Husnlal Bhagatram....and The Rise Of Lata Mangeshkar |
Husnlal Bhagatram....and The Rise Of Lata Mangeshkar |
Reeth |
Jul 28 2007, 05:34 PM
Post
#1
|
Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2154 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 6151 |
There is an old adage that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration. No
matter how big a person grows, this saying comes true. Today Lata Mangeshkar rules the world. Young music directors touch her feet. But there was a time when Lata was desperately looking for work and a great discoverer of latent the Late Master Ghulam Haider gave her the break of her life. Ghulam Haider introduced Lata to all the biggies of India’s film music direction including Anil Biswas, Khem Chand Prakash and Sajjad. But Shyam Sunder composed some of the earliest masterpiece tunes for her. It is true that none of the above mentioned music directors had the time to groom her as the master of playback singing. She had a great base of classical music, but playback singing was a different art and Lata needed to be groomed for its specific requirements. Pandit HusnalalMy good friend Chiranjeev Singh, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer of the Karnataka Cadre is an ardent and discriminating lover of all kinds of music. He is a great fan of music directors Husnalal and Bhagatram, Sajjad and Anil Biswas. He has personally met Pandit Husnalal and some members of his family. With Anil Biswas, Chiranjeev had several meetings, including one in which I was also present. Since Anil Biswas and Pandit Husnalal were colleagues in Bombay, Anil Biswas could offer a treasure house of information on both Husnalal and Lata Mangeshkar. S. Mohinder lives in Virginia, he has been in touch with Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. Late Sardul Kwatra was also an admirer of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, his phone calls have also been a source of my information. Late Mohammad Rafi had a lot of reverence for Pandit Husnalal. He himself admitted that whatever he is today, Pandit Husnalal has a lot to do with it. I am composing this story based on my interaction with these personalities. Mohammad Rafi admitted that he used to be called to the residence of Pandit Husnalal along with his Tanpura sometimes at 4 in the morning. Pandit Husnalal will tell him “Alaap” of the Raga to be used in the song. So obedient was Rafi that he would rehearse the raga for several hours before getting lessons on the composed tune. Mohammad Rafi said even Lata Mangeshkar has undergone such intensive training under the same music director, but the venue used to be not the home of Pandit Husnalal, but the relevant sound recording studio. In their first film “Chand”, Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram composed very good music and they used the voice of technically superb Zeenat Begum. But Noorjehan had set the trend of singing in shrill voices and the actresses started liking more feminine sounding voices. This virtually sealed the fate of singers like Zohra Bai of Ambala, Sitara Devi of Kanpur and Lalita Dawoodkar and Zeenat. Lata MangeshkarPandit Husnalal Bhagatram developed a liking for the highly emotional voice of Suraiya. Since they all came to Bombay from Lahore, they had a linguistic affinity too. Suraiya had no formal training in classical music. That was a handicap. But she was a very hardworking character. Whenever Pandit Husnalal composed a tune, Suraiya rehearsed it time and again till it neared perfection. Pandit Husnalal and Bhagatram were perfectly at home with Suraiya’s final performances. Years 1949 and 1950 were the best professional years for Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. In 1949 they had composed music for ten films and most of the films were musically hit. In 1950, they created music for nine more films and most succeeded as fine musicals. In both these years the voices of choice were Suraiya and Lata Mangeshkar, with Geeta Roy as the third choice. When Raj Kapoor hired the duo of Shanker Jaikishan to compose the music for his production “Barsaat”, Shanker Jaikishan tried to emulate the style of Husnalal Bhagatram. Most of the songs of “Barsaat” became hit. For several more years Shanker Jaikishan worked under the shadow of Husnalal Bhagatram, but eventually they developed their own style which later became highly successful. In some songs even Vinod tried to copy the tunes of Husnalal Bhagatram. SuraiyaLata Mangeshkar’s grasp over classical music was her rallying point. Lata’s vocal chords were in fact more flexible and needed less tutoring. As the time passed Lata Mangeshkar, who was just a play-back singer, started getting more songs. Suraiya being an actress singer naturally had lesser opportunities at singing. While rehearsing Pandit Husnalal will compose the tune on Harmonium and Lata will sing it. Violin played by Pandit Husnalal himself was used for making the interludes more intricate and emotional. Pandit Husnalal had developed an unconventional style of playing violin, which virtually died with him. Whenever Lata was given a very emotional sad tune, Pandit Husnalal the maestro with a sobbing violin will match the melody in the voice of Lata with his equally emotional rendition with violin. Such an intimate relationship between the tutor and the taught created hundreds of memorable melodies for Hindi cinema. As far as Mohammed Rafi was concerned, his training at Pandit Husnalal’s residence was totally acceptable to the music director’s wife. But Lata’s rehearsals even at different recording studios became a bone of contention. There is no doubt that Pandit Husnalal used to return home quite late at night, primarily because he was extremely busy in tune-making and rehearsals. His wife resented his late arrivals at home and that led to a lot of domestic tension. As the years passed, pressed by the circumstances at home, Pandit Husnalal started keeping a distance from Lata Mangeshkar. Lata did not expect this sudden change in Pandit Husnalal’s behaviour. Round about in 1957, the relationship between the two got severely strained. By that time Lata’s stature had grown into a superstar. She had perfected the art of playback singing. Every heroine wanted Lata to lend her voice to the songs picturized over her. Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhonsle became the second and third choices. The once powerful music directors started playing second fiddle to Lata. In fact Lata, during the mid fifties and sixties, could make or break any music director, big or small. The producers, financers and directors of the movies started getting the hint very quickly. They started shunning Husnalal Bhagatram. The indifferent attitude of the film industry broke the heart of Pandit Husnalal. This duo still had several years of great music in them, when Pandit Husnalal had to pack up from Bombay and leave for Punjab and Delhi. Pandit Bhagatram stayed back in Bombay and kept playing drum instruments in the orchestras of other, of course, junior music directors. Pandit Husnalal started earning his livelihood by playing Violin and singing classical music at All India Radio Delhi.Occasionally he used to sing complete Khayal also at different radio stations. After the unfortunate break-up with Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Husnalal composed music for just one or two films. The music composed was great, but there were no contracts forthcoming. The tunes for the duo were most of the time composed by younger brother Pandit Husnalal. The older brother Bhagatram provided mostly the beat only as a drummer (tabla player). As long as they were together, there was complete unison between the two and their beat fascinated the lovers of good music. On December 28, 1968, two years after his last film assignment and at a young age of 45 years, Pandit Husnalal died in New Delhi as a highly dejected man. Words can not describe how good a music composer he was. You have to listen especially to his sad music, which can drive you to tears. Poet Qamar Jalalabadi, hailing from village Jalalabad in Amritsar District composed most of the lyrics for Husnalal Bhagatram. Late singer Surinder Kaur, known as the nightingale of Punjab, called Pandit Husnalal as the soul of Punjab’s country-music. Pandit Bhagatram died five years later in 1973 in Bombay by and large un-honoured. Who can forget their soulful music in films like Chand, Pyar Ki Jeet, Balam, Bari Behan, Farmaish, Rakhi, Adhi Raat, Meena Bazaar, Afsana, Ansoo, Shama Parwana, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Adle-Jehangir to name a few?. We offer our salute to Pandit Husnalal’s genius. Unfortunately the HMV (one of the EMI group of Companies), which possesses copy rights to the entire music of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, has not done justice to this great duo. Hardly two cassettes of their music are available in the market. They deserve a lot more. Some of their finest compositions are unavailable to the listeners. Efforts should be made to locate their finest melodies and put these on CDs. by Harjap Singh Aujla [The author lives at 16 Junction Pond Lane, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey 08852 U.S.A. The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind -William James |
venkat |
Jul 28 2007, 06:18 PM
Post
#2
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 4889 Joined: 11-September 06 From: Hyderabad, India Member No.: 6841 |
Excellent article, a fund of information! A great tribute to MD, Husnlal Bhagatram.
I have changed many views in life since my childhood, but not my view of Rafi Saab as the God-sent Gandharva who visited this Earth briefly to spread ultimate ecstasy among genuine music-lovers!
Mohammed Rafi: Highest Quantity Of Greatest Quality In Mind-boggling Variety!!! |
Harjinder |
Jul 28 2007, 10:53 PM
Post
#3
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2884 Joined: 1-July 06 From: Illinois U.S.A Member No.: 6686 |
Hi
Mr. Aujla has some articles on Punjabi music directors and singers like Sardul Kwatra, S. Mohinder, and others on APNA website.His observatons and insights based on personal interactions with those musicians offer information that is otherwise unavailable. I can think of one Punjabi singer Shaminder Singh Chahal who sang a few songs in Punjabi movies in the 1950's. I have not found any information on Shaminder in Wikipedia or anywhere else. What I know about him is from one of the the articles that Mr. Aujla wrote. It is indeed nice to seet this article by him on Hamara Forums. Harjinder |
suhana_safar |
Jul 29 2007, 03:45 AM
Post
#4
|
Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2181 Joined: 21-August 06 Member No.: 6838 |
There is an old adage that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration. No matter how big a person grows, this saying comes true. Today Lata Mangeshkar rules the world. Young music directors touch her feet. But there was a time when Lata was desperately looking for work and a great discoverer of latent the Late Master Ghulam Haider gave her the break of her life. Ghulam Haider introduced Lata to all the biggies of India’s film music direction including Anil Biswas, Khem Chand Prakash and Sajjad. But Shyam Sunder composed some of the earliest masterpiece tunes for her. It is true that none of the above mentioned music directors had the time to groom her as the master of playback singing. She had a great base of classical music, but playback singing was a different art and Lata needed to be groomed for its specific requirements. Pandit HusnalalMy good friend Chiranjeev Singh, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer of the Karnataka Cadre is an ardent and discriminating lover of all kinds of music. He is a great fan of music directors Husnalal and Bhagatram, Sajjad and Anil Biswas. He has personally met Pandit Husnalal and some members of his family. With Anil Biswas, Chiranjeev had several meetings, including one in which I was also present. Since Anil Biswas and Pandit Husnalal were colleagues in Bombay, Anil Biswas could offer a treasure house of information on both Husnalal and Lata Mangeshkar. S. Mohinder lives in Virginia, he has been in touch with Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. Late Sardul Kwatra was also an admirer of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, his phone calls have also been a source of my information. Late Mohammad Rafi had a lot of reverence for Pandit Husnalal. He himself admitted that whatever he is today, Pandit Husnalal has a lot to do with it. I am composing this story based on my interaction with these personalities. Mohammad Rafi admitted that he used to be called to the residence of Pandit Husnalal along with his