Music legend V Balsara passes away
Prithviraj Dasgupta
Posting his obituary from two newspapers
on RMIM.
Besides composing music for films,
and non-film songs, V Balsara was also
a very prominent arranger. Besides
experimenting with different styles
of music (as mentioned in the articles
below), he also experimented with
different musical instruments. In an
interview on Calcutta DD (around 1978-9)
he showed a small instrument, the size
of a pocket radio, that he had built/rigged
himself. It sounded like an organ.
AFAIR, V Balsara arranged and played
the background music (composed mainly of
piano notes) for Lata's first Bengali song
(a duet Rabindrasangeet with HemantK)
- "madhu gandhe bharaa".
May his soul rest in peace.
-Prithviraj
--------------------------------------
>From Indian Express Mar 25, 2005
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, MARCH 24 His piano, univox
and melodica, the instruments he loved
for composing music, have come to
personify the legend of Vistas Ardeshir
Balsara. The 83-year-old music director
passed away this afternoon at his nephew's
Ballygunge Park Road residence. He was
suffering from malignant tumour and other
geriatric problems.
The ''gentleman musician'' had only his
music for company in the twilight years
after the death of his wife and two sons.
Though trained in the classical mould,
Balsara was always game for any experiment
with music. In recent times, he had even
collaborated with the popular Bengali rock
band, Bhoomi, to create fusion music. He
began his music career at the age of four.
At 83, he was still going strong with his
Bengali film production, Til theke taal.
He settled in Kolkata in 1954 after he was
invited by legendary musician Jnan Prakash
Ghosh. Balsara became the orchestra director
of HMV in 1947 and then joined the R.K.
Films banner to work with the likes of
Shankar Jaikishan and Naushad. (with PTI)
=======================================
>From 'The Telegraph', Calcutta edition, Mar 25, 2005
(under Calcutta Section, article has a photo of V Balsara)
V. Balsara, synonymous with the sound
of music in the city, died on Thursday
afternoon. The legendary pianist and
composer was 83.
Balsara, known for his versatility
with an array of musical instruments,
had been suffering from geriatric
problems for the past few months and
was undergoing treatment at his nephew's
residence in Ballygunge Park.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
on Thursday expressed grief over the
death of the virtuoso, who had been
honoured with a D.Lit by Visva-Bharati,
among a number of other awards.
Talking to reporters at Writers' Building
on Thursday, the chief minister said
Balsara's contributions to the world
of music and as president of the Sangeet
Research Academy were immense.
A thin, frail man, Balsara always amazed
with his verve and energy and went on
composing music for Bengali as well as
Hindi films till the end.
Though essentially a western composer,
Balsara traversed the Indian classical
terrain with consummate ease.
He had composed music for a number of
Tagore poems, like Debotar Grash.
Balsara would often fuse eastern and
western elements of music but was loath
to call it fusion. "I merge pure Indian
classical music with the most modern
rhythms," Balsara had told Metro during
an interview at his Bowbazar house late
last year. "In fact, I am allergic to
the word fusion," he had insisted.
Not known to mince words, Balsara said
when asked about his views on the current
music scenario in the country: "Earlier,
music accompanied the song, now the song
accompanies the orchestra. As a result,
earlier we used to hear the song and now
we hear the orchestra." He had added,
diplomatically: "But that is the current
trend and I respect it."
Those close to him say Balsara had an
amazing sense of humour and was a thorough
gentleman. "He was the most wonderful person
I have ever met and a very talented musician
of his time," said Usha Uthup from Delhi.
Sitar player Anirban Chatterjee echoed
her views. He had the opportunity of
working with Balsara while composing
music for the International Festival
of Non-Verbal Arts 2004.
"Apart from music, I loved spending
time with him. You could spend hours
listening to his views on life," said
Chatterjee.
Immersed in music, Balsara led a lonely
life. He suffered the misfortune of attending
the funeral of most of his loved ones,
including his wife and two sons.
Satish Kalra
"Prithviraj Dasgupta" <prith...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1111729531....@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> Just heard that V. Balsara passed away.
He was a great orchestra arranger.
Rest in Peace.
Satish Kalra
Sunil Dandekar
Bangla programs as I was surfing channels. I listened spell-bound as
chords and lead intermingled in that song to a soothing and quieting
effect. As luck would have it, it was the last item in that
performance.
Does he have any albums?
regards,
Sunil
Sambit Basu
V. Balsara has quite a few albums. Him playing Bangla
film songs, him playing Rabindrasangeet are quite
popular.
He had one or two jugabandi albums of Hindustani
classical - Balsara on Piano and Gyan Prakash Ghosh
on Harmonium. I highly recomend the latter album(s).
I saw an album around 1993 where he played ragas on
piano and explained ragas in terms of western scales
(expanation in the liner note or accompanying booklet)
- sort of a demonstration in line of his book - 'A
book on Orchestra'.
- Sambit
Vish Krishnan
> "Prithviraj Dasgupta" <prith...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1111729531....@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Just heard that V. Balsara passed away.
>
> He was a great orchestra arranger.
The newspaper articles do not mention his autobiography
(JEGE THAAKI SAPTASURE - published 1995/96).
The book lists Hindi and Bengali films where Balsara was arranger
and/or conductor. His Hindi movie association seems to go as far back
as 1943. I see a few Noorjehan and Ghulam Haider titles here. The Hindi
list tapers off in the early '50s, with a heavy dose of Madanmohan
(e.g. NIRMOHI, DHUN). And here is where the Calcutta connection begins.
Most all of his post 1955-work seems to be in the Bangla film space,
with some late '60s Hindi music thrown in for good measure (KHAAMOSHI,
MANJHLI DIDI, RAAHGIR).
Somewhere between the two clusters, VB did the music for MADMAST. I
must not be looking in the right place. The indexes do not seem to
acknowledge this movie. That is very odd, given Lata's masterful
"sunaayei.n haal-e-dil kya ham hamaara" and the even more memorable
"kab beet gayee jeevan ki subah".
cheers
vish
Surjit Singh
Main article on him is in LB 71. Madmast (53) is mentioned in the first
line.
>
> cheers
> vish
>
--
Surjit Singh, a diehard movie fan(atic), period.
http://hindi-movies-songs.com/index.html
Kamalakar Pasupuleti
news:1111979197.3...@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com
His Hindi movie association seems to go as far back
> as 1943. I see a few Noorjehan and Ghulam Haider titles here. >
> cheers
> vish
I have seen atleast 3 movies Phool - 1945 ,
Shama - 1946 and Shaheed where in his name is listed in assistants
for Ghulam Haider .
I am sure some of the old timers remember him
singing on a programme sponsored by Ovaltine during 1952 - 54 .
Actor Manmohan Krishna used to present it for CS of Radio Ceylon .
Those were the good old days .
- kp
--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG
Satish Kalra
news:1111897511.9...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
There is a cassette titled "Raaga Mood" by him, released sometime in the
early 80's. It has some beautiful orchestral arrangements in, as the title
says, various raagas. Some of them used to be played on All India Radio
(Delhi) as instrumental numbers back in the early 50's. Most of the natural
sounds heard in films (e.g., chirping of birds, cuckooing of the
nighitingale, etc., etc.) are from t/his album/s. He also released a
three cassette set for self study course for Harmonium in the early 80's,
along with an accompanying book.
--
Happy Listenings.
Satish Kalra
Surjit Singh
Also see here
Or search there for v balsara in music.
Pankaj
http://www.indiatarget.com/cgi-bin/slide_shows.cgi?216:1
Pankaj
"Prithviraj Dasgupta" <prith...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1111729531....@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...