On Vasant Desai - Part II (*Long*)
Veena S Nayak
Friends,
Here is the second part of the tribute to Vasant Desai.
As mentioned in Part I, it presents the talk given by
Vasant Desai's nephew, Mr. Vikas Desai, at a listening
session in memory of the composer. The programme was
held in Bombay by the Society of Indian Record Collectors
on 26th March 1995. Readers may remember Mr. Vikas Desai
as the co-director (along with Aruna) of films such as
'Shaque' and 'GeherAyee'. Vasant Desai and his nephew
used to share a residence.
I apologise for the long gap between the two parts of the
post: I had severely underestimated the editorial effort
required in producing a cohesive transcript of an informal
listening session.
Veena
PS: The material presented here is not in the same order
as spoken during the program. To maximise readability,
I have grouped together anecdotes and comments based on
the idea they were intended to convey. Wherever necessary,
clarificatory comments have been provided using [* ... *].
#############################################################
The wee hours of the morning - around 3:30-4:00 am.
A four-year old boy sleeps while his mother awakens.
Having bathed, she starts singing her prayers ('ovees').
Her song filters into his subconscious. It is his
introduction to music, this song in his mother's voice,
and it enters his very soul. Today, one can choose any
of Vasant Desai's compositions and what will strike you
immediately is its quality of love. "My song is hummed
even in the kitchens; my song has entered the home", he
used to say. It was because they embodied 'vAtsalya'.
************************************************************
As a boy, he loved the circus and wanted to join it.
Many a late night was spent watching the dashAvatari
plays in neighbouring villages. He even became part
of a drama company, but gave it up when he found that
he was expected to play female roles. Then came the
desire to enter films: he grew his hair and went to
Kolhapur to live with his uncle who introduced him to
V. Shantaram. Vasant Desai was made office-boy at
Prabhat Company. On his way home from work in the
evenings, he had to walk past the Deval Club near
Rajaram College in Kolhapur. In those days, Deval Club
was frequented by musical luminaries who did their
riyaaz there at night. Vasantrao (now 14-15 years old)
would stand outside and listen. One evening, Deval
invited him in. The musicians (such as Faiyyaz Khan,
Alam Khan, etc) would say to him: "Kya kar raha hai?
Ja paan le aa". Thus, for 2-3 months he fetched paan.
Next, they said, "Le yeh tAnpurA chhed", or "chal sUr
lagA". And they taught him how to do so.
Ghulam Haider used to live and work in the neibourhood.
He was an expert in povAda (*); Vasantrao learnt it
from him. He also learnt from Inayat Khan and the Dagar
brothers.
[* PovAda is a traditional folk-music form in
Maharashtra *]
The spirit of inquiry remained strong throughout his life;
he never stopped learning. G.D. MaadguLkar once said to
him (on his constant striving), "Vasantrao, you are mad",
to which he repled, "It is this madness which keeps me
alive and fresh". With respect to music, his attitude
always was: I am still young; I have not arrived and
am still searching.
**********************************************************
He was not paid a salary at Prabhat and hence
had no money. In the first two years, his total
income was Rs 7. Shahir Amar Shaikh said to him,
"Desai, if you do sit-ups every morning; we'll
give you a free glass of milk daily from the
Company." So, for that free milk, Vasantrao
got into the habit of physical training.
***********************************************************
He was friendly with everyone, but his buddies
were few. Master Vinayak was one of them. When
the latter produced 'Chhaya' (1936) in Bombay, he
wanted Vasant Desai to compose the songs. But
Vasantrao was with Shantaram (in Pune) at that time
and under the rules of the studio system prevalent
in those days, could not work for another banner.
So he would take the 6:00 pm train from Pune, reach
Bombay at 9:00, record at HMV, board the 3:00 am train
back to Pune and report for work at Prabhat by 9:00 am.
Since he slept on the train, Vasantrao with a pillow
tucked under his arm became a familiar sight.
Vasant Desai's name does not appear in the credits
of 'Chhaya'. The music director was Keshavrao BhoLe,
who was like a guru to Vasant Desai. Hence the latter
was careful never to mention that some songs were
actually composed by himself. Many years later,
Keshavrao BhoLe, in his book 'Maazha Sangeet', revealed
this fact and also that two songs from 'Sant GyAneshwar'
(1940; official MD was KB) were composed by Desai.
Thus, while Vasant Desai's first film as a music director
was 'Shobha' (1940), he began composing for films at least
four years earlier.
************************************************************
In those days, song recording was in its nascent
stages: the singer, chorus and instrumentalists all
had to share one mike. At Rajkamal Studios (in Parel,
Bombay), the film shooting would take place during the day,
the nights being reserved for recording the music as the
surroundings were quieter. The pervasive feeling among
composers of the time was that they must push for technical
progress.
*************************************************************
Film composers are different from their non-film
counterparts. The former has a movie, a director,
a script, picturization and a character with a
particular emotion. To all these, he must do justice.