Tanpura sometimes at 4 in the morning. Pandit Husnalal will tell him “Alaap” of the Raga to be used in the song. So obedient was Rafi that he would rehearse the raga for several hours before getting lessons on the composed tune. Mohammad Rafi said even Lata Mangeshkar has undergone such intensive training under the same music director, but the venue used to be not the home of Pandit Husnalal, but the relevant sound recording studio. In their first film “Chand”, Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram composed very good music and they used the voice of technically superb Zeenat Begum. But Noorjehan had set the trend of singing in shrill voices and the actresses started liking more feminine sounding voices. This virtually sealed the fate of singers like Zohra Bai of Ambala, Sitara Devi of Kanpur and Lalita Dawoodkar and Zeenat. Lata MangeshkarPandit Husnalal Bhagatram developed a liking for the highly emotional voice of Suraiya. Since they all came to Bombay from Lahore, they had a linguistic affinity too. Suraiya had no formal training in classical music. That was a handicap. But she was a very hardworking character. Whenever Pandit Husnalal composed a tune, Suraiya rehearsed it time and again till it neared perfection. Pandit Husnalal and Bhagatram were perfectly at home with Suraiya’s final performances. Years 1949 and 1950 were the best professional years for Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. In 1949 they had composed music for ten films and most of the films were musically hit. In 1950, they created music for nine more films and most succeeded as fine musicals. In both these years the voices of choice were Suraiya and Lata Mangeshkar, with Geeta Roy as the third choice. When Raj Kapoor hired the duo of Shanker Jaikishan to compose the music for his production “Barsaat”, Shanker Jaikishan tried to emulate the style of Husnalal Bhagatram. Most of the songs of “Barsaat” became hit. For several more years Shanker Jaikishan worked under the shadow of Husnalal Bhagatram, but eventually they developed their own style which later became highly successful. In some songs even Vinod tried to copy the tunes of Husnalal Bhagatram. SuraiyaLata Mangeshkar’s grasp over classical music was her rallying point. Lata’s vocal chords were in fact more flexible and needed less tutoring. As the time passed Lata Mangeshkar, who was just a play-back singer, started getting more songs. Suraiya being an actress singer naturally had lesser opportunities at singing. While rehearsing Pandit Husnalal will compose the tune on Harmonium and Lata will sing it. Violin played by Pandit Husnalal himself was used for making the interludes more intricate and emotional. Pandit Husnalal had developed an unconventional style of playing violin, which virtually died with him. Whenever Lata was given a very emotional sad tune, Pandit Husnalal the maestro with a sobbing violin will match the melody in the voice of Lata with his equally emotional rendition with violin. Such an intimate relationship between the tutor and the taught created hundreds of memorable melodies for Hindi cinema. As far as Mohammed Rafi was concerned, his training at Pandit Husnalal’s residence was totally acceptable to the music director’s wife. But Lata’s rehearsals even at different recording studios became a bone of contention. There is no doubt that Pandit Husnalal used to return home quite late at night, primarily because he was extremely busy in tune-making and rehearsals. His wife resented his late arrivals at home and that led to a lot of domestic tension. As the years passed, pressed by the circumstances at home, Pandit Husnalal started keeping a distance from Lata Mangeshkar. Lata did not expect this sudden change in Pandit Husnalal’s behaviour. Round about in 1957, the relationship between the two got severely strained. By that time Lata’s stature had grown into a superstar. She had perfected the art of playback singing. Every heroine wanted Lata to lend her voice to the songs picturized over her. Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhonsle became the second and third choices. The once powerful music directors started playing second fiddle to Lata. In fact Lata, during the mid fifties and sixties, could make or break any music director, big or small. The producers, financers and directors of the movies started getting the hint very quickly. They started shunning Husnalal Bhagatram. The indifferent attitude of the film industry broke the heart of Pandit Husnalal. This duo still had several years of great music in them, when Pandit Husnalal had to pack up from Bombay and leave for Punjab and Delhi. Pandit Bhagatram stayed back in Bombay and kept playing drum instruments in the orchestras of other, of course, junior music directors. Pandit Husnalal started earning his livelihood by playing Violin and singing classical music at All India Radio Delhi.Occasionally he used to sing complete Khayal also at different radio stations. After the unfortunate break-up with Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Husnalal composed music for just one or two films. The music composed was great, but there were no contracts forthcoming. The tunes for the duo were most of the time composed by younger brother Pandit Husnalal. The older brother Bhagatram provided mostly the beat only as a drummer (tabla player). As long as they were together, there was complete unison between the two and their beat fascinated the lovers of good music. On December 28, 1968, two years after his last film assignment and at a young age of 45 years, Pandit Husnalal died in New Delhi as a highly dejected man. Words can not describe how good a music composer he was. You have to listen especially to his sad music, which can drive you to tears. Poet Qamar Jalalabadi, hailing from village Jalalabad in Amritsar District composed most of the lyrics for Husnalal Bhagatram. Late singer Surinder Kaur, known as the nightingale of Punjab, called Pandit Husnalal as the soul of Punjab’s country-music. Pandit Bhagatram died five years later in 1973 in Bombay by and large un-honoured. Who can forget their soulful music in films like Chand, Pyar Ki Jeet, Balam, Bari Behan, Farmaish, Rakhi, Adhi Raat, Meena Bazaar, Afsana, Ansoo, Shama Parwana, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Adle-Jehangir to name a few?. We offer our salute to Pandit Husnalal’s