what makes for a good singer - Page 12

Originally posted by: yazz80

Let me compliment you on that. Being from southern part of India your knowledge of high caliber Urdu poetry is amazing. Your choice of good poetry by Sahir is excellent. May I ask what language do you speak at home?

I agree 100%

Kannada is my mother tongue but that's not what I speak at home. It's actually my mom who used to be crazy about Urdu, Hindi films, raagas and so on. I lived in Kolkata for many years where these interests got further stoked.

And now in this forum I am glad I have come across so many people with similar interests. It's nice to share that feeling of euphoria after hearing a great song. But at the same time when I see people fighting over who is better, Vineet or Debojit, Himesh or Aadesh and things like that, I feel quite cut off!

While on the topic of what makes for a good singer, here is an article on Hemant Kumar. Don't know if this has been put up on this thread earlier.

Hemant Kumar

Birth: June 16, 1920
Birthplace: Varanasi
Profession: Playback Singer, Music Director, Composer, Bollywood.

With his deep but passionate voice and melodic sensibility, Hemant Kumar (born Hemanta Kumar Mukherjee) helped steer the evolution of post-World War II Indian music. Well-known for his interpretations of Rabindranath Tagore's songs, Kumar was equally influential as a composer. In addition to scoring more than 150 Bengali films and 50 Hindi films, Kumar wrote an estimated 2,000 songs.

Hemanta Mukherjee was born on the 16th of June 1920 in Varanasi. From an early age he had developed an everlasting bond with music. He started his singing career on the radio in the late 30s. His first recorded Bengali (non-film) album was in 1937. His first song as a singer in movies was in a Bengali film. 'Nimai Sanyasi' released in 1940.

Appearing on Indian radio for the first time in 1933,at the age of 13. Kumar recorded his debut disc, "Janite Jadi Go Tumi" b/w "Balo Go Balo More," six years later. Despite his obvious talent, Kumar gave little thought to a career in music. Instead, he enrolled in a four-year course at the Engineering College of Jaduvpar Polytechnic and dreamed of becoming a writer. In 1937, Dash magazine published one of Kumar's stories. Six years later he cut his first gramophone disc for HMV. Recognition soon followed in the elite music circle of India. In 1940 he sang his first Hindi geet 'Kitna dukh bhulaya tumne'. But commercial success was yet to come.

Hemant Kumar sang his first Hindi song for in 1944 for Music Director Amarnaath in the movie Iraada produced by Indrapuri Studios Calcutta. He sang two solos,'phir muhabbat ke pyaam aane lage', and, 'aaraam se jo raaten kaate.n vo ashq bahaanaa kyaa jaanen' written by Aziiz Kaash- miirii, and a duet with Raadhaaraanii,'nit nit ke roothane vaale saajan, tum deep bano'.

The impact of Kumar's voice could not be denied, however. Although he was turned down by the Senola and Megaphone Record labels, he was signed by Columbia and introduced to their staff trainer, Sailesh Dattagupta. Although he had previously begun studying classical Hindustani music with Ustad Faiyaz Khan, his lessons ended prematurely with Khan's untimely death.

Commercial success was much slower. For several years, Kumar sought a way to break into film playback. His chance came when he was chosen to be the playback singer in the hit film Nimai Sonyas. In 1944, he composed the entire score for Heman Gupta's film, Abhijatri. He resumed his work for Gupta in 1951 with the film Anandamath. He subsequently relocated to Bombay and took a staff composer position with S. Mukherjee's Filmistan Studios. Although he attempted to break into film direction with his own Geetanjali productions, his best work was done for other directors.

