Madan Mohan - sureele lamhon ka khulaasa

"jo giit main aap ke saamne pesh kar raha huun, vo sab sureele hain, hindustani hain, aur jazbaati hain. main ye samajhta huun ki har fankaar ka jazbaati hona bahut zaruuri hai kyun ki agar usme insaniyat ka jazba nahiin hai to vo sahii fankaar nahiin ho sakta". Madan Mohan sahab ke ye khayaal unki shakshiyat par roshni Daalti hai. mujhe lagta hai ki unke chahne waale bhi aisi mizaaj paaye hain.varnaa itni baariqi se unke mulayam mausiqi ko parakhna mushkil hota. Pichle hafta Anup ke ghar men chand doston ki baiThak jamii.

Anand ke pehle farmaish "dukhiyaare naina" se hi mahaul bahut sanjeeda ho gayi thi aur ham gehri charcha men duub gaye the. Anup ke mehman nawazi ka ek khaas baat hai ki vo chai aur namkeen ke saath chuTkule aur lateefe bhi khilaate hain. Ye hasee mazaak ke kisse hamen sanjeedagi se bahaar nikaala. Puraa din aisa silisila chalta raha aur waqt ka ehsaas nahiin hua. Agla farmaish "hamare baad mehfil men afsaane bayaan hongi" ke baare men Anand ne kahaa "is gaane men itne murkiya hain, gaana ek jagah shuru hoti hai aur kaiin mod lete hue ghuumke phir wapas aa jaati hai". 1950's ke kuchh laajawb giiton ka hamne luTf

uThaya; "preetam meri duniya men", "ham pyaar men jalne waalon ko", "saanvari soorat man bhai re piyaa", "tum chaand ke saath chale aao". "tum chaand ke saath" men "maTke" ka khuub istemaal hua. Subhas ne bataya ki 52-54 ke dauraan is saaz ka jyaada zor tha. Bakshish Singh ji ne kaha ki Shyam Sundar aur Hansraj Behl ke shaili ka asar Madan Mohan par hua. Subhas ne Madan Mohan par Anil da aur C Ramchandra ka prabhaav ke baaren men bhi bataaye. Madan ji ke giiton men raagon ka prayog par Subhas ne kaafi gyaan baanTa. chitrapat sangeet men kaiin nagmen raagon ke buniyaad par bane gaye hain, lekin muqammal taur se us raag ka chalan ko naqal nahiin karte. koi gaana, "darbaari" men hai ya "darbaari

kanada" men hai kehne se behtar ye hai ki vo gaana darbari par aadharik hai.

Geet aur charcha ke saath bhook bhi dauDne lagii. hamne thoDa aaraam faramaya aur Pizza aur Birizza mangaya. Gair-sangeet muddon ko chheDe, duniya aur duniyadaari ki baaten ki. Khaane ke baad sangeet men "Chinese Blocks" ka upayog par baat hui aur "dil unko uTha ke de diya" ki taareef hui. kaiin geeton ka zikr hua jisme is saaz shaamil tha jaise "jaane kyaa tuu ne kahi", "raahi tuu mat ruk jaana". Kucch sangeet premi ye kehte hain ki Madan ji ka sangeet shaili "adalat" ke baad ek karwaT lii aur shayaad pehle jaisi vibhinnata nahiin rahi. Subhas ne kuchh aise shabdon men uska jawab diya "aap saDak se guzar rahe hain aur koii dukaan se ek giit guunj rahii hai. kaafi bhiiD aur shor men bhi aap pehchaan liye ki vo Madan ji ki rachna hai aur vahiin khaDe khaDe us dhun men giraft ho gaye. Madan ji ki sangeet ka ek khaas chhaap "Adalat" ke baad saamne aayi. iska matlab ye nahiin hai ki ek film men saare gaane isii chalan men ho."

Ek do giiton ko chhoD ke abhi tak hamne Lata ji ke gaane sune. Ab baari Asha ji ki thi. "saba se yeh kehdo", "mere piya chheDe jiyaa" se shuru karke ham 60's aur 70's ke Asha ji ke gaane bhi sune. Sundeep Pahwa apne pita ji ka banaya film "Bombay Race Course" ka zikr kiya. Ye Nalini Jaywant ki aakhri film thi aur is men Asha ji ka ek khuubsuurat gaana tha "ye kaun meri zindagi men aa gayaa". Is gaane ke baad

"jaane kya haal ho" (Maa Ka Aanchal) ka hamne mazaa liya. Is nagma ko sun kar mujhe Jaidev ji ki yaad aai aur ham kaiin aise sangeet kaaron ke baare men charcha ki jinke aakhir din nashe ka sahaare men guzre. Subhas ne bataaya ki 70's ke dashak men Madan ji kaafi maayoos the. Unko "recording studios" se "dates" milna mushkil ho gaya thaa kyuun ki kuchh sangeet kaar pehle se hi "book" kar lete the. Kaiin Kalaatmak logon ko asafalta bardaash bhii nahiin hoti hai. Fankaaron ki shakshiyat par bhi charcha hui. Baaton baaton men kaafi waqt biit gaya tha aur ham "bread pakoda" aur "cake" ke saath shaam ka aagaaz kiya. Bakshish ji "cake" laaye the aur iska khaas vajah unke pote ki pehli salgirah thi. Shaam hote hi ham sab baahar sair kiye aur apne apne gharon ki taraf nikal paDe. in chand sureele lamhon ki yaaden hamesha taaza rahega.