Vasantrao firmly believed that a music director
composes not for himself, but for the film. He would
constantly say to me, "You, as an individual, are not
important". I would argue and point out, "Look where
you are today (due to your attitude) and look where
S.D. Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, etc. are". He would
merely smile in response.
******************************************************
Music is an aural art form but its effect is
visual: it creates a picture in the mind's eye.
The mark of a true composer is that he weaves
an image with his music and effectively conveys
the emotions embodied in the words. We have had
very few of such music directors; nowadays, there
are barely a couple of them. To be sure, there are
many who make a lot of money and have scaled the
heights of success, but they are mostly tunesmiths.
The genuine article is a rarity.
Vasantrao used to be extremely conscious of the
visuals for which he was providing music. I used
to accompany him to the background-music sessions.
He would give me a detailed narration about the
instruments that he would use for each scene and
action of the characters and why he chose them.
I remember how he agonized over the title credits
of "ShyAmchi Aayee": the choice of instruments for
the moment when "Katha: SAne Guruji" appeared on
screen was a source of great anxiety to him.
[* SAne Guruji was leading educationist and social
reformer in Maharashtra; he was held in high esteem
for his qualities of service and simple living *]
"How can I play a violin or a tabla for his name;
that would drag him down". For a while he toyed with
the idea of displaying the name sans music, but then
he felt that even that would be an injustice to
SAne Guruji. Eventually, he hit upon a novel idea:
when his name flashed on the screen, one hears only
the mooing of a cow.
Vasantrao was adept at composing in a manner that
brought out the meaning of the lyrics. For example,
in the song 'Tere sur aur mere geet' from
'Goonj Uthi ShehenAyi', consider how he has
dragged the word 'khee.nchke':
Mujhko agar bhool jAoge tum
mujhse agar door jAoge tum
meri mohobbat mein tAsir hai
to khee.nchke~ mere pas aaoge tum.
He would frequently ask me, 'Which comes
first: shabd or sUr?' The latter comes first
for the tunesmiths, but for the sangeetkAr,
the words come first.
**********************************************************
Vasantrao used to constantly experiment with music.
To an extent, this was necessitated by the fact that
almost every film from Prabhat and Rajkamal banners
dealt with a novel theme or story. Accordingly,
Vasantrao had to come up with something new in
their music. In 'Parbat Pe Apna Dera' (1946), the
echo effect was used for the first time in a song,
and it was done without the use of technological aids.
'Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani' was a film with a
Chinese setting; so Vasantrao studied Chinese music
for two years. The song, 'Nai Dulhan' from this movie
is based on a Chinese folk song. For 'Jhanak Jhanak
Paayal Baaje', he travelled for almost two months:
in Kashi, he met a santoor player, Shiv Kumar Sharma
and invited him to Bombay. In Banaras, he did the same
with tabla player Shanta Prasad who agreed to come to
Bombay but insisted that he would stay for only one day.
When the rehearsal for 'Ab to saajan ghar aa ja' began,
Shata Prasad realised the amount of effort that would
be needed for the project; he ended up staying for
two and a half months.
*************************************************************
An appreciation of Vasant Desai's ouevre is incomplete
if one does not listen to the songs he composed for
the 'Ek sUr ek taal' venture. During the war, he would
teach those chorus songs in the mills (in Bombay) at
night, despite the curfews. Such was his enthusiasm and
spirit that within 30 minutes, he could teach 2000
children to sing a mukhdA in unison.
*************************************************************
Another of his favourite posers was, "Which comes
first: the song or the visuals?" Vasantrao had worked
on almost all aspects of filmmaking. As an office boy
for V.Shantaram, he was assigned tasks such as holding
light relectors, loading cameras, etc. For 'DharmAtmA',
he performed eight functions; in all other films, he
fulfilled at least three or four roles on the sets.
At nights, V. Shantaram would ask him to help with
the editing. Vasantrao used to aver: "I may be a music
director, but basically I am a filmmaker as I am fully
involved in the film, its script, lyrics, etc."
**************************************************************
The accompanying orchestra was the most distinguishing
feature of Vasantrao's songs: recall any of them and
you will, without fail, also recollect its orchestrisation.
The introduction, mukhdA, iterludes and antarAs were one
integrated whole and not separate pieces glued together.
His songs are not merely songs; each one has Vasant Desai's
soul poured into it. "My song belongs to the film. I do not
compose for Binaca Geetmala, I compose for my director,
for my film".
**************************************************************
Vasantrao was an excellent poet and singer too. He has
written many songs in Marathi. He used to sing regularly
in baithaks held at Sialkot and Lahore. Nazakat and
Salamat Ali would perform, followed by Vasantrao;
Kumar Gandharva sang later in the day. Of course,
Vasantrao never mentioned this to me; I came to know
of it through Kumar Gandharva and Nazakat and Salamat Ali.