One of the most popular Rabindrasangeet singers of his time, starting under the tutelage of Anadi Dastidar, initially singing mainly in the tradition of Pankaj Mullick. Changed his style in context of a brief but fruitful collaboration with Salil Chowdhury(1949-52)associated with the Indian People's Theatrical Association(IPTA). Debut as singer in Bengali film with Phani Burma's Nimai Sanyasi(1940) and in Hindi with Iraada(1944). Early compositions for Hemen Gupta (Bhuli naai, '42, Anandmath, Kashti). Established himself as a Bengal composer with Ajoy Kar's Jighansa. Although he went on to become one of the most popular Bengali composers, his main fame derives from playback singing for Uttam Kumar, his baritone becoming a key ingredient of the star's romantic dramas; e.g., classic hits like 'Jhor uthechhe' in Sudhir Mukherjee's Shapmochan; 'Nir chhoto khati nei' in Niren Lahiri's Indrani; 'Ei path jadi na shesh hoi' in Ajoy Kar's Saptapadi; etc. Often partnered Sandya Mukherjee, female playback usually for Suchitra Sen.

Beginning in 1948, Kumar worked with lyricist/composer Salil Chowdhury to develop a new kind of music, Kavya-geeti, translated as "ballad but not necessarily romantic." From the 50's onwards his voice incarnated Bengali middle-class romanticism, having an enduring influence on all male playback singers in that language since. Became a star singer in Hindi with 'Ye raat ye chaandni' in Guru Dutt's Jaal(1952) picturised on Dev Anand on the beach among the fishing nets. Collaborated extensively with Dutt, e.g. 'Jaane vo kaise log the' in Pyaasa and scored the hauntingly beautiful numbers of Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam. First hindi hit as composer is Nagin adapting a tune from Bijon Bhattacharya's play Jivan kanya for the sinous snake dance number Man dole a landmark in the introduction of electronics into Hindi film music. Composed extensive for Tarun Majumdar and the early Mrinal Sen, producing Sen's Neel Akasher Neechey. As producer he often worked with set designer turned director Biren Nag, showing a penchant for thrillers like Bees Saal Baad (adapted from The Hound of the Baskervilles) and Kohraa borrowed from Daphne du Maurier's(and Hitchcock's) Rebecca. Also produced Pinaki Mukherjee's Faraar, Tarun Majumdar's Rahgir and Asit Sen's Rajesh Khanna psychodrama Khamoshi.

He was introduced as a music director in Hindi films by director Hemen Gupta in the film Anand Math released by Filmistan in 1952, which had tunes for traditional songs, like 'Jai jagdeesha hare', the patriotic song 'Vande maataram sujalam suphalam' (Bankim Chandra Chatter-jee). The patriotic tunes continued in Jagriti (Old), with 'De di hamen aazaadi binaa khad binaa dhaal', (which was an adaptation of the Noorjehan-Naushad hit 'Kya mil gaya bhagwan tumhein dil ko dukha ke', and 'Ham laae hain toofaan se kashti nikaal ke' (Rafi) and 'Aao bachchon tumhe dikhaaen jhaanki hindustaan ki' (Pradeep).

As a music director, he made it big in Hindi films with his huge hit Nagin. This was the movie that introduced electronic synthesized music in films. As most people know, the famous 'been' music before the song 'Tan dole mera man dole' was synthesized and the credit for that goes to the music director's assistants Kalyanji and Ravi. In Kohra, the song 'Kahe bajaya tu ne paapi bansuriya' by Asha Bhosle and Mahendra Kapoor too had such music.

For Lata, Hemant's voice always reminded her of a sadhu/saint. It is probably this awe/reverence that reflects in her voice when she sang with Hemant. This was not just in the songs where Hemant was the Music Director, but also in most of their other duets, like, 'Chandan ka palna resham ki Dori' (Naushad), 'Jaag dard-e-ishq jaag' (C.Ramchandra), Lata has been the predominant female voice in Hemant's films. The other female singers who have had their share of good songs with him were Geeta Dutt, 'Na jaao saiyaan chudaake baiyaan', Asha Bhosle, 'Bhanvra bada nadaan hain'.