"suhana safar" ka agla panne ka intezaar karte hue main aap se vida leta hoon.

dil DhuunDhta hai phir vohii fursat ke raat din ...

Unsung Composers

The build up to this mehfil had more twists and turns than the average fare. We had to change the venue a few days before the event and Sundeep ji graciously came forward to host it.
A day before the event, Anand's concerns about possible metro service disruption due to a perceived dharna turned into a sawal jawab sequence; ranging from "kaise aauun Jamuna ke tiir" to "nadi naare na jaao shyaam". Eventually Anand took my offer of coming from Gurgaon to "Jamuna ke  is paar" (my place in Noida) and then again go to "Jamuna Ke Us Paar (Sundeep's house in Delhi).

Anup also decided to come to my place first although Sundeep's house was closer. It was later revealed that Anup didn't want to risk crossing "Jamuna" on his own. We all met at Sagar Ratna Restuarant and found that Subhas who was going to pick us up was running late. In a change to the original plan, Anup then revealed that he got his car and a driver, who apparently was an expert in crossing the "Jamuna".

We decided to leave and were the first group to reach Sundeep's house  and settled in. Soon Bakshish Singh ji arrived. Bakshish ji had just come back from a trip to Mumbai (were he stayed in Nalin Shah's house)and updated us about his visit. We also discussed about the theme for the event, Unsung composers, which was suggested by Bakshish ji. Bakshish ji got along a set of songs for the theme and noticed on the way that first 3 songs didn't get transferred onto his player. So he called his son and asked him to email the to Sundeep.  Sundeep was caught by surprise as he cudn't recollect sharing his email with Bakshish.  Bakshish then revealed that he got the email from the Calendar that Sundeep distributed and were amazed that Bakshish ji was so Tech Savvy.Soon Bakshish ji pulled out a minature Speaker from his wallet and started setting it up with his player. When I questioned "aap speaker leke ghuumte hain" he said
"jab morcha ko jaana hai, sirf bandook se kaam nahiin chalta. Goli bhi saath men leke aana paDta hai!"

Naveen and Bimal ji then arrived and discussed a little about the recent OPN show that they had organised along with Sandeep.We all warmed up with Chai and Namkeen. Bakshish ji then started the theme with an introduction. He mentioned that there are a few composers who are regarded very high in hindi film music. Master Gulam Haider, who brought the music out of the Rabindra Sangeet and Natya Sangeet influence, and is called "master" in respect of his statue. Hansraj Behl was called 'chhoTe master" and is also well respected.
K.Datta respectfully addressed as Guru ji was the first composer of the theme. We started with "diyaa jalaakar aap bujhaaya" and Bakshish ji pointed out that the Mukhda consists of 3 ragas including "Bilawal".  The next song was also from Badi Maa, "aa intezaar hai tera".  Bakshish ji pointed out that when these songs were composed, several composers were so impressed that they went to K.Datta to congratulate him. These were Ghulam Haider, Hansraj Behl, Naushad and OP Nayyar. We then movd to Daaman and noted how Lata's aalaap ends immediately followed by Rafi's aalaap and vice vera.
We were then joined by Subhas Ghosal.

The next composer on the agenda was Jamal Sen and Bakshish ji started with "sapna ban saajan aaye" from Shokiyan. I then played the song the was also recorded for the same movie but did ntot find a place in the film, "beeta hua ek sawan". We then turned to Daera and enjoyed "devta tum ho mera sahara".

Preeti  Ranjan called to inform that he had a long day and wanted to know how long the mehfil was going to last. I told him that we were still covering the second composer and he could make it even if he had to "cross the jamuna".
I then played "rut jawaan jawaan" and asked people to guess the next composer. The clue was that this composer can be seen playing the Saxophone in the video of "rut jawaan jawaan". The first guess was Manohari and then Bakshish ji got it right as Chic Chocolate."chanda to sitara mila" from Rangili and "aa tasveer banaluun" from Nadaan were the samples chosen. Anand pointed out that there's a Kishore song in Rangili in which he sings in male and female voice  similar to half ticket. Anand also revealed an article which claimed that CR composed some movies under the name of Chic Cholcate to evade taxes. Bimal ji recalled an old picure in which CR and Chic were dressed as Fisherman in Goa.

