Kartikeya Juneja | 20th Apr 2024When you run into a 24-year-old and are hazarding a guess of the kind of music he would be listening to, chances are you wouldn't be thinking of the Hindi Retro Film music of the 50s and before. My introduction to Kartikeya started off on this note. About a year ago he got in touch with over social media and whilst we exchanged notes, he came across as someone who was besotted by the 1950s of HFM. So much so that we even conducted a few shows exclusively of the 50s decade for an audience of his choice. We didn't find this choice of decade unusual .......... well until we found out his age!!!
Kartikeya started his PMP by stating that he likes to listen to all genres of music, but his favourite remains the songs in HFM which are based on classical music of the golden era. He weaved his 10 songs with a compelling narrative of a love story as it unfolds with each song sequentially
I am stunned by the precision of Kartikeya's delivery, conciseness of content, a taut narrative and a choice of songs that left us spellbound. At the end there's only one thing I can say ... Take a bow Kartikeya!
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Atul Mishra | 13th Apr 2024All of us have been on picnics at different stages of our lives. The school picnics were fun and joyous . The college picnics set the context for teenage romances and the office picnics were for socializing and chilling out. Picnics in HFM are no different. They are of all kinds, and this is what Atul Mishra, Kanpur walley chose as his theme along with the ubiquitous thermos flask, Chattai (Mat) and the Guitar on display as he presented his songs.
Here are the songs presented.
फिर एक शाम की पहचान अफसाना बन जाए जीवन वो धरा है जो बांध के रह ना पाए
बिन तुम्हारे कुछ नहीं, बिन तुम्हारे कुछ नहीं क्या मज़ा आता सनम, आज भूलेसे कहीं तुम भी आजाते यहीं, तुम भी आजाते यहीं
गरमा गरम रोटियां कितना हसीन ख्वाब है
A lovely set of songs of Atul on the picnic theme. While the theme itself is common the selection of songs conveying varied moods within the picnic format is what set this presentation apart. Thank you Atul for the walk thru the park. I certainly reminiscenced about my picnic days fondly. SAM Naqvi | 4th Apr 2024A soft-spoken ex-bureaucrat with a heart of gold, SAM broke religious conventions by presenting an entertainment show during the holy month of Ramzan. He started off with an imaginary interaction between him and "Bhagwanji" which I attempt to textualize for readers here.
SAM - Bhagwanji , I will not be able to offer prayers tonight as I have to present a show. Please excuse me for this Bhagwanji - But why did you do this? S - It wasn't me but Balaji who organized this and I had no choice. You know him, don't you? B - Yes, I know him. But why did he not realize this. Anyways, you have sinned and will have to endure a punishment. However, I can offer you relief by moving 50% of the punishment to Balaji. S - I have one more request. When I carry out a good deed, please ensure Balaji gets 100% of the benefits of this!!! Wah!! SAM, Kya baat kahi . I am so humbled to be at the receiving end of your good wishes. SAM chose to feature lyricist and poet Sudarshan Kamra, better known by his Takhallus Sudarshan Faakir as one who is famous (thanks to his songs being rendered by Begum Akhtar and Jagjit Singh) yet remains in the shadows when the topic of famous Ghazal writers come up. Among the rare tribe of Non-Muslim Shaayar's from Punjab, Faakir deserved to be brought to limelight and that's exactly what SAM attempted to do. The details of songs
आदमी आदमी को क्या देगा, जो भी देगा , ख़ुदा देगा , says SAM of his life story. The lines - इश्क़ का ज़हर पी लिया फ़ाकिर , अब मसीहा भी क्या दवा देगा is his love story, where he fell in love and got married to his love. ज़िन्दगी को करीब से देखो, इसका चेहरा तुम्हे रुला देगा is a reminder to the unfortunate end to this love story from which SAM says he still hasn't recovered and ज़िन्दगी अभी भी रुला रही है उन्हें Our good wishes with you and we know the love of your life was listening to your presentation and gave you a warm hug, from wherever she is A Touching narrative, great choice of songs weaved through the threads to human emotions. खूब दोहराया SAM भाई !! Nandkishor Desai | 23rd Mar 2024Life is complicated. Don't try to find answers because when you find the answers, life changes the questions.
~ Unknown Truly, life's throws up many questions and songs in Hindi Films look at this position from various sides of the human spectrum. Happiness, sorrow, anger, frustration, helplessness, love, hatred and many other emotions have been spoken about by lyricists in their songs as questions and this is what Nandkishor Desai (popularly known as NKD) touched upon in his presentation. Golfers are known to have a sense of purpose, honesty to the boot, passion & confidence about the craft and above all humility in their demeanor. NKD is an avid golfer and displays all of these characteristics both in life and in his passion for Film Music. A true connoisseur that he is, NKD, like the Single Malt he loves, gets better with age :) His songs feature questions that the characters in them ask to different people, sometimes to themselves. The big question that NKD himself faced while choosing the 10 songs was - which ones to leave out? Here's the listing of his songs.
Take a bow NKD!!!. An unexplored topic, engrossing narration, excellent choice of songs made me hear all the songs again the next day with renewed interest & intent. Suresh Kulkarni | 16th Mar 2024 When you have a Chief Risk Officer of a Finance Company presenting his set of songs, one would expect him to present a set of songs which are time tested on the popularity meter. If that same person also happens to be a Business Intelligence and Data Analyst specialist, then you would also expect a set of songs to be deeply researched into. Well, Suresh Kulkarni took the risk of choosing rare songs (with a few exceptions) but his deep research and analysis proved to be attraction of his presentation.