While Hemant sang most of his songs himself, he did leave some excellent compositions for some of his contemporary male singers. Rafi was used on and off is many of his movies Jagriti (Old), Miss Mary, Do Dil etc. For Talat Mahmood too, Hemant created some wonderful tunes in the movie Bahu. The Talat Mahmood -Geeta Dutt duets 'Thandi hawaon mein tere hi baahon mein', and 'Dekho dekhoji balam aise birha ka gham mera nanha sa jiya tadpana na' surely rank high in the list of the most popular songs of Talat Mahmood. He also gave Kishore Kumar the opportunity to sing the sensitive romantic duet with Sudha Malhotra 'Aaj mujhe kuchh kahana hai' penned by Sahir; Then with Gulzar, he again gave the opportunity to Kishore to sing evergreen songs like 'Vo shaam kuch ajeeb thi ye shaam bhi ajeeb hai' Khamoshi (Old).

He has worked with almost all the top lyricists of his time. Rajinder Krishan in Nagin, Kaifi Azmi in Kohra, Shakeel Badayuni in Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam, Shailendra in Chaand, Gulzar in Khamoshi, Majrooh Sultanpuri Ek Hi Raasta, Sahir Ludhianvi in Girl Friend and Pradeep in Jagriti. Strangely though some of these associations were limited to a single movie. But they were nevertheless memorable. Kaifi Azmi, who has had a better share of movies with Hemant, said that Hemant's tunes always did justice to his lyrics. A sentiment, which is probably shared by all the other lyricists too.

Hemant Kumar was as endearing in 'Tum pukaar lo' as he was in 'Ye raat ye chandni phir kahan', the pathos in 'Ya dil ki suno duniya waalon' was no less than the one seen in 'Jaane wo kaise log the jinke pyaar ko pyaar mila.

However the gradual fade out of Hemant Kumar was reflected by some of his last few songs,like 'ya dil ki suno duniya waalon'( Anupama) accurately describing the mood of Hemant at that time. He was last credited five or six years ago for the title song of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's tele-serial 'Talaash' starring Moushmi Chatterjee and Alok Nath. The song, sung by Suresh Wadkar, 'Jeevan ek talaash hai', had the same tune as 'Tum pukaar lo' from Khamoshi (Old).

Originally posted by: punjini

Kannada is my mother tongue but that's not what I speak at home. It's actually my mom who used to be crazy about Urdu, Hindi films, raagas and so on. I lived in Kolkata for many years where these interests got further stoked.

And now in this forum I am glad I have come across so many people with similar interests. It's nice to share that feeling of euphoria after hearing a great song. But at the same time when I see people fighting over who is better, Vineet or Debojit, Himesh or Aadesh and things like that, I feel quite cut off!

Neevu Kannadigaru anta keli tumba aanand aayitu Punjini avare! Namaskar mattenu samaachara? Bili Hendati film Nodidira Kalpana tumba chennagi act madidale? Udaykumar avaru tumba uttama actor. Raaj Kumar ashtakkashte. Hage neevu Karnatakdalli yaa uuru? Benglora ? Nanu Uttar Karnataka davanu. Banglooralli 5 varsh idde.

Hi Musiqar
Yes I have seen Bili Hendati long long ago and enjoyed it thoroughly. Nowadays I am quite cut off from Kannada culture, though I get inputs from my parents living in Bangalore. They are avid fans of a serial called "Mukta". Actually, I don't like most of the popular movies being made nowadays in any language. 😒

Before I begin to comment on anything, I am a very very very small person before all the stalwarts who have posted before in this thread. I have just spent the past one hour reading, researching and trying to understand this post and this had led me to discover some beautiful music.

Yes, I am a part of this generation who has grown up listening to Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Hariharan, Udit Narayan and since I started appreciating music, it was A R Rahman, Shankar Ehsaan Loy and the modern age directors like Vishal Shekhar, Sulaiman etc..

Until recently ( 3 - 4 yrs) I was never really fond of old music. Why would a 14 year old relate to old music? Now, its different! I was hearing Oh Duniya ke rakhwale recently and I was crying... and I have more songs in my old songs folder than in my new music !!!

Old Classics are like wine, just get better with age.. They are absolutely divine and listening to them again and again just increases the euphoria for them...