The famous poet "maqdoom mohiuddin" and the history behind "ek chameli ke mandve tale" was the next topic. My good friend Nishant researched this and I summarized it to everyone. In a Nutshell Maqdoom composed it as a sad poem remembering a former jail mate whose love story had a sad ending. However Iqbal Qureshi composed the song to a happy tune. Anand then farmais'hed the other Iqbal Qureshi number which has the same tune "aaj mausam ki masti men". Bimal ji mentioned that the name Qureshi originated from a very noble tribe of muslims.
We were then treated to Tikki ordered from "Bittu Tikki Wala" which all of us relished and had multiple servings.
We took a little detour during this time and Bimal ji told a little about his family background and thathe was privy to several film parties as he was nephew of actor Shyam. He recalled some of the old Mumbai surroundings where these personalities lived and Anand chimed in saying that some of the roads in the areas have been renamed after them. Bakshish ji played a rare version of the Anarkali song "ai baad-e-sabaa aahista chal" which had lovely Sitar inteludes and our resident Classical expert Subhas suggested a couple of possible artist names and ruled out Rais Khan.
The next composer was Dhaniram, whose name was suggested by Anand.  Anand's research on Asha's early output is documented in youtube and I picked a stunner from this sample "sapne tuut gaye".Soon Preeti arrived and I played a song in praise of his favorite singer Mukesh "hamko india bahut pasand". The next song was "kaaton men rehne waale" also from the same movie Matlabi Duniya. This has several unsung composers including "Jayanti Joshi". Preeti was challenged to guess the year of the recording based on Mukesh's voice quality but he didn't take the bait. I always felt that Mukesh'svoice sounds more like early 50's than early 60's in this song.

I wanted to pick some 70's Kishore songs by unsung composers for Anup and asked for suggestions. Pavan suggesed a few on facebook but I found only one of them to my liking, "Badal kaala koyal kaali" by Pradeep Roy Chowdhury.  Anup immediately noted that the songs quality was much better than the earlier ones.  Prof. Preeti  retorted " as the music quality degraded from 50's to 70's, the recoridng quality improved".
We then had a little of flaming session as to who spoilt the vintage music. Was it OPN with his Ghoda Ghadi, CR  with "shola jo bhake" and other wing songs or "junglee" type shouting songs of SJ. Some of these controversial jibes are better left for private consumption :) Bimal ji and Bakshish ji took turns to explain the story behind Sardul Kwatra lodging an FIR on Mohd Rafi.  Anup and Preeti recalled their meeting with the composer in the US back in the 90’s at an RMIM meet.

We then went back to the 50's with Manohar's Chingari. I played "adi mushkil hai" and Bakshish ji playeda catchy number "ya rabba peri peri ?". Next on the list was Shailesh Mukherjee whose "jal ke dil khaak hua" and "aansuon ki chaanv me" from parichay were lapped up. "maane na maane na" and "chhupa chuppi" from Savera rounded off Shailesh's works.
We were then joined by Asad Kidwai who works for NDTV. There was a brief discussion about Naveen’s Ibadat Foundation which is doing programs on lyricists and Asad mentioned that he had an Urdu book that had valuable information about lyricists. Asad also talked about his blog ‘hamkalaam” .
Anup's farmaish V Balsara was next on the agenda."kab beet gaii jeevan" and "sunaaye haal-e-dil kya" from Madmast were enjoyed and Anup pointed out that  the movie was directed by his uncle.

We had another round of Chai and Namkeen and as Anup was helping with the serving, Sundeep commented "you should post this photo and then people will think before coming to my place" to which Anup said "maine isko apna hi ghar  samajh liya" :)
Mukul Roy was the next composer with "do chamakti aankhon men" by Geeta and Hemant's "hai ye duniya kaun si".We then enjoyed GS KOhli compostion  "tumo piya dil diyaa" and it was pointed out that several songs songs of Shikari were popular. We rounded up the evening with the beautiful Talat-Asha duet composed by SK Pal "mere jeevan men aaya hai kaun".

As we were leaving Bakshish ji inquired if Anup was in LA ealier as he was planning to visit. Anup pointed that he was in Bay Area but Preeti had graduated from UC Irvine in the LA area. Anup tried to correct himself by saying " Preeti actually got his doctorate from Irvine" to which Preeti replied "These days people say my I am attending my Kids's graduation party and you then find out that the kid is 10 years old". I was about to walk out with  Subash and head home, Anup asked "tum mere saath nahiin aa rahe ho. Dhoka de rahe ho" to which Preeti replied "Didn't you just listen to songs of "Matlabi Duniya!". (Naveen) Anand aur Anand (Juvekar) decided to go together which meant that Anand Juvekar. didn't have to cross the "jamuna" during the return trip !
See you all again "Jamuna Ke Paar".