***********************************************************
When Hitchcock's films were released, his viewers
were very impressed with the murder scenes; a young
boy watching those scenes today will declare with
bored deprecation, "I have seen this before!".
Similarly in "Do Aankhen Barah Haath", there is a
scene where the heroine breaks her bangles in anguish
over her beloved's death. It was a novel idea at that
time; since then every other movie has had the heroine
perform that action. These examples explain why the
songs composed by Vasant Desai in the 1940s, especially
those beginning with 'Sheesh Mahal', sound so familiar
when you listen to them today: it is because they were
frequently imitated by others in the 50s and 60s.
It is, therefore, extremely important to trace
the chronological development of an artist's body
of work; to know *when* he produced what he produced.
************************************************************
In 1947, Rajkamal produced a film based on the life of
the famous folk-poet of Maharashtra, Ram Joshi. It was
originally a play written in by G.D. MaadguLkar who read
it to Lahiri Haider (a poet from Kolhapur). Haider liked
it and suggested to Baburao PendhArkar that it would make
a good subject for a movie. PendhArkar gave it to
V. Shantaram who decided to produce it. The script was
written by MaadguLkar and Sitaram Laad. Vasantrao expended
a lot of effort for the music. He travelled all over
Maharashtra; forty tamAsha [* tamAsha = lAvani *] artists
were selected and invited to sing at Rajkamal. Their work
provided the basis for the songs in the film.
Of the songs in 'Ram Joshi', the one that became most
famous is 'HatA tatAne patA'. It does not sound like a
film song as it deviated from the typical framework
of introductory music, mukhdA, interlude music, antarA
and so on. The lyrics are rattled off in an uninterrupted
sequence. Vasantrao gave prime importance to two factors
while composing: the scene and the singer. 'HatA tatAne paTa'
was to be sung by Jairam Shiledar, a forceful singer from
Marathi theatre. Moreoever, the film situation has the
protagonist Ram Joshi engaged in a fight with someone;
so the song is not musical expression, but rather a
vehement challenge where he could not pause for the music.
Hence there was neither introductory nor interlude music.
A complicating factor was that in those days there were
no cut-and-join techniques in recording; the entire song
had to be recorded in one go. The lack of interludes meant
that Shiledar would have no room to breathe in between lines.
Vasantrao solved that problem by having a chorus repeating
key phrases after the main singer.
*******************************************************************
The films 'Ram Joshi' and 'Amar BhoopaLi' must be viewed
on the same canvas. Both had the same theme: a respected
and talented poet [* Amar BhoopaLi was about HonAji BaLa *]
joins the tamAsha, is regarded with contempt by society,
but gains redemption by means of an honourable act. Both
were set in rural Maharashtra and both dealt with lAvaNi.
But the music scored by Vasantrao for the two films is
TOTALLY different.
He was passionate about searching for the right music:
"I must find the right pitch for the character" was his
constant refrain. For Ram Joshi, the sUr fell into place
immediately with the following lines penned by the poet;
they gave him insight into the character of Ram Joshi:
hatA tatAne patA
rangvoon jatA dharishi ka shiri
maTHAchi uTHA THev kA tari.
'Ram Joshi' and its songs became highly popular.
When Vasantrao was assigned 'Amar BhoopaLi', he felt
that he faced a tremendous responsibility: he had to
do equal justice to HonAji BaLa. Six to eight months
were spent in research, but he still could not find
"HonAji's sUr"; "I have not understood HonAji, I have
not seen him." He became quite distressed and worried
and did not know what to do next. Finally he went to
Poona and sat by HonAji's samAdhi for a long time.
He visited HonAji's house and was told by the family
that the poet's tAnpurA was still lying upstairs.
From that tAnpurA, Vasantrao finally put his finger
on HonAji's pitch and all songs got composed after
that day: 'GhansyAm sundarA', 'sAngA mukund kuNi
haa pAhilA', 'Latpat latpat', 'Ghadi ghadi manmohanA'
and so on. One can hear the shAnt ras that flows in
these songs.
*********************************************************
We used to tease him often: "Vasantrao, is hafte bhi
aapka geet choti par nahin aaya". He would retort:
arre harkat nAhi re; mee gelyA nantar pannAs varsHan.ni
gaaNi laava, maajhi lAgteel ki nAhi bagha!"
("It does not matter; fifty years after I am gone
and you are listening to songs, see whether mine
get played or not!")
Today, it has been twenty years.
*************************************************************
It is said that every song of Vasant Desai is a bandish
based on some classical raga. I say, leave the raga aside;
it matters more that his songs make an impression on our
innermost selves. He took pride in that fact: "My songs have
entered the kitchen, they are not on Binaca Geetmala. I am
not at the top, but my songs will endure".
*************************************************************
I had a huge stack of 78 RPM records of Vasantrao's music.
