Like so many others, I like music right from my childhood days. It’s a different story that I cannot sing. But any melodious tune captivates me as much today as it was fifty years back. We had a gramophone at home and a good part of my younger days was spent on winding the key and listening to the 2 boxful of records of the 1950s over and over again. Unfortunately the boxes did not have any of those old Hindi tunes of which I am fond of so much even today. Those I picked up from the radio later. I still remember the first two Hindi film songs which were blared on the Durga Puja microphones at 4 am in 1961 or 1962. The first one was Rafi’s ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’ (which I later learned was from the film Kala Bazar when I saw the film at the night show at a cinema hall in Bistupur, Jamshedpur during my Industrial Training days in 1978). The second one was ‘Hai Apna Dil, Awara’ by Hemant Kumar. I still don’t know the film.
The boxes contained some of the oldies of S.D.Burman (whom elders like my father used to refer as ‘Sachin Karta’). Most of the records were Bengali songs. A few Western Music records were also there . I remember
‘Underneath the lantern,
by the Barrack gate,
Darling I remember,
How you used to wait?’
This was a German WWII song (called Lili Marlene) which was accepted and sung by the opposition also. I have since got it from Youtube and play it sometimes. There are numerous versions.
http://www.actionext.com/names_v/vera_lynn_lyrics/lili_marlene.html
I was pleasantly surprised when a blind man was playing it on the ferry across the St Lawrence taking us back from the old town in Quebec city in Canada.
Coming back to our gramophone, one tune which I never forget was actually amongst our 78 rpm records. It was not a film song. (Rather the tune was used in a film song much later). Come to think of it – it was a piece of classical music by one of the all time maestros and it was not any of those melodious film songs. It was this thumri – ‘Ka karoon Sajni, Aye na Balam’. You guessed it right. The exponent was:
This legend of a man – Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.
Somehow, I rank this thumri as the best of all the tunes that I am fond of. And within the song also, I like a particular portion the most. About hundred seconds into the masterpiece, he sings an alaap which simply mesmerizes me every time I hear it. (I think it is called alaap only. From the net I gathered that Alaap is usually sung in Aakaar i.e. without pronouncing any syllables only using the sound "aa" of the vowel.)
http://www.swarganga.org/articles/icmconcepts/icm7.php
Please listen to the thumri by clicking on to the following link:
I am so much thankful to youtube for reaching this gem to me. Khan Sahab was a khyal singer. But Some khyal singers took an interest in thumri and sang it their own way, as in the case of Abdul Karim Khan, Nazakat-Salamat Ali Khan, Barkat Ali Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Prabha Atre
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan is a hero for me. I want to share some of his facts with you.
He was born in 1902 at Kasur near Lahore very near to the Border. He died in 1968. He is revered as the greatest interpreter of the Patiala Gharana in the past 100 years. Originally he played the Sarangi. His debut performance in Calcutta in 1938 catapulted him to national fame. He became an Indian citizen in 1958 and was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1962. He was called the Tansen of the 20th century by the music world.
You may go thru the following links and learn more about his music.
Jai Ho!!
http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-music/classical-singers/bade-ghulam-ali.html
http://www.itcsra.org/tribute.asp?id=4
http://www.indianmelody.com/badearticle1.htm
The boxes contained some of the oldies of S.D.Burman (whom elders like my father used to refer as ‘Sachin Karta’). Most of the records were Bengali songs. A few Western Music records were also there . I remember
‘Underneath the lantern,
by the Barrack gate,
Darling I remember,
How you used to wait?’
This was a German WWII song (called Lili Marlene) which was accepted and sung by the opposition also. I have since got it from Youtube and play it sometimes. There are numerous versions.
http://www.actionext.com/names_v/vera_lynn_lyrics/lili_marlene.html
I was pleasantly surprised when a blind man was playing it on the ferry across the St Lawrence taking us back from the old town in Quebec city in Canada.
Coming back to our gramophone, one tune which I never forget was actually amongst our 78 rpm records. It was not a film song. (Rather the tune was used in a film song much later). Come to think of it – it was a piece of classical music by one of the all time maestros and it was not any of those melodious film songs. It was this thumri – ‘Ka karoon Sajni, Aye na Balam’. You guessed it right. The exponent was:
Somehow, I rank this thumri as the best of all the tunes that I am fond of. And within the song also, I like a particular portion the most. About hundred seconds into the masterpiece, he sings an alaap which simply mesmerizes me every time I hear it. (I think it is called alaap only. From the net I gathered that Alaap is usually sung in Aakaar i.e. without pronouncing any syllables only using the sound "aa" of the vowel.)
http://www.swarganga.org/articles/icmconcepts/icm7.php
Please listen to the thumri by clicking on to the following link:
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan is a hero for me. I want to share some of his facts with you.
He was born in 1902 at Kasur near Lahore very near to the Border. He died in 1968. He is revered as the greatest interpreter of the Patiala Gharana in the past 100 years. Originally he played the Sarangi. His debut performance in Calcutta in 1938 catapulted him to national fame. He became an Indian citizen in 1958 and was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1962. He was called the Tansen of the 20th century by the music world.
You may go thru the following links and learn more about his music.
Jai Ho!!
http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-music/classical-singers/bade-ghulam-ali.html
http://www.itcsra.org/tribute.asp?id=4
http://www.indianmelody.com/badearticle1.htm
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