But I would beg to differ with a lot of people who said that singers of today aren't good.. I think we are being very harsh on them, extremely harsh infact. Rafi Shahab, Kishore Da, Lata and Asha Ji were in totally different era where the society wasn't this competitive and this harsh. If Rafi sang one bad song, no one wrote him off... Today if a singer doesnt change with the times he is totally shunned.. even though he might be an excellent singer.

Music has changed from becoming a necessity in a cinema to an extra feature that adds entertainment value. In the 60s and 70s, it was impossible to think of a movie without songs, but now tis changing. Over the past couple of years particularly so many good movies have come without music. Hence the need for music has come down to a great extent.

Also with the intermixing of a lot of Pakistani Pop culture with ours has changed the style of our music and its perfectly viable...

Often music and musicians create music keeping in the situation of the country and the trends happening... Today India is on the threshold of a great revolution of becomign a Technological superpwer and its about celebration and its about celebrating the youth of today who are going to be the future of tommorow. Music had to suit their styles and it works.

Take A R Rahmans RDB, I thought the music was fantastic.. it was hep it was funky but there was always a classical tinge to it.. Thats the beauty of a lot of songs.. they might not be semi classical or anything, but u cant deny that they have classical value. Dheere Jalna, Piyu Bole, Hay Rama, Piya Tori Kaisa Abhimaan, Oh Paalanhare (lagaan) etc are pretty classical and sound good.. and they do work with the youth today.

Some one said that no singer today is able to last that impression what Rafi or KK were able to do. Well its simple, that time there wasn't so much of competiton as it is today. Rafi had his own directors, Kishore Da his own, Manna De his own and Mukesh his own... Today, there is KK, Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Kunal Ganjawala who are the upcoming singers, then there is also Abhijeet, Shankar Mahadevan, Udit Narayan, Hariharan who occasionally sing but give that blockbster..and then we have A R Rahman and Himesh Reshmiyaa also singing which is crazy competition already.. and added to it is new talent emerging from SRGMP like Hema, Vinit, Debojeet, Sharib and the like from other reality shows, what do you expect ?!

Each singer then had a style, something that set him apart, the singerst oday are far more versatile as they are forced too.. situation breeds it.. If Shaan has sung Dus Bahane, he has also sang Woh Pehli Baar... Sonu Nigam has sung almost all kinds of songs... Its obvious in this competition that their voices or songs arent that remembered.. but its detting there.. even over 12 years latter, Tu Hi Re from Bombay is still remmebered.. Songs from Rangeela are still remembered.. and this is going to stay for some time..

Music is almost like a religion, its so personal and everyone has a taste. Indian Music is so beautiful that it has catered to everyones taste and my only wish it that it continues to.

Thats why I love shows like SRGMP, it shows the future of the country and music. Through this show I realised what it is to be able to stand there in front of 1000s of people and sing ins uch a competitive environment and especially with people comparing u on everystep..its hard very very hard..

Singers of the past were glorious and they did great stuff and we wont forget them, but let us not underestimate the singers of today.

Sorry if I hurt any1 with my views..

Originally posted by: madhavir108

Until recently ( 3 - 4 yrs) I was never really fond of old music. Why would a 14 year old relate to old music? Now, its different! I was hearing Oh Duniya ke rakhwale recently and I was crying... and I have more songs in my old songs folder than in my new music !!!

Old Classics are like wine, just get better with age.. They are absolutely divine and listening to them again and again just increases the euphoria for them...

But I would beg to differ with a lot of people who said that singers of today aren't good.. I think we are being very harsh on them, extremely harsh infact. Rafi Shahab, Kishore Da, Lata and Asha Ji were in totally different era where the society wasn't this competitive and this harsh. If Rafi sang one bad song, no one wrote him off... Today if a singer doesnt change with the times he is totally shunned.. even though he might be an excellent singer.

Take A R Rahmans RDB, I thought the music was fantastic.. it was hep it was funky but there was always a classical tinge to it.. Thats the beauty of a lot of songs.. they might not be semi classical or anything, but u cant deny that they have classical value. Dheere Jalna, Piyu Bole, Hay Rama, Piya Tori Kaisa Abhimaan, Oh Paalanhare (lagaan) etc are pretty classical and sound good.. and they do work with the youth today.

