R Parthasarathy | 17th Feb 2024 Partha is no stranger to the R4 (Revive & Rediscover Retro Radio) community and his love for HFM (Hindi Film Songs) is well known. Equally well known is his special Masala Chai, which he serves regularly, at times even coming to a venue only to serve the tea. He was the CEO of Agarwal classes in Dadar, Mumbai for close to four decades and his "Professor-on-the-Campus" looks and presentations are a joy to listen.
Partha showcased Rafi, who happens to be his favorite singer, and his songs sung with other co-singers. He chose 10 different co-singers for his 10 songs and dished out some interesting stats on the number of songs of these singers with Rafi. His big contemporaries were there obviously. So were some songs with lesser heard co-singers. Partha took some time to introduce the audience to his family circles and other incidents in his life which he shared for the first time with the R4 audience. His mother was a singer and a Veena vadhak , aunt an AIR certified artiste and his uncle a Carnatic Music Vidhwan from whom the likes of Parveen Sultana and K J Yesudas sought advice. In fact, his uncle had predicted the success of Yesudas very early in Yesudas's career. Partha mentioned that regretfully his uncle was not a commercially inclined artiste and never bothered to monetize his performances even to the extent of refusing to record for HMV despite their pressure on several occasions. Thanks to his heritage, Partha imbibed the "Pakkad" on Sur aur Taal but none in his family carried forward this musical tradition. Partha, however, might have redeemed himself with his stage singing performances. His chosen songs of Rafi with his big contemporaries had a mix of Popular and lesser heard ones.
Beyond these mainstream singers, Partha also showcased 4 other singers' songs with Rafi.
All in all, an enjoyable one hour where Partha interspersed several stories from his life to explain his love for Films and film songs some of which I mention below.
The Biggest tribute that Team Nostalgiaana received from Partha was that his joining this forum has changed his life and given a new meaning to Music appreciation.
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Divya Dave | 10th Feb 2024Review by Mrinal Athle, R4-ian Since the new idea of PMP has been introduced to R4 community it is attracting lot of attention with increased expectations of the listeners. The curiosity is heightened by the time the day of PMP arrives!
Divya Dave's presentation on 10th Feb was one such PMP which matched the expectations and the curiosity about the selection of ten songs of her choice. A proud homemaker, enthusiastic culinary expert, a poet, an author of a book and a dancer who has won prizes! This introduction about Divya made me sit up to hear about her topic of the presentation. As she announced 10 songs of 10 music composers the question that came to my mind obviously was - masters of golden era? As she unfolded the set it was a treat! When one sees the listed jewels, one knows that the poet and the music lover in her are in synch with each other. She introduced each song with her own poetry which was interesting. I noted down some lovely lines written by her such as--- लहरोंसे भरा समुंदर समझ नहीं आता or प्यार हो चाहे वहम चाहे सच्चा दिलदार रहे or कडा इम्तेहान मुहब्बतकी ग़लियाँ! All ten songs being popular, famous, super compositions the listeners had a wonderful one hour of SHRAVANNSUKH. It was a very easy going, pleasant and lively presentation with Divya giving her own short commentary about each song. Here is the list of songs Divya played for her PMP.
Here in minimalistic instrumental support a beauty created which had serenity and peace.
The entire presentation was very tightly crafted with precision and right amount of lighthearted humour. Overall, a very enjoyable happy one hour. Anupam Sinha | 1st Feb 2024There is something about creative artists that, they seem to spellbind the audiences in whatever they do. Anupam Sinha was no different. A comic book artist and writer, with sections of media crediting him for revolutionizing Indian comics with his work at Raj Comics. He is credited as the creator of the superhero - "Super Commando Dhruva"
The songs he presented, he said, had great memories for him and evoked a sense of nostalgia in him whenever he heard them, though there were no particular incidents that he connected to these songs. Something he mentioned, clearly stuck a chord with most listeners since they had experienced the same situation when growing up. Anupam mentioned about how in his childhood, there was no radio in their house, and he would hear songs wafting through the neighbor's radio. What's difficult to access or acquire is cherished the most, he said while introducing the songs and no truer words have been spoken. He cherishes some of the songs that he had chosen to play tonight as they were accessed with great difficulty and these songs have got themselves imprinted in his mind forever. Eight of the Ten songs had lyrics referring to romance, love and beloved. Though Anupam did not mention it, these songs probably were heard during his youth and hence the affinity for them is understandable.
Anupam was engrossing and his song selection were special. My only peeve - would have loved to hear him speak more. The artist in him remained hidden and maybe he chose to keep it that way!! |
Balaji RamachandranMusic listening is a passion and out of this passion was born Nostalgiaana. We (along with Shankar Iyer) present radio style shows since April 2020 Disclaimers
• This is my personal review and views expressed are entirely mine and NOT of TEAM NOSTALGIAANA • I hope to review it objectively and not just make this an attempt at absolute unquestioned veneration. Any view for or against may be expressed through the comments section. Archives
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