Christmas Mehfil in Mumbai

We all have heard the term "baptism by fire" but how many have experienced it ?Hrushikesh Paranjape just did that having walked in to a lush green Kandivili pitch.

 He was tested with a barrage of bouncers by Archisman Mazumdar in the form of quiz questions, starting with a 1937 Bengali song "Janitey jodi go tumi".Hrushi had to identify the singer and Archie gave the hint that this was the first ever song of this singer. It wasn't very straight forward as the early voice of the singer was different from what we are familar with. Archie followed with more songs including the heavenly "Rajanigandha ghumao ghumao" and it took a few more deliveries before Hrushi opened his account.

By the time Hrushi arrived to the crease with his friend Piyush, several familiar faces; Anand Juvekar, Nishant Shah, Archisman, Sandhya Ramesh and the curator Shankar Iyer; had made their mark. I asked my friend Prakash Jha, who has been keenly following the mehfils, to get a taste of them. 

The thoughts of having a match of this nature first came up last Sunday  and within a few hours, Shankar zeroed in on the track and started preparing it. The track was watered, bacardi'ed and old monk'ed. By Wednesday there was enough buzz in the air and enough fizz on the pitch for ten people to play and party.

 Shankar delivered the first ball with an Illayaraja duet "Pon oviyam" fromKazhugu sung beautifully by Janaki and Yesudas ?

Shankar and Archisman alternately picked up the compering duties and treated us to a seriesof regional songs. Illayaraja's Tamil compostions were followed with Hemant Kumar's early Bengali works.After warming up with Hemant Kumar,  Archisman then moved to Sachin Karta's Bangla works and played 'phirey gechhi baare baare'and asked us to identify its similarity with a Hindi number. Anand instantly came up with "bichDe sabhi baari baari". A few other songs followed including "ghuum bhulechi". 

Anil Hingorani was next to arrive and Hrushi was very keen that Anil be given the same kind of bouncy welcome that he experienced. Anil drew all his experience and scored of the very first ball by correctly identifying the singer as Hemant Kumar with the very first clue. As Anil was introduced to Archisman he exclaimed "So you are the expert". Archisman tried to downplay it and dodge the question but Anil retorted "That wasn't a question but a statement".

We continued the Bengali numbers with 'aami nei, aami nei' composed by Lata for Kishore. With so many classical aficionado's around conversations were like "Have you heard the reverse - Kishore's bihag based composition for Lata" and half the crowd would just buzz back with the right song; 'bhaalobashar aagun jele keno choley jaao'  being the one in question.

We then moved onto Sali Chowdhury and alternated between his Bangla and Hindi numbers.The Hindi number from Aawaaz "jhun jhun jhuna" was followed by Dhananjay Bhattacharya's Kalavati based "jhanana jhananna".  

Hrushi and Piyush got "namkeen" that went quite well with the assortment of drinks Shankar had assembled. Its debatable if the ocassional kicks Shankar got were due to the drinks. I would just blame that on the electric atmoshphere that let him drop one line quizzes on an unsuspecting audience. Shankar started with his stock outswinger - "Father or Son. Pick your favorite". He was expecting a straight forward reply but people had other ideas. 

Nishant replied "Fun", Anand Juvekar said "Shall we toss a coin to decide the outcome" and added"Lets hope its not the coin that was used in Sholay" which got drowned in laughter.

Hrushi shared his experineces of learning music from Shrinivas Khale among other things. Anand then played couple of Khale's composions including Lata's Tukaram Abhang'kaamodini kamodini kaay jaane' We also discussed how this song was based on raag Aarbhi  & played Abdul Karim's 'chandrika hi' & a marathi natyageet in the same raag by Hirabai & Suhasini Moolgaonkar - 'paandu nrupati. Anand also played an audio interview of Hridaynath Mangeshkar and we talked about a few songs like "sanvarare sanvarare".

When a song from Hridaynath - Lata Ghalib album was played and it was pointed out that the album was Ghost composed by Sultan Khan. We also discussed Hridaynath-Lata Meera bhajans.

We then turned to HFM and several Lata favorites were played. "o aasmaan ke vaasi" by Roshan; "jal ke dil khaak hua" by Shailesh; "tuu kyuun mujhko pukaare" by S-J just to name a few started a debate on Lata's best songs and Archie referred to an earlier meet when we listed movies with 4 or more outstanding songs by a particular singer. Archisman also mentioned that in his opinion the most complete classical number in HFM is "jaa main tose nahin bolun" composed by Anil Biswas and Shankar enjoyed that number so much thathe commented; "that's like Viv Richards hitting a front foot boundary to a thompson delivery".