Some one said that no singer today is able to last that impression what Rafi or KK were able to do. Well its simple, that time there wasn't so much of competiton as it is today. Rafi had his own directors, Kishore Da his own, Manna De his own and Mukesh his own... Today, there is KK, Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Kunal Ganjawala who are the upcoming singers, then there is also Abhijeet, Shankar Mahadevan, Udit Narayan, Hariharan who occasionally sing but give that blockbster..and then we have A R Rahman and Himesh Reshmiyaa also singing which is crazy competition already.. and added to it is new talent emerging from SRGMP like Hema, Vinit, Debojeet, Sharib and the like from other reality shows, what do you expect ?!

Each singer then had a style, something that set him apart, the singerst oday are far more versatile as they are forced too.. situation breeds it.. If Shaan has sung Dus Bahane, he has also sang Woh Pehli Baar... Sonu Nigam has sung almost all kinds of songs... Its obvious in this competition that their voices or songs arent that remembered.. but its detting there.. even over 12 years latter, Tu Hi Re from Bombay is still remmebered.. Songs from Rangeela are still remembered.. and this is going to stay for some time..

Music is almost like a religion, its so personal and everyone has a taste. Indian Music is so beautiful that it has catered to everyones taste and my only wish it that it continues to.

Thats why I love shows like SRGMP, it shows the future of the country and music. Through this show I realised what it is to be able to stand there in front of 1000s of people and sing ins uch a competitive environment and especially with people comparing u on everystep..its hard very very hard..

Singers of the past were glorious and they did great stuff and we wont forget them, but let us not underestimate the singers of today.

Sorry if I hurt any1 with my views..

Hi Madhavir

You haven't hurt anyone. You have articulated your thoughts very well.

All I would like to say is that music in general has declined all around the world. It's not just in Hindi film music. I was talking to a western classical music buff the other day and he said emphatically that there was no scope for anyone to produce music of the calibre of Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss etc. The best is over, he said.

There might be talented singers today but it really is true that no one can rise to the level of a Rafi, Lata or Asha. The reason could be that music directors of the calibre of SD Burman, Madan Mohan, Salil Choudhury etc are just not going to be born again.

It is the electronic age. Science and engineering have taken a precedence over arts. The guru-shishya parampara doesn't exist anymore. The mahaul, the atmosphere of music is dying and I have seen it happening with my own eyes. It's the age of remixes and synthetic sounds. Go to any baraat or any wedding reception in Delhi and its environs - you will be subjected to blaring music which can deafen your permanently, and you will see people dancing like maniacs to the monster beats.

To give you an example, you can listen to songs of Rang de Basanti and follow it up immediately with songs from Madhumati. Do it and see. You will hear clear voices, serene tunes and get a feeling of purity when you hear Lata in Madhumati.

Those old film songs we are discussing now are more than FIFTY years old, yet people haven't forgotten them! They never will. But no one will remember these new songs even next year. They will be consigned to the dustbin in due course.

It is not enough to just impart some classical touch to a song. A musical composition needs to have a soul. It is the soul which is missing in songs nowadays. Good music is born out of passion, out of struggle, out of deprivation. That is what ultimately gets reflected in their music.

Its the fast zamaana...things come in and go out before you have the chance to blink...ever wondered why the fifty year old songs are remembered by us even today...while its hard to keep up with what was released y'day...
Great post Punjini

Am just wondering if we can come up with the not so forgetable songs of say the last 5 years and analyse why they are worth remembering???

Originally posted by: adwarakanath

Yeshtu jana kannadavaru illi? 😕

Thanks for the article!

In one T.P.Kailasam play, the definition of a Kannadiga is given as one who talks to another Kannadiga in English. So I am a true Kannadiga. 😊

Originally posted by: adwarakanath

👏

Ask mohinis, she'll tell you ABA has the best soul possible in any song. WHy? Damnit because it is Vinit's Guru's song

ABA will be remembered 20 years down the line.

Because it was the first song to introduce dog barking.