About twelve years ago, HMV persistently requested me to
lend them to the company as they were interested in
"bringing back Vasantrao's music". As per their
instructions, I meticulously cleaned the records with
linseed oil, turpentine, etc and handed them over to HMV.
I never saw them again. Every three months or so, I call
them to pursue the matter: nobody even knows where those
records are.
*************************************************************
Vasantrao greatly admired Pankaj Mallick as a composer.
He would frequently make me listen to 'Ab main kaah
karoon, kit jaaon': "look how well the emotions, lyrics
and music come together", he would say. About ten days ago,
Tushar Bhatia (MD of Andaz Apna Apna) narrated the following
incident which brought tears to my eyes: Bhatia had gone to
Pankaj Mallick's house and requested his daughter to let him
make copies of Mallick's music. After he had gone through the
entire stack, he noticed about 6-7 records stored separately
in a corner. When Bhatia enquired about them, his daughter
replied, "Woh Dada ke nahin hain"; they were Pankaj Mallick's
favourite songs. Bhatia looked through them: nestled among
records of Rabindra Sangeet and some other songs was
an EP of 'GhanashyAm sundarA'.
*****************************************************************
Afzal A. Khan
interest. He has of course been one of my favourite composers. Apart
from his more popular movies, his music in "Do Phool" too was most
delightful. Somehow that film or its music did not share the same
popularity. I recall with particular fondness the song "Door andhera
huwa, mast savera huwa, main nachoon re, aaj main gaoon
re". About this particular article, I have two
questions : 1. Mention has been made of the tabla player
Shanta Prasad. Is the reference to the late Samta Prasad
? 2. A song from his immortal film "Goonj
Uthi Shehnai" has also been quoted. This is amongst my
favourite songs. But I remember it differently. Is
there really an elongation or stretching out of the word
"Kheenchke" ? If my memory is not failing me, the word in
the song is "Khinchke". The line goes : "To khinchke
mire paas aaoge tum". "Kheench" is a verb in the active
voice, "to pull, to drag, to stretch". "Khinch" is the verb
in the passive voice. "To be drawn, to be pulled". In the
context of the song also, the appro- priate word is
"Khinchke". "You will be drawn (back) to me". As I
remember the song, there is no elongation of this word. Can
our friends in RMIM throw some light on this
?
Afzal
Chetan Vinchhi
Hello Veena,
Thanks for the wonderful article.
Veena S Nayak wrote:
> Vasantrao was an excellent poet and singer too. He has
> written many songs in Marathi. He used to sing regularly
> in baithaks held at Sialkot and Lahore. Nazakat and
> Salamat Ali would perform, followed by Vasantrao;
> Kumar Gandharva sang later in the day. Of course,
> Vasantrao never mentioned this to me; I came to know
> of it through Kumar Gandharva and Nazakat and Salamat Ali.
This is truly intrguing! What did VD sing? Khayal? With
whom did he learn? Surely, the "tanpura uTha, sur lagaa"
from the masters to the boy who fetched paan is not enough!
> These examples explain why the
> songs composed by Vasant Desai in the 1940s, especially
> those beginning with 'Sheesh Mahal', sound so familiar
> when you listen to them today:
Why special emphasis on "Sheesh Mahal"? Was it a significant
milestone in VD's career? I know of only one song in the
film -
husna vaalo.n kii galiyo.n me.n jaanaa nahii.n
zahar khaanaa magar dil lagaanaa nahii.n
sung by Shamshad, picturized on Munnawar Sultana IIRC. Nice
enough song. But it did not strike me as extraordinary at
least by VD's standards! Any more information on the
soundtrack will be appreciated.
> 'Ram Joshi' and its songs became highly popular.
> When Vasantrao was assigned 'Amar BhoopaLi', he felt
> that he faced a tremendous responsibility: he had to
> do equal justice to HonAji BaLa. Six to eight months
> were spent in research, but he still could not find
> "HonAji's sUr"; "I have not understood HonAji, I have
> not seen him." He became quite distressed and worried
> and did not know what to do next. Finally he went to
> Poona and sat by HonAji's samAdhi for a long time.
> He visited HonAji's house and was told by the family
> that the poet's tAnpurA was still lying upstairs.
> From that tAnpurA, Vasantrao finally put his finger
> on HonAji's pitch and all songs got composed after
> that day: 'GhansyAm sundarA', ...
I am a little curious about the above story. Is it to be
taken literally? What does "HonAji's sur" mean? How would
seeing his tanpura or even playing it help? Of course, I
am not doubting the quality of the final outcome -
'ghanshyAm sundarA' is one of my all-time favourite songs!
> Vasantrao greatly admired Pankaj Mallick as a composer.
> <snip>
> they were Pankaj Mallick's
> favourite songs. Bhatia looked through them: nestled among
> records of Rabindra Sangeet and some other songs was
> an EP of 'GhanashyAm sundarA'.
This is a very touching story. One wishes VD had known about
this!