It was time for a Shankar Yorker and he asked "1,2,3 name your three favorite composers". Although this is very subjective, the responses still led to a heated debate.We then played several OPN numbers including an Asha number from Mangu where she sounds very much like Geeta. A controversial topic of whether Asha sang better than Rafi in some of the duets didn't lead to any consensus.

 A mostly quiet Prakash then requested a few Mukesh songs and was obliged with a few including the song from the unlrelease movie "Chand Grahan".That reminds me of an interesting discussion about another song which was included in different movies as seperate versions but never saw the light of the day. I can't place the words of the song.

Shankar also played some Saxophone pieces by Manohari Singh and were asked to guess the numbers. These included "mujhko is raat ki tanhai men"and "gaa mere man gaa".

Although Sandhya Ramesh as well as Shankar's wife didn't take part in the heated debates, they showed their musical knowledge by cracking some of the Sax based quiz questions.

Shankar then ordered dinner and we enjoyed a delicious meal and folks started leaving. Anand, Nishant and myself stayed till 11:00 pm and duringthis time some of Shankar's non-music friends also joined us whichlead to some amusing conversations. As we were about to leave I askedShankar to play " jaa re chandr" and we left on a high.

Its interesting to note that Hrushi was "not out" at the end of the day and has been calling up people to narrate his experience. Prakash has also warmed up and has been asked to come to the crease with a list of his favorite Mukesh songs with reasons for liking them. We are all just waiting for the next "pitch" to be prepared :)

Celebrating music of Roshan Lal Nagrath

As Pavan Jha announced about the plans of a mini-meet in Jaipur during the mehfil,

Sundeep ji said" ek gaaDi dilli se niklegi" and before everyone could catch their breath Preeti said "Have you started taking the bookings ?"

Professor saab has given us so many gems over the years that I said to myself "How could I think of not inviting Preeti to the meet in the first place ?".

But when thoughts of this meet started 2 months back it was supposed to be just a very limited gathering. A few of us got together in CP for Lata ji's birthday, and I casually asked Anand the next time weekend was going to be in town. When Anand replied with Nov 16, I realized that it coincided with Roshan Sahab's death anniversary and we decided to meet again.

Anand, '"Do you time your week end NCR stay's with Birth and Death days of your favorite artists ? If so you should stay back on Jan 5 ! Even Jan 12 will do "

Brainstorming with Pavan and Naresh and Pavan's visit to my place earlier this week made me realise that with a little bit of re-arrangement I can easily host a much bigger gathering and the invite list grew by the day and reached climax on the day of the meet.

Sundeep ji had just liked my post in sks and I added him as a fb friend, realised he is from Delhi and sent him a message saying there's a mehfil in a few hours and pat came his reply that he will come. Of course Sundeep ji is no stranger, is well know in Delhi music circles and has been to Naresh's place.

Meanwhile Pavan was juggling with his weekend work and called me to say that he will come late to the mehfil but will help me with some last minute shopping.

So I made a quick trip to Pavan's office and he came down with a huge bag !!

Namkeen and Samosas were next on the agenda but it was already 2:30 pm. We went to the narest shop and Pavan couldn't find Sprite there. In his usual style he said " thoDa aage chalte hain. aur kuchh options milenge" and by now I was in scrambling

mode. Pavan almost got onto my nerves "Log thoDi hi bolenge ki ganTi hamen ghar bulaake bhaag gaya" and added " We are walking in the direction of your house !".With the last purchases now finished, Pavan handed me that huge bag saying it has "WiFi speakers, mike, recorder, and GAJAK's" and went back to work.

I should count myself very lucky that Pavan comes to Noida often and his office is a stone's throw from my place. Of course its not the easiest of jobs to control the way the "wind" blows, so I will try to make the most of it as long as it has a natural drift

towards Noida Naresh also called me saying he will be getting "Rewari" and other snacks. By the time I reached home it was almost 3 pm and the phone started ringing.

A saying goes " duur vaale sab se pehle pahunch jaate hain" but Aditya pant who is closest to my place came first shortly followed by Bakshi ji. Sandeep Pahwa and Preeti Ranjan joined soon after.

While introducing himself Sundeep ji mentioned that his father produced a couple of films and "Bahu (1955)" was among them. For years the only memorabilia from the film his family had were the two Talat-Geeta duets. of course they eventually got the other songs including "ang ang men umang" but Sundeep ji's prized possession was a booklet of the film which he ordered for a handsome price of $100 and was delighted to find some pictures from the film in it.

Meanwhile Anand Juvekar called and mentioned that he was near the Sagar Ratna hotel and has entered D block. I wondered why he was coming from that side but gave him the directions.

I prepared a playlist of Roshan songs taken mostly from his earlier films and started playing while we started talking about his music. "kyun ji scent lagaya hai" from Neki Aur Badi kicked off the proceedings and Bakshish Singh ji pointed out that there is a third singer who joins the song right at the end and its Mukesh. All of us including Aditya were stumped ! Baksish ji also pointed out that Kidar Sharma found Roshan to be a lacking confidence and asked the famous classical singer and composer of Alam Ara, Feroz Datoor, to help Roshan. Feroz was responsible for introducing the "aiii~~~" refrain.

