Annual Swar Sadhana event in aid of Hohepa Charity
Venkat Raman
The Golden Age of Hindi film music with Sachin Dev Burman will return, at least for an evening, as a musical programme gets under way in Auckland in May.
Organised by the Auckland based Swar Sadhana Academy of Indian Music and Ravi Shetty Concepts, the Programme will put together some of the finest songs of Sachin Dev Burman, paying tribute to the late maestro.
Called ‘Sunehri Yaadein,’ the event will be held on Saturday, May 26, 2018 from 630 pm at Dorothy Winston Centre, Auckland Girls Grammar School located at Howe Street in Auckland Central.
Tickets, priced at $20 per person are now on sale.
Hohepa Auckland
Third in the annual ‘Sunehri Yaadein’ annual series, the programme this year is being held in aid of ‘Hohepa Auckland,’ a charitable organisation that provides people with intellectual disabilities to live, learn and work with others of all abilities.
About S D Burman
Born on October 1, 1906, Sachin Dev Burman in Comilla (Bangladesh) to Raj Kumari Nirmala Devi, the Royal Princess of Manipur and Nabadwipchandra Dev Burman, Maharaja of Tripura (1849-1862), Sachin Dev Burman was the youngest of the five sons in a family of nine children. His mother died when he was just two years of age.
He started as a musician in the Calcutta Radio Station in 1920.
He began composing songs for Bengali films in 1937 and later become one of the most successful Bollywood film music composers.
With more than 100 films to his credit, his songs were known for their light semi-classical and folk style of Bengal. His son Rahul Dev Burman was also a celebrated music composer in the Indian film industry.
Almost all leading singers from 1950 to 1970, including Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Dutt, Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Asha Bhosle and Shamshad Begum. Mukesh and Talat Mahmood have songs composed by Burman. He also rendered about 14 Hindi and 13 Bengali film songs.
Partnership with Dev Anand
Burman joined Dev Anand to compose songs for ‘Afsar’ (1950), the first movie of the latter’s company Navketan International Films Private Limited. The success of their second film ‘Baazi’ (1951) elevated Burman to the top of the Hindi film industry music.
The jazzy musical score in ‘Baazi’ revealed a new facet of singer Geeta Dutt, who was mainly known for melancholy songs and bhajans. While every song in the film was a hit, ‘Tadbir Se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer,’ a ghazal that was occidentalised into a seductive song became famous.
The ‘Jaal’ song ‘Yeh Raat, Yeh Chandni’ by Hemant Kumar is an all-time great classic.
The song, ‘Thandi Hawain’ from ‘Naujawan’ (1951) sung by Lata Mangeshkar was one of his first major hits. It made Lata very famous as also poet Sahir Ludhianvi.
The songs sung by Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar became popular.
Guru Dutt and others
He also wrote music for the Guru Dutt classics such as ‘Pyaasa’ (1957) and ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ (1959). Among his other hits of that decade were ‘House No. 44’ (1955), ‘Funtoosh’ (1956) and ‘Solva Saal’ (1958). In 1959 came Sujata, a masterpiece by Bimal Roy, and Burman created magic again with ‘Jalte Hai Jiske Liye’ by Talat Mahmood.
Asha Bhosle promoted
In 1957, Burman fell out with Lata Mangeshkar and adopted her younger sister Asha Bhosle as his lead female singer. The team of Burman, Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri became popular for their duet songs.
Thus, he was responsible, along with O P Nayyar for shaping Asha Bhosle as a singer of repute, who became his daughter-in-law after she married Rahul Dev Burman.
Rise of Kishore
In 1958, Burman composed music for Kishore Kumar’s house production ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi,’ the same year in which he was awarded the ‘Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.’
He remains the only music director to have won the prestigious award.
He often took inspiration from Folk, Hindustani Classical Music as well as day-to-day sounds of life.
During an interview with Filmfare, he explained how he had composed the ‘Kaala Pani’ tune for ‘Hum Bekhudi Mein Tum,’ a song written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, rendered by Mohammed Rafi and picturised on Dev Anand.
He said that he was inspired by Hindustani Classical ‘Raag Chayyanat’ and Muslim Muezzin’s call for prayers that one hears daily near a Mosque to compose the song.
More on Sachin Dev Burman and Sunehri Yaadein will appear in our next issue.