genius. Unfortunately the HMV (one of the EMI group of Companies), which possesses copy rights to the entire music of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, has not done justice to this great duo. Hardly two cassettes of their music are available in the market. They deserve a lot more. Some of their finest compositions are unavailable to the listeners. Efforts should be made to locate their finest melodies and put these on CDs. by Harjap Singh Aujla [The author lives at 16 Junction Pond Lane, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey 08852 U.S.A. Excellent article about the most original MD's of HFM. Their music has so many dimensions that it is impossible to restrict them to a certain style. One cant find a single bad note produced by these magicians of melody....true inspiration to produce original music. The legend of legends Rafisaab, has sung more songs for HB than any singer and these songs are the very best songs of HFM, songs that no one could sing with that excellence and effect and HB knew well that only the Badshah could do justice to their songs. It is through sincere effort and un matched class that Rafisaab;s songs made the glory of HFM and no wonder these songs continue to live. Mind you Suriya too was brilliant in the sons sang for HB. Lata's best songs IMO are the ones that she sung under the baton of HB, listen carefully and the quality is apprarent. Those were the days, pure singing, music and lyrics, wow!!!. Some music directors sworn with mediocrity and adulterated music are neddlessley given recognition by naive bunch of listeners when in reality md's like HB are the true legends. Today one can see any 'lalu panju' is termed a legend....what a farce!!! I have always belived the the declining standards of music that began from 70's is because of the decline in the quality of listeners and the corrupt mixes are a glaringly example. One cant see today's songs with family, they are nothing less than soft porn. One can see HMV promoting crap and the disgusting music mixes just to make quick bucks to cater to the need of the new brand of listeners who have an iota of sense of music. What a disgrace!!!!! Thanks for the article Reeth!!! PLAYBACK SINGING STARTS AND ENDS WITH RAFISAAB. IN TERMS OF QUALITY, CONSISTENCY & VERSATILITY, RAFISAAB IS INFINITE LIGHT YEARS AHEAD OF ALL SINGERS BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER HIM. |
surhall |
Jul 29 2007, 08:32 AM
Post
#5
|
Dedicated Member Group: Angels Posts: 6799 Joined: 4-November 03 From: Toronto-Canada Member No.: 86 |
There is an old adage that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration. No matter how big a person grows, this saying comes true. Today Lata Mangeshkar rules the world. Young music directors touch her feet. But there was a time when Lata was desperately looking for work and a great discoverer of latent the Late Master Ghulam Haider gave her the break of her life. Ghulam Haider introduced Lata to all the biggies of India’s film music direction including Anil Biswas, Khem Chand Prakash and Sajjad. But Shyam Sunder composed some of the earliest masterpiece tunes for her. It is true that none of the above mentioned music directors had the time to groom her as the master of playback singing. She had a great base of classical music, but playback singing was a different art and Lata needed to be groomed for its specific requirements. Pandit HusnalalMy good friend Chiranjeev Singh, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer of the Karnataka Cadre is an ardent and discriminating lover of all kinds of music. He is a great fan of music directors Husnalal and Bhagatram, Sajjad and Anil Biswas. He has personally met Pandit Husnalal and some members of his family. With Anil Biswas, Chiranjeev had several meetings, including one in which I was also present. Since Anil Biswas and Pandit Husnalal were colleagues in Bombay, Anil Biswas could offer a treasure house of information on both Husnalal and Lata Mangeshkar. S. Mohinder lives in Virginia, he has been in touch with Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. Late Sardul Kwatra was also an admirer of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, his phone calls have also been a source of my information. Late Mohammad Rafi had a lot of reverence for Pandit Husnalal. He himself admitted that whatever he is today, Pandit Husnalal has a lot to do with it. I am composing this story based on my interaction with these personalities. Mohammad Rafi admitted that he used to be called to the residence of Pandit Husnalal along with his Tanpura sometimes at 4 in the morning. Pandit Husnalal will tell him “Alaap” of the Raga to be used in the song. So obedient was Rafi that he would rehearse the raga for several hours before getting lessons on the composed tune. Mohammad Rafi said even Lata Mangeshkar has undergone such intensive training under the same music director, but the venue used to be not the home of Pandit Husnalal, but the relevant sound recording studio. In their first film “Chand”, Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram composed very good music and they used the voice of technically superb Zeenat Begum. But Noorjehan had set the trend of singing in shrill voices and the actresses started liking more feminine sounding voices. This virtually sealed the fate of singers like Zohra Bai of Ambala, Sitara Devi of Kanpur and Lalita Dawoodkar and Zeenat. Lata MangeshkarPandit Husnalal Bhagatram developed a liking for the highly emotional voice of Suraiya. Since they all came to Bombay from Lahore, they had a linguistic affinity too. Suraiya had no formal training in classical music. That was a handicap. But she was a very hardworking character. Whenever Pandit Husnalal composed a tune, Suraiya rehearsed it time and again till it neared perfection. Pandit Husnalal and Bhagatram were perfectly at home with Suraiya’s final performances. Years 1949 and 1950 were the best professional years for Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. In 1949 they had composed music for ten films and most of the films were musically hit. In 1950, they created music for nine more films and most succeeded as fine musicals. In both these years the voices of choice were Suraiya and Lata Mangeshkar, with Geeta Roy as the third choice. When Raj Kapoor hired the duo of Shanker Jaikishan to compose the music for his