26th April 2008 : Remembering Shankar,, Death anniversary of Shankar Options

[oye_sonu]

Friends Today is the death anniversary of Shankar (of Shankar jaikishan). its was on the same day in 1987 we lost our Shankar ji. and HFM lost one of its most talented and verstile composer !

For me he is my no1 composer of Golden era. Very few could dare to give such versstile music as his.

It was shankar who was given task of composing music of Barsaat. and he brought Jaikishan along with him. 50s has seen Shankar's best. Jaikishan was still in his teens and Shankar in his 20s when both started composing. ! 50s is full of Shankar's brilliance whether its Shree 420 or Basanat bahar.

Shankar didnt had biggest names as Ustaads or gurus. but yet was the one( of SJ) who gave the Biggest list of CLASSICAL songs right from " manmohana bade jhoote to jhanak jahank baaje tori"
very few people know tht most of classical songs of SJ were composed by Shankar. most of Raj kapoor's songs used to be composed by Shankar !!!

He was major person behind those tough orchestrated songs like - Tere bina yeh aag, Aa ab laut chale etc. or those delicate touch songs from Amarpali.

Even in use of western orchestra he was behind none. take for instance his composed songs like - Chaahe koi mujhe janglee kahe , or Jaan pehchaan ho( ghost world ! ), aiya aiya sucko sucko, aye janeman etc.

no one can beat him in Dance nos- being former danceer himself. Shankar knew all the fine points required for a dance song.
Be it a prayer like " tu pyar ka sagar hai" or lullabies like " main gao tum so ajao" or Ghazals " unke khayal aaye to aate " Shankar had everything to offer.

And then his use of violins has been most fav among all MDs. just check his work in Raat aur din. specially the mutli layer effect created by violins( dil ki girah khol do etc )

and then listen to his Disco songs from 80s. I wonder if any of those MDs from 40s or 50s did ventured into such verstile music !


Its really sad that people are not ready to give due credit to Shankar ji for his music ! Shankar ji were bit straight forward. and had to pay for his bad PR. While Jaikishan who was soft spoken wth good heart is given more credit. which is totally wrong. !



uploading one clip of Shankar ji where he says tht he never went to ask for work ! clip also has shankar saying " hum hai na..........aaj se 25 saal pehle ka music dena ho to hum denge" and you can listen him singing like RAPPER ! ( yes same Shankar who made CH atama sing under him ! )

PS : please ignore any spelling mistakes !

This post has been edited by oye_sonu: Apr 27 2008, 12:39 AM

[HumTum]

Thanks again Simple bhai. Please convey my sincere thanks to your dear friend Sri Surendra ji.

[Sukesh Hoogan]

May his soul and those of his music-mates rest in peace.

Amen.

[Sukesh Hoogan]

HT - Café 28/04/2008

SJ, 21 YEARS LATERS (Raju Bharatan)

Saturday it was 21 years since Shanker died, Raj Kapoor (as the creator of the SJ team) getting to know of the happening only the day after. So all the more overcome felt Raj about having no use for RK yeoman Shanker after Kal Aaj aur Kal (1971).

This in the aftermath of Mera Naam Joker for which Shanker had conjured an unused 18-minute Awara-excelling dream sequence. Like a man possessed on the piano did Shanker, now, play that dream-sequence number to me at his plush third-floor Beacon Backbay Reclamation apartment adjoining Mantralaya.

TAKING STOCK

"Raj saab will call me back one day for the Joker sequel in which this dream sequence would now feature," insisted Shanker. From such a Bhairavi marvel did Shanker proceed - in the same raag - to playing Dost dost naa rahaa, pronouncing this keynote Sangam composition as his best ever.

"I play on the piano, accordion, sitar, dholak, daaph, pakhawaj, tabla and, of course, the harmonium," noted Shanker. "Take our film Main Nashe Mein Hoon, it's me playing the harmonium, here, in Yeh na thi hamari qismat. Hear Usha Mangeshkar render Yeh na thi, has any composer made her sing a solo better?"

"Savour the accordion piece accompanying the Awara hoon Mukesh solo on Raj. I took the accordion from Goody Seervai and showed that performer exactly how - for how long - I wanted that piece played."

"No musician ever told me what to do. Ramnarain on the sarangi, Shiv Sharma on the santoor, Hari Chaurasia on the bansuri - they played precisely as I wanted to the nth length I needed," underlined Shanker.

Any wonder O P Nayyar hailed Shanker as the total musician?

"Even Shailendra," added Shanker, "I'd let him 'write-onlyto-tune'. Writing the song first, I say could lead to monotony , of tune. No, I don't agree I cramped the poet's style by insisting upon Shailendra's writing-to-tune."

"Take Sub kuchch seekhaa hum ne from Anari, Sajan re jhoot mat bolo from Teesri Kasam, Mera jootaa hai Japani from Shree 420, Tu pyaar ka sagar hai from Seema - next, Dil apna aur preet parai and Jis desh men Ganga behti hai from the films of those names. Do you, anywhere here, get the feeling I've curbed Shailendra in his poetic flow?"

SUITABLY HIS

"For me, the tune invariably came first. Even Ramaiyya vastavaiyya represents but my dummy words - words I put in as a naturalised Andhra. I tuned Ramaiyya vastavaiyya in everyman's Bhairavi. It was Shailendra and Raj saab's idea to retain my dummy Telugu words as the song's punchline."

"The true composer improves, not deteriorates, with age," concluded Shanker. "Thus, for Geet gaataa hoon main on Vinod Mehra in Lal Patthar, I wanted Mohammed Rafi but they urged me to attune it to Kishore Kumar. Just hear how I've reworked Geeta gaataa hoon main on the piano to suit Kishore rather than Rafi!"

----------
Regards
Sukesh

http//sukeshhoogan.blogspot.com