As the title suggests, many moods of Asha Bhosle was his theme and I empathize with his difficulty of choosing 10 songs from the oeuvre of work of the Diva which runs into thousands of songs ... equivalent of lifting the "Shiv Dhanush" as Suresh himself put it, in his introduction to his PMP. So, here's his pick of 10 songs of various moods of Asha with 10 different composers as a tribute to the lady who stood shoulder to shoulder with his elder illustrious sister.
Asha Bhosle is a living legend, whose presence we sometimes seem to take for granted. Despite some obvious misses like Khayyam, Madan Mohan and SD Burman, I salute Suresh for being brave enough to pick up rare songs which sometimes don't go down well with the audiences of a MP/PMP. In his profession he must have done this job of picking up or picking out risks. Here too he did a great job of picking up his songs :) Manik Gumte | 9th Mar 2024 Manik Gumte followed the theme of R. Parthasarathy who a few days ago had presented duet songs of Mohd. Rafi with other male singers. Only he reversed the gender of the singer(s). Manik chose to present songs of Lata Mangeshkar with other female singers as his theme. Quite a challenging theme considering that Manik chose to not enter into the decade starting from 70s. It's quite natural for listeners to wonder who outside of Asha Bhosle & Geeta Dutt would feature since the number of female duets itself is handful in Hindi Film Music (HFM)
Allow me to get Asha Bhosle and Geeta Dutt out of the way at the start as these take a big share of Lata's female duets. As one would expect Lata's duets with Asha Bhosle and Geeta Dutt were popular ones and did not catch us with surprise.
Let's now look at the other eight duets featured in the show.
Credit to Manik for the theme chosen and the deep dive in bringing out these singers who collaborated with Lata in all female duets. A not very often spoken about theme and I am glad, Manik chose to highlight it. As always, a treasure trove of discovery came out of the session. Manik may have found the camera focus a bit discomforting but his songs more than made up for that, leaving a sweet aftertaste. Indranath Mukherjee | 7th Mar 2024 The Gitanjali Express connects Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Bombay (now Mumbai) two cities varied in their cultures and ethos. One common factor that connects them is Music, though of different kinds. Mumbai has for nearly a century remained the bedrock of Hindi film music, while Kolkata is steeped in the work of Tagore (Rabindra Sangeet) and Kazi Nazrul Islam (Nazrul Geethi)
Indranath Mukherjee in the presentation sought to bind the two by presenting his favorite set of 10 songs which have their inspirations in Bangla songs / compositions. He showcased the work of Tagore, Himangshu Dutta, Sudhin Dasgupta, Nachiketa Ghosh, Nazrul and also the folk influence from which the HFM adapted to their needs of Hindi Films. Himangshu Dutta Once when Salil Chowdhury was asked if Tagore was the father of modern Bengali Music, he replied in the negative. According to Salil, Himangshu Dutta should have been conferred that title. An accomplished singer and composer, Himangshu coincidentally was also born in Comilla the birthplace of S D Burman. A trained classical singer, he also learnt to write notations at a very early age. The two songs chosen by Indranath to showcase Himangshu were.
Nachiketa Ghosh A Medical Doctor by qualification, Nachiketa found love in music. Starting in the early 50s, Nachiketa composed predominantly in Bangla and Oriya languages and is considered a versatile and rounded composer. Indranath chose a Bangla song which was adapted in Hindi and chose to play both of them back-to-back. The caramelized melody captivated the listeners, many of whom were listening to it for the first time.
Kazi Nazrul Islam Popularly called the "Bidrohi Kobi" (the Rebel Poet) Nazrul has and continues to have a towering influence in Bengal due to a large body of poetry, music, stories on varied themes like equality, justice, anti-imperialism, humanity and love. His strong opposition to all forms of bigotry and fundamentalism, including religious, caste based and gender-based makes him the popular poet of liberal masses. Indranath showcased two of his songs adapted into HFM.
Sudhin Dasgupta A prolific composer in the Bengali Film Industry, Sudhin is largely credited to having given a modern touch to the orchestration in Bengali film songs. A talented musician who could play several instruments with ease, he graduated from the Royal school of Music, London. Sudhin has composed music for over 50 Bengali films. The song that Indranath picked for showcasing Sudhin had an interesting story behind it. He explained that the Bangla song - "Ei Chhaya Ghera Kalo Ratey" which was composed by Sudhin caught the imagination of Salil and he requested Sudhin's permission to adapt this song into Hindi. Thus, was born "Suhana Safar Aur Yeh Mausam Haseen" from "Madhumati" which was played on the show by Indranath Rabindranath Tagore A Nobel Laurette in Literature, Tagore was a polymath. A poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, educationist and painter, he is also the writer of the National Anthem of two nations - India and Bangladesh. He is believed to have composed over 2000 songs which today form a part of Rabindra Sangeet Indranath's showcase song was "Saawan Ki Raaton Mein" from the film "Prem Patra" . This wonderfully haunting songs with the sounds of the "Toofan" blended with Salil's Western Classical orchestration is a treat to the ears. Folk influenced Songs
The journey on the Gitanjali express was wonderfully curated by Indranath and a good eyeopener to many in the audiences who may not have had an exposure to Modern Bengali music. Kudos to him for choosing such a theme and walking us through the journey. We stand richer thanks to his insights on tonight's show. 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. 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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