production “Barsaat”, Shanker Jaikishan tried to emulate the style of Husnalal Bhagatram. Most of the songs of “Barsaat” became hit. For several more years Shanker Jaikishan worked under the shadow of Husnalal Bhagatram, but eventually they developed their own style which later became highly successful. In some songs even Vinod tried to copy the tunes of Husnalal Bhagatram. SuraiyaLata Mangeshkar’s grasp over classical music was her rallying point. Lata’s vocal chords were in fact more flexible and needed less tutoring. As the time passed Lata Mangeshkar, who was just a play-back singer, started getting more songs. Suraiya being an actress singer naturally had lesser opportunities at singing. While rehearsing Pandit Husnalal will compose the tune on Harmonium and Lata will sing it. Violin played by Pandit Husnalal himself was used for making the interludes more intricate and emotional. Pandit Husnalal had developed an unconventional style of playing violin, which virtually died with him. Whenever Lata was given a very emotional sad tune, Pandit Husnalal the maestro with a sobbing violin will match the melody in the voice of Lata with his equally emotional rendition with violin. Such an intimate relationship between the tutor and the taught created hundreds of memorable melodies for Hindi cinema. As far as Mohammed Rafi was concerned, his training at Pandit Husnalal’s residence was totally acceptable to the music director’s wife. But Lata’s rehearsals even at different recording studios became a bone of contention. There is no doubt that Pandit Husnalal used to return home quite late at night, primarily because he was extremely busy in tune-making and rehearsals. His wife resented his late arrivals at home and that led to a lot of domestic tension. As the years passed, pressed by the circumstances at home, Pandit Husnalal started keeping a distance from Lata Mangeshkar. Lata did not expect this sudden change in Pandit Husnalal’s behaviour. Round about in 1957, the relationship between the two got severely strained. By that time Lata’s stature had grown into a superstar. She had perfected the art of playback singing. Every heroine wanted Lata to lend her voice to the songs picturized over her. Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhonsle became the second and third choices. The once powerful music directors started playing second fiddle to Lata. In fact Lata, during the mid fifties and sixties, could make or break any music director, big or small. The producers, financers and directors of the movies started getting the hint very quickly. They started shunning Husnalal Bhagatram. The indifferent attitude of the film industry broke the heart of Pandit Husnalal. This duo still had several years of great music in them, when Pandit Husnalal had to pack up from Bombay and leave for Punjab and Delhi. Pandit Bhagatram stayed back in Bombay and kept playing drum instruments in the orchestras of other, of course, junior music directors. Pandit Husnalal started earning his livelihood by playing Violin and singing classical music at All India Radio Delhi.Occasionally he used to sing complete Khayal also at different radio stations. After the unfortunate break-up with Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Husnalal composed music for just one or two films. The music composed was great, but there were no contracts forthcoming. The tunes for the duo were most of the time composed by younger brother Pandit Husnalal. The older brother Bhagatram provided mostly the beat only as a drummer (tabla player). As long as they were together, there was complete unison between the two and their beat fascinated the lovers of good music. On December 28, 1968, two years after his last film assignment and at a young age of 45 years, Pandit Husnalal died in New Delhi as a highly dejected man. Words can not describe how good a music composer he was. You have to listen especially to his sad music, which can drive you to tears. Poet Qamar Jalalabadi, hailing from village Jalalabad in Amritsar District composed most of the lyrics for Husnalal Bhagatram. Late singer Surinder Kaur, known as the nightingale of Punjab, called Pandit Husnalal as the soul of Punjab’s country-music. Pandit Bhagatram died five years later in 1973 in Bombay by and large un-honoured. Who can forget their soulful music in films like Chand, Pyar Ki Jeet, Balam, Bari Behan, Farmaish, Rakhi, Adhi Raat, Meena Bazaar, Afsana, Ansoo, Shama Parwana, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Adle-Jehangir to name a few?. We offer our salute to Pandit Husnalal’s genius. Unfortunately the HMV (one of the EMI group of Companies), which possesses copy rights to the entire music of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, has not done justice to this great duo. Hardly two cassettes of their music are available in the market. They deserve a lot more. Some of their finest compositions are unavailable to the listeners. Efforts should be made to locate their finest melodies and put these on CDs. by Harjap Singh Aujla [The author lives at 16 Junction Pond Lane, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey 08852 U.S.A. this very good view, my view for LATA JI have very good song with HB. Aadhi Raat (1950) starring Nargis, Neelam, Cuckoo, Ashok Kumar, Kuldip Kaur, Jeewan & Tiwari Lyrics: Sarshar Sailani Music Director: Husnlal Bhagatram ban ke suhaagan rahi abhaagan lyrics for ban ke suhaagan rahi abhaagan phuut gayi taqdir meri. phuuti hui taqdir ke aage chal na saki tadbir meri. dil hi to hai tadap gayaa dard se lyrics for dil hi to hai tadap gayaa dard se bhar na aaye kyon. royenge ham hazaar baar koi hamein sataaye kyon. Aaj Ki Raat (1948) Music: Husnlal Bhagatram wo chali gham ki hawaa mausam badal Afsana (1950) starring Veena, Ashok Kumar, Kuldip Kaur & Jeewan Lyrics: Asad Bhopali, Ghafi Hariyanvi, Chander & Saraswati Kuamr Deepak Music: Husnlal Bhagatram aaj kuchh aisi chot lagi toot gayaa kahaan hai tu mere sapnon ke rajaa wo aaye bahaaren laaye baji shehnai abhi to mai jawaan hoon Lyrics to abhi to mai jawaan hoon Badi Bahan (1949) starring Geeta Bali, Gulab, Niranjan Sharma, Pran, Rehman, Shanti Madhok, Suraiya & Ulhas Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan Music: Husnlal Bhagatram chale jaanaa nahin nain milaa ke lyrics for chale jaana nahin, chale jaana nahin nain milaake haay sainya bedardi, sainya bedardi. Jaltarang (1949) Lyrics: Lekhraj Bhakri, Mulkraj Bhakri, Kedar Sharma, Kaifi Irfani, Sarshar Sailani & Pandit Sudarshan Music: Husnlal Bhagatram haay taqdeer meri banke bigadti kyo luut gayee ummeedon ki duniyaa Pyar Ki Manzil (1950) Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan, Shewan Rizvi & Tariq Lucknavi Music: Husnlal Bhagatram aankhon mei aansu hothon pe fariyad bheega hua daaman hai to aankho mei Sawan Bhadon (1949) Lyrics: Mulkraj Bhakri Music: Husnlal Bhagatram teri ankhiyaan saajan chor chor woh din laut ke nahi aatey yaad reh jati hai. dhall |