C
Afzal A. Khan
About the film "Sheesh Mahal". AFAIR, this was
a Minerva Movietone (Sohrab Modi) film. Apart
from Sohrab Modi and Pran, it starred Naseem Bano
and Nigar Sultana. I do not think Munawwar
Sultana was in the cast. The song "Husn walon ki
nazron se" was, I think, picturised on Naseem
Bano. She looked absolutely stunning in the film and
Nigar Sultana was a beauty in her own right. The
movie had an- other nice song, sung probably by
Pushpa Hans, but the words escape me now. Around
that time, the influence of Ghulam Haidar and the Punjabi
(Lahore) style of music composition was still
persisting and that is probably why the music score
of this movie is not so well-remembered by people.
Vasant Desai had still to evolve his own individual
style, which he did subse- quently. By way of
comparison, another similar song comes to mind, which
was sung, I think, by the late Amirbai Karnataki
: Maar
katari mar jana Yeh
ankhiyan kisi se milana na Both songs are
of the same vintage and the similar musical
cadences are rather obvious. I have some songs of
Sheesh Mahal on video, but will have to look them
up.
Afzal
Chetan Vinchhi wrote:
>
> Hello Veena,
>
> Thanks for the wonderful article.
>
> Veena S Nayak wrote:
>
> > Vasantrao was an excellent poet and singer too. He has
> > written many songs in Marathi. He used to sing regularly
> > in baithaks held at Sialkot and Lahore. Nazakat and
> > Salamat Ali would perform, followed by Vasantrao;
> > Kumar Gandharva sang later in the day. Of course,
> > Vasantrao never mentioned this to me; I came to know
> > of it through Kumar Gandharva and Nazakat and Salamat Ali.
>
> This is truly intrguing! What did VD sing? Khayal? With
> whom did he learn? Surely, the "tanpura uTha, sur lagaa"
> from the masters to the boy who fetched paan is not enough!
>
> > These examples explain why the
> > songs composed by Vasant Desai in the 1940s, especially
> > those beginning with 'Sheesh Mahal', sound so familiar
> > when you listen to them today:
>
> Why special emphasis on "Sheesh Mahal"? Was it a significant
> milestone in VD's career? I know of only one song in the
> film -
>
> husna vaalo.n kii galiyo.n me.n jaanaa nahii.n
> zahar khaanaa magar dil lagaanaa nahii.n
>
> sung by Shamshad, picturized on Munnawar Sultana IIRC. Nice
> enough song. But it did not strike me as extraordinary at
> least by VD's standards! Any more information on the
> soundtrack will be appreciated.
>
> > 'Ram Joshi' and its songs became highly popular.
> > When Vasantrao was assigned 'Amar BhoopaLi', he felt
> > that he faced a tremendous responsibility: he had to
> > do equal justice to HonAji BaLa. Six to eight months
> > were spent in research, but he still could not find
> > "HonAji's sUr"; "I have not understood HonAji, I have
> > not seen him." He became quite distressed and worried
> > and did not know what to do next. Finally he went to
> > Poona and sat by HonAji's samAdhi for a long time.
> > He visited HonAji's house and was told by the family
> > that the poet's tAnpurA was still lying upstairs.
> > From that tAnpurA, Vasantrao finally put his finger
> > on HonAji's pitch and all songs got composed after
> > that day: 'GhansyAm sundarA', ...
>
> I am a little curious about the above story. Is it to be
> taken literally? What does "HonAji's sur" mean? How would
> seeing his tanpura or even playing it help? Of course, I
> am not doubting the quality of the final outcome -
> 'ghanshyAm sundarA' is one of my all-time favourite songs!
>
> > Vasantrao greatly admired Pankaj Mallick as a composer.
> > <snip>
> > they were Pankaj Mallick's
> > favourite songs. Bhatia looked through them: nestled among
> > records of Rabindra Sangeet and some other songs was
> > an EP of 'GhanashyAm sundarA'.
>
van...@malkauns.csd.sgi.com
In article <354E9E66...@nd.edu>, "Surajit says...
>> Veena S Nayak wrote:
>
>> > 'Latpat latpat', 'Ghadi ghadi manmohanA'
>> > and so on. One can hear the shAnt ras that flows in
>> > these songs.
>
>nakharaacha, bolaNa ga mu.nguLa maine ga, naarii ga," then shaa.nt ras is a
>simply bizarre characterization. It's a terrific song, but shaa.nt? Give me a
>break.
>
AFAIR this is laavanii kinda song. Hansa wadkar sings it and she shows what
means "laTpaTa laTapaTa" chaalaNe.
Vandana
Surajit A. Bose
Chetan, you asked about "Honaaji's sur." Your quickest route to the answer
would've been to ask Purvi, since it's a fairly basic concept.
> Veena S Nayak wrote:
> >
> > 'Ram Joshi' and its songs became highly popular.