Anand Juvekar walked in and told me that he was able to locate the place easily and we left it at that.

Sundeep Ji circulated a news paper article on Roshan and an old outlook magazine which had a poll conducted on the all time best HFM songs. Roshan's "man re tuu kaahe na dhiir dhare" was picked as the all the time best song..

Soon Pradeep arrived and we also got the message that Naresh will be reaching shortly. My first instinct was to give Naresh a call but everyone said "he must have just started" !!

We enjoyed several other Roshan numbers from my playlist including "chun chun chun baaje payal mori", "dhiire dhiire chhaD gaya nadi men paani", "falak milega tujhe kya hamen miTaane se". I also included a few samples of Vish Krishnan's commentary from 1998 RMIM West Coast commemorative and pointed out that Dr.Preeti Ranjan was present at that meet. Baksish Singh ji as well as Anand Juvekar have been reading RMIM for a long time and Anand Juvekar mentioned that he almost made it to the 2003 east coast meet and had spoken to Arun Sampath at that time!

Sandeep Pahwa casually asked if we knew Sanjeev Ramabhadran and the answer was of course an overwhelming yes. We all narrated our experiences and Sandeep ji as the an organizer of a show in Delhi recounted his experience ; standing with a red rose (in filmi style) so that Sanjeev could identify him.

Soon a gentleman with a suitcase and a bag walked in, and Sundeep ji gazed at him as if he recognised the person. On asking his name the gentleman said "naam se kya lena dena hai"and when Sundeep ji insisted he mentioned " I am Ripudaman from Jaipur". Ofcourse that was Pavan trying some old RMIM tricks.

Pavan's arrival also meant that everyone started recounting their experiences of visiting Jaipur. A common experience shared was the watching of movies at Raj Mandir theatre. Several people expressed surprise that even flop movies got an extended run there and some used to play for months together. "Bin Phere Hum Tere" was one of the movies discussed.

Since no one was in a mood to eat and I cudn't eat without feeding the guests I thought I will get Pavan to accompany me so that the others will be enticed to join. But Pavan had better ideas and went straight to the kitchen and said "lets make Chaa".

I thought to myself "chaa ka chahne waale abhi tak nahiin aaye" (thinking of Naresh). I stepped out of the Kitchen and asked "sugar kitno ko" and practically everyone raised their hands and it took time for me to realize that they all have "sugar" while I meant to ask "how many want sugar in the tea" ! The adrak + elachi tea

rocked and the Samosa's, Namkeen and Gajaks were grabbed with glee.

We went back to the Roshan play list and as "jhoom jhoom ke jaam choom ke aa dil ki mehfil men aa" from Coffe House was being enjoyed Naresh comes in ! What a perfect timing on more than one count as Sundeep ji was about to leave and wanted to take a group picture.

Soon Naresh narrated his adventure of how a 5 min walk to my place turned into 30 minutes ! Naresh got "chikki", "Rewri" and "Groundnuts" and we soon got ready for a second serving.

By now the Roshan playlist came to an end and discussion moved to arrangers. We recalled several names including Sebastian, Chic Cholate, The Lords, Sonik, Anothny Gonsalves and Babla. For no particular reason focus turned to Babla and it was pointed out that his arrangement in "Johny Mera Naam" was a turning point for Kalyanji Anandji. We ended up recalling several KA scores like Don, Mohra, Tridev. We briefly talked about the songs of Gupt and Pradeep Sharma mentioned how a vendor he knew used to sell music systems by playing songs of Gupt !

A few controversial topics including how SJ allegedly played politics to ensure some other composers wouldn't get work were discussed.

It was now time for the music session and Pradeep Sharma cast a magic spell with "hamen ai dil kahin le chal baDa tera karam hoga". We are very lucky to have him in NCR. Preeti Ranjan showed that just like his sense of humor his singing is as fresh as his california days with "Woh Chand Chamka Woh Noor Chhalka". It was Pradeep's turn again and he sang "bahut diya dene waale ne". We then digressed awat from Roshan as Pavan chipped in with a few Rajasthani folk songs followed by "ye dil na hota bechara". Pradeep sang "ye mera diwana pan hai" and "kaise manauun piyava" and they were extremely well rendered. Preeti then sang a non-filmi malkauns piece which impressed Pradeep so much that he asked for Preeti's contact information and Preeti pointed to me. A witty Pradeep retorted "Is he your manager" and after a host of back and forth tradeoffs and the utterance of the word mafia it was concluded that we are not the "sand mafia" but the "song mafia" ! Pradeep then sang the

swan song of Roshan "oh re taal mile nadi ke jal men" and we decided to take a break.