Reeth |
Jul 30 2007, 02:19 AM
Post
#6
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2154 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 6151 |
Excellent article, a fund of information! A great tribute to MD, Husnlal Bhagatram. Hi Mr. Aujla has some articles on Punjabi music directors and singers like Sardul Kwatra, S. Mohinder, and others on APNA website.His observatons and insights based on personal interactions with those musicians offer information that is otherwise unavailable. I can think of one Punjabi singer Shaminder Singh Chahal who sang a few songs in Punjabi movies in the 1950's. I have not found any information on Shaminder in Wikipedia or anywhere else. What I know about him is from one of the the articles that Mr. Aujla wrote. It is indeed nice to seet this article by him on Hamara Forums. Harjinder Thanks venkat, Harjinder... The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind -William James |
Reeth |
Jul 30 2007, 02:26 AM
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#7
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2154 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 6151 |
Excellent article about the most original MD's of HFM. Their music has so many dimensions that it is impossible to restrict them to a certain style. One cant find a single bad note produced by these magicians of melody....true inspiration to produce original music. The legend of legends Rafisaab, has sung more songs for HB than any singer and these songs are the very best songs of HFM, songs that no one could sing with that excellence and effect and HB knew well that only the Badshah could do justice to their songs. It is through sincere effort and un matched class that Rafisaab;s songs made the glory of HFM and no wonder these songs continue to live. Mind you Suriya too was brilliant in the sons sang for HB. Lata's best songs IMO are the ones that she sung under the baton of HB, listen carefully and the quality is apprarent. Those were the days, pure singing, music and lyrics, wow!!!. Some music directors sworn with mediocrity and adulterated music are neddlessley given recognition by naive bunch of listeners when in reality md's like HB are the true legends. Today one can see any 'lalu panju' is termed a legend....what a farce!!! I have always belived the the declining standards of music that began from 70's is because of the decline in the quality of listeners and the corrupt mixes are a glaringly example. One cant see today's songs with family, they are nothing less than soft porn. One can see HMV promoting crap and the disgusting music mixes just to make quick bucks to cater to the need of the new brand of listeners who have an iota of sense of music. What a disgrace!!!!! Thanks for the article Reeth!!! I agree with you wholeheartedly........quality is out now....those legendary music directors and singers had such a lot of dedication, that it showed in the kind of music they composed and sang... At the same time it is a pity that they had such petty feuds even in those times and great musicians could just be wiped out because of that......... The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind -William James |
Reeth |
Jul 30 2007, 02:29 AM
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#8
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2154 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 6151 |
There is an old adage that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration. No matter how big a person grows, this saying comes true. Today Lata Mangeshkar rules the world. Young music directors touch her feet. But there was a time when Lata was desperately looking for work and a great discoverer of latent the Late Master Ghulam Haider gave her the break of her life. Ghulam Haider introduced Lata to all the biggies of India’s film music direction including Anil Biswas, Khem Chand Prakash and Sajjad. But Shyam Sunder composed some of the earliest masterpiece tunes for her. It is true that none of the above mentioned music directors had the time to groom her as the master of playback singing. She had a great base of classical music, but playback singing was a different art and Lata needed to be groomed for its specific requirements. Pandit HusnalalMy good friend Chiranjeev Singh, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer of the Karnataka Cadre is an ardent and discriminating lover of all kinds of music. He is a great fan of music directors Husnalal and Bhagatram, Sajjad and Anil Biswas. He has personally met Pandit Husnalal and some members of his family. With Anil Biswas, Chiranjeev had several meetings, including one in which I was also present. Since Anil Biswas and Pandit Husnalal were colleagues in Bombay, Anil Biswas could offer a treasure house of information on both Husnalal and Lata Mangeshkar. S. Mohinder lives in Virginia, he has been in touch with Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. Late Sardul Kwatra was also an admirer of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, his phone calls have also been a source of my information. Late Mohammad Rafi had a lot of reverence for Pandit Husnalal. He himself admitted that whatever he is today, Pandit Husnalal has a lot to do with it. I am composing this story based on my interaction with these personalities. Mohammad Rafi admitted that he used to be called to the residence of Pandit Husnalal along with his Tanpura sometimes at 4 in the morning. Pandit Husnalal will tell him “Alaap” of the Raga to be used in the song. So obedient was Rafi that he would rehearse the raga for several hours before getting lessons on the composed tune. Mohammad Rafi said even Lata Mangeshkar has undergone such intensive training under the same music director, but the venue used to be not the home of Pandit Husnalal, but the relevant