> > When Vasantrao was assigned 'Amar BhoopaLi', he felt
> > that he faced a tremendous responsibility: he had to
> > do equal justice to HonAji BaLa. Six to eight months
> > were spent in research, but he still could not find
> > "HonAji's sUr"; "I have not understood HonAji, I have
> > not seen him." He became quite distressed and worried
> > and did not know what to do next. Finally he went to
> > Poona and sat by HonAji's samAdhi for a long time.
> > He visited HonAji's house and was told by the family
> > that the poet's tAnpurA was still lying upstairs.
> > From that tAnpurA, Vasantrao finally put his finger
> > on HonAji's pitch and all songs got composed after
> > that day: 'GhansyAm sundarA', 'sAngA mukund kuNi
> > haa pAhilA',
The meaning is "what key he sings in." By listening to the tuned tanpura that
a singer uses, you can determine his or her sur, i.e., the note which s/he
identifies as the ShaDaj. If you asked me to tune a tanpura for you to use
while singing, I might ask, for example, "kaunse sur me.n gaate ho? safed ek?
kaali ek?"
Not that a tanpura that has been lying around unused for years after a
person's death will retain his/her sur; hell, even a tanpura that a person
uses EVERY DAY needs to be fine tuned before each riyaaz. The story either is
apocryphal or just indicates the placebo effect that touching Honaaji's
tanpura had on Vasantrao. Even if it was just a placebo effect, BTW, it
doesn't detract from the point that he was dedicated to the ideal of decorum
(look it up--no, it doesn't mean "manners") in his music.
> > 'Latpat latpat', 'Ghadi ghadi manmohanA'
> > and so on. One can hear the shAnt ras that flows in
> > these songs.
If the song being referred to is "laTapaTa laTapaTa tuzha chaalaNa ga moThyaa
nakharaacha, bolaNa ga mu.nguLa maine ga, naarii ga," then shaa.nt ras is a
simply bizarre characterization. It's a terrific song, but shaa.nt? Give me a break.
Afzal Khan asks about the elongation in "khi.nchake." It's at the end of the word:
to khi.nchake~~~ mere paas aaoge tum
--though I don't think Lata gets as much mileage from the word as the
composition allows; a smoother and longer mii.Nd than the one she provides
would be both more appropriate and not too difficult to pull off.
Veena: it's articles like the one you posted that keep me reading RMIM despite
the presence of.....well, a wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse, so I
won't name names.
-s
Snehal B. Oza
>About the film "Sheesh Mahal". AFAIR, this was
>a Minerva Movietone (Sohrab Modi) film. Apart
>from Sohrab Modi and Pran, it starred Naseem Bano
>and Nigar Sultana. I do not think Munawwar
>Sultana was in the cast. The song "Husn walon ki
>nazron se" was, I think, picturised on Naseem
>Bano. She looked absolutely stunning in the film and
>Nigar Sultana was a beauty in her own right. The
>movie had an- other nice song, sung probably by
>Pushpa Hans, but the words escape me now. Around
Yes Pushpa Hans. The song you might be looking for is: Aadmi Wo Hai Musibat Se
Jo Pareshaan Na Ho
That was more famous. But song that I like more - again by Pushpa Hans is
Bhule Zamaane Yaad Na Kar. Actually both are atypical 1940s songs. As Afzalbhai
mentions influence of Ma. Gulam Haider is evident.
Chetan, I don't know why are you asking the question about Sheesh Mahal. It
just says that those songs sound familiar. It doesn't say they are something
miracle! And yes, they do sound familiar, as I noted that they are typical '40s
songs. Actually I don't know why, but some films earlier than Sheesh Mahal -
namely Nai Taalim and Subhadra Haran strikes more than others. Though, Dahej,
Jeevan Prabhaat?, Jeevan Yaatra, Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani etc. have their
share above two films (along with Narsinh Avtaar, Udhdhaar) sound more
appealing, more creative. Especially those who have heard 'Man Ki Kali Muskaai'
by Lata testify what a composition it is. And that came as early as 1949.
Snehal
Chetan Vinchhi
Surajit A. Bose wrote:
>
> Chetan, you asked about "Honaaji's sur." Your quickest route to the answer
> would've been to ask Purvi, since it's a fairly basic concept.
>
> a singer uses, you can determine his or her sur, i.e., the note which s/he
> identifies as the ShaDaj. If you asked me to tune a tanpura for you to use
> while singing, I might ask, for example, "kaunse sur me.n gaate ho? safed ek?
> kaali ek?"
Thanks for the quick tutorial, Surajit. But, I am sorry to say,
it was a waste. I was aware of the concept of a singer's sur but
cannot place a finger on its relevance in this case.
> Not that a tanpura that has been lying around unused for years after a
> person's death will retain his/her sur;
Precisely. But even if it did, how does it help? Let us take two
scenarios. First, VD assumed a nominal kaali-ek and went ahead and
composed the songs. Second, he found out that Honaji used
kaali-paanch and re-composed the songs. Would the qualitative
results be significantly different in the two cases? Would he
actually compose in kaali-paanch? And the plot thickens.