A cd of 1000 rare songs courtesy Surinder Dhall, was presented to the attendees. Although he had to cancel coming to the mehfil at the last minute, Pradeep Sharma ensured that the CD's are handed over to everyone.

Pradeep and Bakshish ji had to leave and the rest of us decided to accompany them on the way to Sagar Ratna. Although both were in opposite directions I thought it will be a good idea for everyone to know both the gates from which our sector can be reached. This was the perfect time to debate about why my directions misled Naresh we concluded that a mehfil isn't fun without some adventure

Anand, Naresh, Pavan and Preeti joined me for Dinner and we enjoyed Uttappam and Dosa at Sagar Ratna. Naresh and Preeti then left and Anand, Pavan came back to my place.

We had another listening session of Roshan and as I was playing "kahaan kho gaii hai

bahaar aate aate" Anand pointed out how "kabhi to milegi kahin to milegi" has a similarity to it. We heard several other Roshan numbers including "ye surkhi aur ye shaam", "batado koi kaun gali gaye shaam", "geet mera jagaaye sulaye tujhe" and "prem lagan man men basaale".

It was quite a memorable evening and I hope everyone enjoyed as much as I did.

Thanks friends for coming and I look forward to having all of you over for another mehfil very soon!

In Memory of Begum Akhtar

As the Chief Guest Sheila Dikshit came and went, the compere Mirza Arif remarked, "ek zalzala sa aaya aur gaya." A few other luminaries came in as Sheila ji was walking out prompting him to say "chaand baadal ke piiche chhip gaya lekin sitare nazar aane lage". This was just an intersting sidelight of thethe curtain raiser to centenary celebrations of Mallika-e-ghazal Begum Akhtar.

The evening started with Shiela ji presenting BAAG (Begum Akhtar Academy of Ghazal) awards to shayar Rajesh Reddy, Photographer Avinash Pasricha. Lifetime BAAG award was presented to Ahmed Hussain and Mohammad Hussain.

This was followed by a 20 minute video on Begum Akhtar that was conceived by Rita Ganguly. It went into the intricate details of her childhood, how she escaped an attempt on her life at the age of 3 when her food was poisoned, the burning down of her house and all the trials and tribulations she had as a kid.

The documentary was extremely well made and was laced with Akhtari Bai's Ghazal excerptsas well as her spoken voice. The different phases of Akhatri Bai's life, including the 8 years after marriage when she didn't sing, the personal tragedies, the near death experience after which she came back to sing on Radio after advise from doctors were all highlighted.

Rita ji then talked a bit about how she became Akhtari Bai's disciple. Rita ji was a disciple of Siddheswari Devi when Begum Akhtar heard her sing in a concert. Akhtari Bai wanted to make Rita her disciple and approached her, but Rita cudn't as she was disciple of Siddhewari Devi. On top of that Begum Akhtar and Siddhewari were not on very good terms.Akhtari Bai went to Siddheswari's house to ask for Rita and that very same day the "ganda bandh" was done. Two of Rita ji's Guru-behan; Savita Devi (daughter of Siddheswari Devi) and Shanti Hiranand (discple of Begum Akhtar) were present on the ocassion.Rita ji also fondly recalled her days as a disciple of Siddheshwari Devi.

The other celebrity present on the occasion was Jackie Shroff. Rita ji announced that she is going to make a picture on the life of Begum Akhtar with the support of Jackie Shroff.

This was followed by Rajesh Reddy's shayri recital. Rajesh Reddy regaled the audience with sher's presented in tarannum style. Here is one that caught the imagination of everyone.
"yahaaN har shaks har pal haadsa hone se darta hai, khilona hai jo miTTi ka fanaa hone se darta hai;
mere dil ke kisii kone men ek maasuum sa baccha, baDon ki dekh kar duniya, baDaa hone se darta hai;
ajab ye zindagi ki qaid hai, duniyaa ka har insaan rehaai maangta hai aur rehaa hone se darta hai"

And finally we had a Ghazal session with Ahmed Hussain and Mohammad Hussain. They first presented a lovely number weaving the names of all popular ragas and then Hasrat Jaipuri's "ishq agar ek tarfa ho to sazaa deta hai aur agar dono.n taraf ho to mazaa detaa hai". Their next number "mausam aayenge jaayenge" was very well received and they closed with a Ghalib Ghazal.

Perhaps the most poignant moment of the evening came when Rita ji said that just like all humans artists also have flaws. So when you enjoy the artists don't talk about the drawbacks in their personal lives. If you want to say something, do it after proper research. And research does not mean looking up google. That last line had the audience in splits but the message was well received.

It was quite a memorable evening and I am looking forward to many more of these.