sound recording studio. In their first film “Chand”, Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram composed very good music and they used the voice of technically superb Zeenat Begum. But Noorjehan had set the trend of singing in shrill voices and the actresses started liking more feminine sounding voices. This virtually sealed the fate of singers like Zohra Bai of Ambala, Sitara Devi of Kanpur and Lalita Dawoodkar and Zeenat. Lata MangeshkarPandit Husnalal Bhagatram developed a liking for the highly emotional voice of Suraiya. Since they all came to Bombay from Lahore, they had a linguistic affinity too. Suraiya had no formal training in classical music. That was a handicap. But she was a very hardworking character. Whenever Pandit Husnalal composed a tune, Suraiya rehearsed it time and again till it neared perfection. Pandit Husnalal and Bhagatram were perfectly at home with Suraiya’s final performances. Years 1949 and 1950 were the best professional years for Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram. In 1949 they had composed music for ten films and most of the films were musically hit. In 1950, they created music for nine more films and most succeeded as fine musicals. In both these years the voices of choice were Suraiya and Lata Mangeshkar, with Geeta Roy as the third choice. When Raj Kapoor hired the duo of Shanker Jaikishan to compose the music for his production “Barsaat”, Shanker Jaikishan tried to emulate the style of Husnalal Bhagatram. Most of the songs of “Barsaat” became hit. For several more years Shanker Jaikishan worked under the shadow of Husnalal Bhagatram, but eventually they developed their own style which later became highly successful. In some songs even Vinod tried to copy the tunes of Husnalal Bhagatram. SuraiyaLata Mangeshkar’s grasp over classical music was her rallying point. Lata’s vocal chords were in fact more flexible and needed less tutoring. As the time passed Lata Mangeshkar, who was just a play-back singer, started getting more songs. Suraiya being an actress singer naturally had lesser opportunities at singing. While rehearsing Pandit Husnalal will compose the tune on Harmonium and Lata will sing it. Violin played by Pandit Husnalal himself was used for making the interludes more intricate and emotional. Pandit Husnalal had developed an unconventional style of playing violin, which virtually died with him. Whenever Lata was given a very emotional sad tune, Pandit Husnalal the maestro with a sobbing violin will match the melody in the voice of Lata with his equally emotional rendition with violin. Such an intimate relationship between the tutor and the taught created hundreds of memorable melodies for Hindi cinema. As far as Mohammed Rafi was concerned, his training at Pandit Husnalal’s residence was totally acceptable to the music director’s wife. But Lata’s rehearsals even at different recording studios became a bone of contention. There is no doubt that Pandit Husnalal used to return home quite late at night, primarily because he was extremely busy in tune-making and rehearsals. His wife resented his late arrivals at home and that led to a lot of domestic tension. As the years passed, pressed by the circumstances at home, Pandit Husnalal started keeping a distance from Lata Mangeshkar. Lata did not expect this sudden change in Pandit Husnalal’s behaviour. Round about in 1957, the relationship between the two got severely strained. By that time Lata’s stature had grown into a superstar. She had perfected the art of playback singing. Every heroine wanted Lata to lend her voice to the songs picturized over her. Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhonsle became the second and third choices. The once powerful music directors started playing second fiddle to Lata. In fact Lata, during the mid fifties and sixties, could make or break any music director, big or small. The producers, financers and directors of the movies started getting the hint very quickly. They started shunning Husnalal Bhagatram. The indifferent attitude of the film industry broke the heart of Pandit Husnalal. This duo still had several years of great music in them, when Pandit Husnalal had to pack up from Bombay and leave for Punjab and Delhi. Pandit Bhagatram stayed back in Bombay and kept playing drum instruments in the orchestras of other, of course, junior music directors. Pandit Husnalal started earning his livelihood by playing Violin and singing classical music at All India Radio Delhi.Occasionally he used to sing complete Khayal also at different radio stations. After the unfortunate break-up with Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Husnalal composed music for just one or two films. The music composed was great, but there were no contracts forthcoming. The tunes for the duo were most of the time composed by younger brother Pandit Husnalal. The older brother Bhagatram provided mostly the beat only as a drummer (tabla player). As long as they were together, there was complete unison between the two and their beat fascinated the lovers of good music. On December 28, 1968, two years after his last film assignment and at a young age of 45 years, Pandit Husnalal died in New Delhi as a highly dejected man. Words can not describe how good a music composer he was. You have to listen especially to his sad music, which can drive you to tears. Poet Qamar Jalalabadi, hailing from village Jalalabad in Amritsar District composed most of the lyrics for Husnalal Bhagatram. Late singer Surinder Kaur, known as the nightingale of Punjab, called Pandit Husnalal as the soul of Punjab’s country-music. Pandit Bhagatram died five years later in 1973 in Bombay by and large un-honoured. Who can forget their soulful music in films like Chand, Pyar Ki Jeet, Balam, Bari Behan, Farmaish, Rakhi, Adhi Raat, Meena Bazaar, Afsana, Ansoo, Shama Parwana, Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Adle-Jehangir to name a few?. We offer our salute to Pandit Husnalal’s genius. Unfortunately the HMV (one of the EMI group of Companies), which possesses copy rights to the entire music of Pandit Husnalal Bhagatram, has not done justice to this great duo. Hardly two cassettes of their music are available in the market. They deserve a lot more. Some of their finest compositions are unavailable to the listeners. Efforts should be made to locate their finest melodies and put these on