Personally, I don't think "Honaji's sur" refers to his pitch. More
like the pulse and personality of his music. Going back a little
in the article Veena posted, VD "found Ram Joshi's sur" from the
following lines:
hatA tatAne patA
rangvoon jatA dharishi ka shiri
maTHAchi uTHA THev kA tari.
What do they mean? Do they point to the pitch in which Ram Joshi
used to sing?
> If the song being referred to is "laTapaTa laTapaTa tuzha chaalaNa ga moThyaa
> nakharaacha, bolaNa ga mu.nguLa maine ga, naarii ga," then shaa.nt ras is a
> simply bizarre characterization. It's a terrific song, but shaa.nt? Give me a break.
"shaa.nt" is Bhoopali's rasa. Perhaps VD's nephew wanted to point
out the integrity of the music and the theme of the film. Part of
accuracy gets sacrificed at the altar of figure of speech. And
some always gets lost in translation.
C
Veena S Nayak
On Tue, 5 May 1998, Surajit A. Bose wrote:
> > > 'Latpat latpat', 'Ghadi ghadi manmohanA'
> > > and so on. One can hear the shAnt ras that flows in
> > > these songs.
>
> If the song being referred to is "laTapaTa laTapaTa tuzha chaalaNa ga moThyaa
> nakharaacha, bolaNa ga mu.nguLa maine ga, naarii ga," then shaa.nt ras is a
> simply bizarre characterization. It's a terrific song, but shaa.nt?
The statement was made in context of the marked dissimilitude
in the music of Ram Joshi and Amar BhoopaLi despite compelling
similarity in themes. The "shaant ras" must not be taken in a
literal sense; rather, it refers to the pervasive gentleness in
the songs as opposed to the aggressive tone used in Ram Joshi.
To answer Chetan's question regarding the meaning of 'hatA tatAne
patA': I don't know what they mean. Perhaps someone more
conversant with Marathi will be able to fill in. Mr. Nerurkar?
With regard to Vasantrao's concern with finding the "sUr" and
"pitch" of the two characters: again, I think the words ought
not to be taken literally. There is, perhaps, no way one can
know with certainty what pitch they used. But one can, as
Vasantrao did, make intelligent and educated predictions
based on the poetry and other historical details of the two
individuals.
As an aside: Lata Didi, who normally shied away from laavNis
had no reservations about "laTapaT laTapat". It is one of
my favourite songs in this genre, another one other being
"bugaDi maajhi saanDli ga" (Asha).
Veena
Surajit A. Bose
Chetan Vinchhi wrote:
> Thanks for the quick tutorial, Surajit. But, I am sorry to say,
> it was a waste. I was aware of the concept of a singer's sur but
> cannot place a finger on its relevance in this case.
Neither can I. Sorry for underestimating your musical acumen.
> > If the song being referred to is "laTapaTa laTapaTa tuzha chaalaNa ga moThyaa
> > nakharaacha, bolaNa ga mu.nguLa maine ga, naarii ga," then shaa.nt ras is a
> > simply bizarre characterization. It's a terrific song, but shaa.nt? Give me a > > break.
>
> "shaa.nt" is Bhoopali's rasa. Perhaps VD's nephew wanted to point
> out the integrity of the music and the theme of the film. Part of
> accuracy gets sacrificed at the altar of figure of speech. And
> some always gets lost in translation.
There's a difference between the raaga that Marathi speakers call "bhupaaLii,"
and the distinctive genre of song called, in Marathi, "bhupaaLii." The words
are homonyms, but they mean two different things. The raaga, of course, is the
one called "bhuup" or "bhupaalii" in Hindi.
But in Marathi, "bhupaaLii" can also mean a song that greets the dawn. The
movie "Amar Bhupali" takes its title from the song "ghanashyaama su.ndaraa,"
which is a dawn song: "aruNodaya zhaalaa," "prabhaat zhaalii," etc. The
movie's title has nothing to do with the raaga; it has to do with the other
kind of "bhuupaaLii."
The fact that this particular "bhuupaaLii," "ghanashyaama su.ndaraa,"
perversely happens to be set in Deskar is an entirely different matter. I
think Vasantrao deliberately set out to confuse musical novices who don't know
Marathi. :-)
And then there's the little matter of the Carnatic raaga Bhuupalam, Sa re Ga
Pa Dha Sa, which too is associated with morning for some reason. That set of
notes associated with the dawn in Hindustani music too, except it masquerades
under the title Marva Thaat Vibhaas. Go figure.
But I digress. My point, and I do have one, is this: "laTapaTa laTapaTa" is
not in Bhoopali. Or bhuupalam, or Marva Thaat Vibhaas, or any raaga at all.
