishore's
secretary - Abdul Sahib. I explained to him that there was no question
of a vindictive motive in using Yesudas. When Abdul Sahib explained to
Kishore all misunderstandings were cleared out right then."
But we the listeners have been deprived because of this.
In the case of Rabindra Sangeet, Salil Chaudhury said in the same
article -
"In his (Kishore's) voice, Rabindra Sangeet had a new dimension - no
doubt about it. Kishore has a full open voice. In this regard, I have
seen his eagerness to get training from Hemantda (Hemanta Mukhopadhyay)
and Samaresh Ray. That is very commendable. However, the beautiful
form that Rabindra Sangeet took when sung by Pankaj Mullick, Debabrata
Biswas and Hemanta Mukhopadhyay can never be compared to that of
Kishore. His vocal quality brilliantly redeemed the songs."
So it can be seen that even though Salil considered Kishore to be a
very good singer, he did not consider him to be a complete singer.
Every singer has their limitation. Kishore was himself quite aware of
his limitations. But Salil was confident of the vocal range of
Kishore. In an article in Bartaman (a Bengali news daily) dated 16th
October 1987, Salil Chaudhury wrote -
"Kishore was a great artist. While composing songs for him, I never
needed to worry (about range of notes) like I had to for Mukesh. The
same is true for Lata. For Lata and Kishore, their vocal range is such
that there is no need to worry about the range of a composition."
Leaving all else, like all music directors Salil Chaudhury had a deep
respect for Kishore's dedication to music. In that article in
Bartaman, we get to know that if Kishore did not pass away, we would
have had the opportunity to hear him sing Nazrul Geeti.
Salil wrote -
"In the matter of singing, Kishore was extremely dedicated. His
dedication made him the Kishore Kumar that he was. When he was
recording Rabindra Sangeet under the direction of Hemantda (Hemanta
Mukhopadhyay) and Samaresh Ray, he cancelled about ten or twelve
recordings so that he could practise to get the nuances of the notes
right. He was willing to give up a lot of money in the process. From
Kamalesh Ghosh of Megaphone (a record label), I have heard that he was
supposed to record twelve Nazrul Geeti songs. After the release of his
Rabindra Sangeet he was going on to record Nazrul Geeti. The wish
remained unfulfilled."
Not only was Kishore's wishes not fulfilled. His untimely death left a
lot of unfulfilled desires in the hearts of his listeners. May be he
would have sung more songs composed by Salil. May be, like the
Pancham-Kishore duo, the Salil-Kishore duo would have harkened a new
era in the world of Indian light music. May be...
Prithviraj Dasgupta
Very interesting read, esp. to know SalilC's personal views on KK's
abilities.
-Prithviraj
================================================
Translating the portions with Salil-da's comments only:
>From Oct 31, 1987 Anandalok, KK obituary issue. Salil Chowdhury's
interview:
"There's no doubt that Kishore had an extra-ordinary voice. But just
having an extra-ordinary voice is not everything in singing. I'll also
add that if Kishore had training in classical music, he might have been
a different singer altogether. For me, popularity is not a measure of
success. (With classical training), Kishore could perhaps have reached
the exquisite musical quality that Rafi possessed. But if I were to
assess Kishore as a performer, it would be logical for me to say this:
Kishore evolved a new style, which is quite close to what we call "pop"
nowadays. There was no one even close to him in this aspect. I'd
emphasize on the last two sentences.
Kishore and myself had some misunderstandings along our way. I'll refer
to an incident from the '70s. I was working on the music of a Basu
Bhattacharya film called "Anand Mahal". Yesudas had a song in this
movie. Earlier, I had asked Kishore to record a song for me in another
movie. But for some reason, that had not materialised. Kishore somehow
concluded that I had signed up Yesudas only to get my revenge on
Kishore for not singing for me in the other movie. That was not at all
the case. This misunderstanding continued for years. Finally, one day
when I ran into Kishore's secretary Abdul-sahab, I mentioned the matter
to him and explained that there was no revenge involved from my side.
After hearing about this from Abdul-sahab, Kishore's anger got diluted
and our misunderstandings and differences got resolved.
Kishore's voice has given a new dimension to Rabindrasangeet - there's
no doubt about that. Kishore had an open voice. He was very eager to
learn Rabindrasangeet from Hemanta-da and Samaresh Roy - this was
commendable indeed. However, Kishore's Rabindrasangeet rendition should
not be compared to the standards set by Pankaj Mullick, Debabrata
Biswas and Hemanta Mukherjee. Nevertheless, Kishore managed to sound
nice in the Rabindrasangeets he recorded.
========================================================
Salil Chowdhury's obituary for KK in newspaper "Bartaman" (Oct 16,
1987):
"Kishore was a great artiste. I'd never have to worry about his vocal
limitations while composing a tune for him, as I'd have to do were I
composing for Mukesh. I didn't have to worry for Lata either. Their
vocal range is such that composers need not worry about these matters.
Kishore was very diligent when it came to singing. This diligence made
him a great singer. I've heard that when Kishore recorded the
Rabindrasangeet album under Hemanta-da and Samaresh Roy, as many as
10-12 final takes were cancelled by Kishore so that he could practice
more and get each and every musical note accurately. This resulted in a
significant financial loss, but Kishore accepted it. Mr. Kamalesh Ghosh
of Megaphone Records informed me that after this Rabindrasangeet album,
Kishore was planning to record a Nazrulgeeti album next year. I feel
sorry that this isn't going to get realized."
Srijit Kumar Bhadra
have done myself.
Best Regards,
Srijit
Srijit Kumar Bhadra
This is also nicely translated. Thanks for your efforts.
Best Regards,
Srijit
Kaustubh Pingle
Srijit, you have a khazana of Bengali articles of Kishore...keep it up
:)
KCP