CDs. by Harjap Singh Aujla [The author lives at 16 Junction Pond Lane, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey 08852 U.S.A. this very good view, my view for LATA JI have very good song with HB. Aadhi Raat (1950) starring Nargis, Neelam, Cuckoo, Ashok Kumar, Kuldip Kaur, Jeewan & Tiwari Lyrics: Sarshar Sailani Music Director: Husnlal Bhagatram ban ke suhaagan rahi abhaagan lyrics for ban ke suhaagan rahi abhaagan phuut gayi taqdir meri. phuuti hui taqdir ke aage chal na saki tadbir meri. dil hi to hai tadap gayaa dard se lyrics for dil hi to hai tadap gayaa dard se bhar na aaye kyon. royenge ham hazaar baar koi hamein sataaye kyon. Aaj Ki Raat (1948) Music: Husnlal Bhagatram wo chali gham ki hawaa mausam badal Afsana (1950) starring Veena, Ashok Kumar, Kuldip Kaur & Jeewan Lyrics: Asad Bhopali, Ghafi Hariyanvi, Chander & Saraswati Kuamr Deepak Music: Husnlal Bhagatram aaj kuchh aisi chot lagi toot gayaa kahaan hai tu mere sapnon ke rajaa wo aaye bahaaren laaye baji shehnai abhi to mai jawaan hoon Lyrics to abhi to mai jawaan hoon Badi Bahan (1949) starring Geeta Bali, Gulab, Niranjan Sharma, Pran, Rehman, Shanti Madhok, Suraiya & Ulhas Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan Music: Husnlal Bhagatram chale jaanaa nahin nain milaa ke lyrics for chale jaana nahin, chale jaana nahin nain milaake haay sainya bedardi, sainya bedardi. Jaltarang (1949) Lyrics: Lekhraj Bhakri, Mulkraj Bhakri, Kedar Sharma, Kaifi Irfani, Sarshar Sailani & Pandit Sudarshan Music: Husnlal Bhagatram haay taqdeer meri banke bigadti kyo luut gayee ummeedon ki duniyaa Pyar Ki Manzil (1950) Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan, Shewan Rizvi & Tariq Lucknavi Music: Husnlal Bhagatram aankhon mei aansu hothon pe fariyad bheega hua daaman hai to aankho mei Sawan Bhadon (1949) Lyrics: Mulkraj Bhakri Music: Husnlal Bhagatram teri ankhiyaan saajan chor chor woh din laut ke nahi aatey yaad reh jati hai. dhall Very very true.... Thanks a lot for all the valuable inputs dhall......... The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind -William James |
simplefable |
Aug 22 2007, 10:51 AM
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#9
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 8613 Joined: 3-August 07 From: ANDHRA PRADESH Member No.: 20340 |
That is one fine post. it is so informative and heart breakingly true to the nature of the world we live in..." yeh mehlon yeh takhton yeh tajonki duniya..yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye toh kya hai? " ..May thier souls rest in peace.
After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
Aldous Huxley "Waqt ne kiya...Kya haseen sitm...Tum rahe na tum..Hum rahe na hum.." geetadutt noorjehan shamshadbegum Anmol Fankaar |
Reeth |
Aug 29 2007, 04:16 PM
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#10
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 2154 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 6151 |
That is one fine post. it is so informative and heart breakingly true to the nature of the world we live in..." yeh mehlon yeh takhton yeh tajonki duniya..yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye toh kya hai? " ..May thier souls rest in peace. Thanx buddy... The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind -William James |
myawan |
Jan 20 2008, 11:23 AM
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#11
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 4917 Joined: 28-October 03 From: Lahore Member No.: 57 |
Nice informative article....Thanks.
============================== For me, listening to Mohammad Rafi is an addiction! |
parag_sankla |
Feb 9 2008, 01:41 AM
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#12
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 14260 Joined: 8-May 06 From: SFO Bay Area, US Member No.: 6005 |
Such a nice article. Thanks Reeth for this one. H-B are the original musical duo from which S-J, K-A and L-P took inspirations.
Its undoubtedly true that H-B gave the best songs to Lata ji, there is one movie where they gave all the songs to Geeta ji and they are simply superb. The movie I am talking about is Hamari Manzil (1949) and all the songs have been posted on SKS and Geeta Dutt forum several times. Here is the link on Geeta ji's forum for this album http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...5&hl=manzil Thanks for the article again ! Cheers Parag Please visit www.geetadutt.com
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musiclover77 |
Feb 14 2008, 06:49 AM
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#13
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Regular Member Group: Members Posts: 453 Joined: 10-February 08 Member No.: 40626 |
Thank you for posting this. Primary sources are always priceless!
I have some questions... (1) Mohammed Rafi's training at the residence of Pandit Husnlal was acceptable by the MD's wife. Is this because (a) MD's wife got along well with the the saintly Rafi and didn't mind him around or ( she liked Pandit Husnlal staying at home - even if he was working? (2) Why didn't Pandit Husnlal have Lata practice at his home like the way he did with Rafi? That way the wife wouldn't be upset about him being away. Looks like a simple solution to me (obviously there had to be some reason)? (3) Why did Pandit Husnlal have such odd hours? I know musicians are very dedicated...but I'm reading Rafi could be called 4 in the morning and then Husnlal could come home really late at night. So when does he sleep? Why not 4AM to 6PM (that's 14 hours!)? Thanks! |
parag_sankla |
Mar 7 2008, 02:51 PM
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#14
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 14260 Joined: 8-May 06 From: SFO Bay Area, US Member No.: 6005 |
Unfortunately today's generation doesn't know the genius and work of this one of the most talented musical duo.
To be very honest, earlier, the songs of HB I was aware of were mainly from Suraiyya ji's films. Then I started listening to their songs in many other films and realized their vast variety and melody. It is very unfortunate that for whatever reasons, HB could not re-create the magic after the incidences mentioned above. Till date, music lovers are thrilled to enjoy their timeless melodies. May their souls rest in peace. Parag Please visit www.geetadutt.com
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