And it is not a "bhuupaaLii" either. It's a "laavaNii," which has more to do
with ladies of the evening than with songs of the dawn. So Chetan, sweetest
(you know you're on dangerous ground when I start referring to you by a term I
ordinarily reserve for Ketan), SINCE you have been at such pains to establish
your musical acumen, what exactly does "shaa.nta rasa" have to do with the
song? It seems like a LOT has been lost, and perhaps not just in translation. :-)
-s
Chetan Vinchhi
Surajit A. Bose wrote:
>
> < a lot of junk deleted>
>
> SINCE you have been at such pains to establish
> your musical acumen, what exactly does "shaa.nta rasa" have to do with the
> song?
As usual, you ignore the issue and harp on inconsequentials.
The point of my post was what, if anything, Honaji's pitch
had to do with the songs of "Amar BhupaaLi", o learned one.
The "shaa.nta" thing was just a conjecture. Trying to make
sense out of what was written. You are most welcome to
provide an (alternate?) explanation.
C
Surajit A. Bose
Chetan Vinchhi wrote:
>
> Surajit A. Bose wrote:
> The "shaa.nta" thing was just a conjecture. Trying to make
> sense out of what was written. You are most welcome to
> provide an (alternate?) explanation.
but...but the whole point is that I have no explanation at all! either of the
sur thing or the shaa.nt thing. I share your puzzlement over the sur thing and
I don't think your conjecture on the shaa.nt thing can be correct, which
leaves us where we started--i.e., at a loss.
Ajay P Nerurkar
Veena S Nayak <vna...@acsu.buffalo.edu> wrote:
: hatA tatAne patA
: rangvoon jatA dharishi ka shiri
: maTHAchi uTHA THev kA tari.
I think these lines should be read as follows :
haTA taTAne paTA rangvoon (note the T)
jaTA dharishi kA shiri
maTHachi uTHATHev kA tari
The first line is an unplayable yorker to me but the second and third
lines make sense given the following meanings :
jaTA : matted hair much favoured by rishis, munis, ascetics etc.
and
maTH : Anglicized to mutt (seat of religious learning)
Therefore, jaTA dharishi kA shiri = what's the deal with the matted hair ?
and maTHachi uTHATHev kA tari = why bother living a spartan life in a maTH ?
Basically, a slam against empty ritualism, a theme perhaps elaborated on
in the rest of the song. Echoes of "sansaar se bhaage phirte ho, Bhagwaan ko
tum kya paaoge". Because of the hard T and TH used, these lines demand a
forceful tune and a powerful voice to carry it. The voice was that of Jairam
Shiledar.
Can Arunatai help with the first line ? Also, to those more in the know, are
the Shiledars still active ? I always thought especially highly of Keerti
(Jairam and Jaimala's daughter).
Ajay
Surajit A. Bose
Ajay P Nerurkar wrote:
> haTA taTAne paTA rangvoon (note the T)
> jaTA dharishi kA shiri
> maTHachi uTHATHev kA tari
>
> The first line is an unplayable yorker to me but the second and third
> lines make sense given the following meanings :
I think the first two lines mean: "why color your robes ochre and mat the hair
on your pate?"
-s
-
To send me e-mail, remove <<nospam.>> from the address given above.
Aruna Donde
Hata Tatane = perversely squabbling
Pata = garment
This is actually a Lavni. Dhurava pad is
Bhala Janma ha tula ladhla khulas hrudayi budha
Dharisi tari Haricha sevak sudha.
First stanza is
Charachari guru taravayala nara shiravari Hari
Jara tari samaj dhari aantari
Hata tatane pata rangavooni Jata dharisi ka shiri
Matahchi uthathev ka tari
Vanat kinva janat ho ka manat bhalatya pari
Hariche nav bhava-ambhudhi tari.
Meaning, instead of having a religious tantrum, seek the real Hari, he
is available anytime anywhere and will save you.
Ram Joshi's period was 1762 to 1802. This was the time when Madhavrao
Peshwe had died and Narayanrao was murdered and the British were
knocking at the door. He was contemporary of poet Hona, wrote lyrics
for tamasha and later lavni of the above type, taking false ritualistic
behavior to task.
Aruna.
Aruna Donde
van...@malkauns.csd.sgi.com wrote:
>
> In article <354E9E66...@nd.edu>, "Surajit says...
>
> >> Veena S Nayak wrote:
> >
>
> >> > and so on. One can hear the shAnt ras that flows in
> >> > these songs.
> >
> >nakharaacha, bolaNa ga mu.nguLa maine ga, naarii ga," then shaa.nt ras is a
> >simply bizarre characterization. It's a terrific song, but shaa.nt? Give me a
> >break.
> >
> means "laTpaTa laTapaTa" chaalaNe.
>
> Vandana
I seem to be missing something here. In the film Amar Bhoopali, Sandhya
sings this song and not Hansa Wadkar. I may have come in the middle of
another thread, if so, my apologies.
Aruna.