An evening with Savita Devi

As I was stepping into the India Habitat Center theater, I saw an elderly lady walk by. She was in her 70's but there was so much grace in the face that I told to myself, "Perhaps she is Savita Devi". I have never seen her in a performance before and the pictures I could recall were of her younger days.

As I was collecting my thoughts, I heard a voice from behind " aap hi ko sun ne aaye hain". Allright ! That was Vidushi Savita Devi herself and I hoped that her voice has also sustained the ravages of time.
I settled down into a spot that gave a good view of the stage. A group of artistes from the Siddheswari Devi Academy of Music took center stage. They began with Guru Vandana, followed by "jao jao tose nahin boluun" in raag Janasamohini. Their Kajiri, "arey raama saavan maas shuvan" was very well received and it was a great demonstrationof chorus singing. The last item presented by the ensemble was the bhajan "chait re ghumani".
An announcement soon followed that Padmashree Rita Ganguly has graced the occasion. Rita ji proudly spoke of the sanctity of Benares, and her Guru, Vidhusi Siddheswari Devi. She went on say that her Guru loved her disciples as much as she loved her daughter Savita. An entertaining wordplay between the two Guru-behan followed.
Savita ji then took stage and talked a little about Purab ang thumri. She then started with 3 of her disciples accompanying her on the vocals. A thumri in mishra khamaj, "bin chuvo baiyan hamari,dekho shyaam vihaari re" was the first number. She mentioned that she grew up on a staple diet of Thumris of her mother and the dominance of the Krishna motif in her selections was obvious.
Savita ji then talked about a bandish that was very dear to her mother and invited Rita ji to join but Rita ji politely refused.It was "piya re aao aao nagariya hamari".This was followed by the mostwell received number of the evening"rang darungi re, nand ke lalan par". Every murki of this "hori" was lapped up by the audience with claps and appreciative nods. Savita ji said that although we are past the season for Hori, she wanted to present it for the sake of completeness.
She then talked about Bhojpuri dialect and presented a Kajri "tarasava jiyara hamar naihar men" and explained that this represents the waiting of a lady for her beloved. The final presentation was a nirgun of Kabir," pad gaii ... daag chunariya" which was a fitting way to end a magical evening on a sublime note.
Here’s one of her earlier recordings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP7dmRB8qeM

Shalini Ved's Concert review

As Dr. Shalini Ved Tripathi sang "Mere Daag-e-Dil Se Hai Roshni" the lights went off at the India Habitat Center. This divine intervention was one of the many highlights of this weekends concert. After having such a great experience last weekend I headed out to a Thumri, Dadra and Ghazal concert, "Rimjhim-Phuhaaren" by Dr. Shalini, a disciple of Girija Devi. Unlike last week's feature which was in the Stein Audiotirum this was in the basement auditorium and the audince was also fewer. I wanted to get a front seat but realised that several of the artists families and friends were occupying the front rows. So I eased into the third row and a well dressed gentleman walked in and sat next to me. It was still a few minutes to the beginning and the front benches started glancing backwards to spot their friends. Their ogles were responded by Aadabs by my neighbour and before I could introduce myself to him, he was invited to sit in the front row.

The concert began with Shalini ji's children giving introduction and explaining the various forms like Dadra, Kajri etc.. Shalini ji then introduced her parents, husband and all the artists; Murad Ali Khan on Sarangi, Pandit Mishra on harmonium and Mithilesh Jha on the table.

Shalini ji began with a Thumri in Raag Khamaj set to Kherawa "bheji jaauun main" and explained that Thumri's use the Awadi and Brij Basha dialects. She then talked about her Guru Girija Devi and presented her Dadra 'tum saanchi kaho".

The next section was devoted to Ghazals and Shalini ji mentioned that she was going to sing a number penned by Shakeel Badyuni "mere humnfas mere humnava, mujhe dost banke daga na de". As she came to "mere daag-e-dil se hai roshni" the lights went off but she continued as the audience started promting "aap ki aawaaz se hi roshni" The singing continued and when the lights came back, she had come to the line "mujhe ai chhoD de mere haal par" promting Mishra ji to point upwards towards the lights to say " the lights want to be left alone". This was followed by a Khumar Bharabankvi Ghazal "Ek Pal Men ek Sadi Ka maza hum Se puchhhiye, Do din ki zindagi Ka maza hum Se puchhhiye".

The best received item of the day was the next number "kuchh to duniyaa ki inaayaat ne dil to.D diyaa" As Shalini ji sang " ham to samajhe the ke barsaat me.n barasegii sharaab, aayii barsaat to barsaat ne dil to.D diyaa" the whole audience hummed along. And every time the punch words like Rawayat, Khayalat, Sawalaat were utterred, the adience echoed with "kyaa baat hai".As Shalini ji was preparing
to end the concert the inevitable happenned. A voice came from the back, "aaj jaane ki zid na karo" gaaiye and she obliged.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable performance in which the singer established good rapport with the audience.