RMIM Archive Article "383".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Lata's Best - Quiz
# Introduction, Questions 1-2
# Posted by: Satish Subramanian
# Source: Illustrated Weekly of India
# Author: Raju Bharatan
#
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Lata's Best
Quiz
by Raju Bharatan
Illustrated Weekly of India
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In a series of articles I intend to post a quiz on Lata
which was published in 1987 in Illustrated Weekly of India.
Each article will have one question about a Lata song, sung
for a particular music director. You can post your answers,
discuss about the song, and anything else about songs of
Lata for that music director on RMIM. The intent is not to
select winners but to reminisce and discuss songs of Lata.
The original article was by Raju Bharatan. The introduction
to the article read as:
-----
Lata Mangeshkar is to song what Ravi Shankar is to the
sitar. And Ravi Shankar is but one of the 20 composers
whose movie songs feature in the recently released
four-cassette album of Lata's favorite songs.
Raju Bharatan has followed Lata's career closely
through her 40 years. But for the magic of her voice he
says, he may not have chosen to divide his interest
between cricket and music. Now he draws on his
knowledge and background to create an unique quiz in
which Lata's best is questioned in a historical per-
spective.
- Ill. Weekly of India, May 1987
-----
The reference is to the "My Favourites" album of Lata. In
each question in the quiz Raju Bharatan ponders over Lata's
choices in this album. People who have read his biography on
Lata (released in 1995) will see in this quiz snatches of
material that have been elaborated in the book.
Before going to the actual questions, here is a small quiz:
In the above introduction there is a mention of Lata's
"40 years" of singing. The year of the article is 1987.
But in another 1967 article, Lata's interview appeared
marking the completion of "25 years" of her career. In
1992, HMV released a series of albums commemorating her
"50 years" of playback singing (concurring with the
1967 article), but it was the same HMV that released
the 1987 album too.
So, why is there a difference/mistake in counting?
--
bye
satish
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Question 1:
Lata's Best?
Raju Bharatan, for Illustrated Weekly of India
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Master Ghulam Haider was, musically speaking, to Lata what
Onkar Prasad Nayyar was to Asha. These two composers from
the Punjab were the ones to spot the vocal spark in the two
sisters. Therefore, it is no cause for surprise that Lata's
legendary four-cassette album, "My Favourites", should come
to be launched with a Ghulam Haider composition, "Bedard
tere dard ko seene se laga ke", from "Padmini".
What is surprising, however, is that Lata should have picked
this Noorjahan-style solo from "Padmini" (1948) rather than
her first ever solo for Master Ghulam Haider from "Majboor"
(1948) "dil mera toda mujhe kahin ka na chooda tere pyaar
ne".
It also happens to be the impromptu solo that Ghulam Haider
composed exclusively for her when the two were returning by
a local train after S.Mukerji at Filmistan had rudely
rejected Lata's voice as "too shrill" for "Shaheed". Thus
the three solos earmarked for Lata in Filmistan's "Shaheed"
(1948)
1. badnaam na ho jaaye
2. hum kahaan aur tum kahaan
3. aana hai to aa jaao
came to be reluctantly recorded by Ghulam Haider in the mar-
dana voice of Surinder Kaur.
It was this action of S.Mukerji's that prompted Ghulam
Haider to predict:
"Reject her this time if you think it wise, but there
will come a time when producers and directors will come
crawling to this girl's feet."
Bombay Talkies' "Majboor" and her "dil mera toda" solo in it
thus became landmarks in Lata's career. Yet it was not this
solo, but a Lata-Mukesh duet from "Majboor" that caught the
public imagination. This duet thus became Lata's first hit
under the baton of Ghulam Haider.
Recall that Lata-Mukesh duet from "Majboor" which also
became a symbol, in the late 1940s, of the British's depar-
ture from India?
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Question 2:
Lata's Best?
Raju Bharatan, for Illustrated Weekly of India
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Another Punjabi composer to create a special vocal niche in
Lata's heart was Shyam Sunder. When the time came for Lata
to pick her Ten Best on the occasion of her silver jubilee
in 1967, her listing came to acquire a prestige of its own
for the inclusion of that all-time great "Lahore" solo
composed for her by Shyam Sunder: "bahaaren phir bhi
aayengi, magar hum tum juda honge".
When 'Malka-e-Taranum' Noorjehan paid her first visit to
India after Partition, it was once again a Shyam Sunder
creation for Lata, "saajan ki galiyan chhod chale" from
"Bazaar", that Miss Mangeshkar opted to render on stage.
Now in her "My Favourites" album, Lata has selected from
"Lahore" her "sun lo sajan meri baat" solo (unforgivably
listed as "sun lo sajan dil ki baat" on the dust-jacket by
HMV), along with her "Alif Laila" duet with Rafi, "kya raat
suhani hai", as two compositions by which to remember Shyam
Sunder.
"Alif Laila" becomes a important film since it was following
her recordings for this Nimmi starrer that Lata developed
serious differences with Shyam Sunder and was not on talking
terms with him for months on end. In the end, only the fact
that Shyam Sunder fell seriously ill and was on his deathbed
made Lata relent. This is not to say that the fault lay with
Lata. Shyam Sunder was known to be fond of his drink and
this could have led to this prolonged hiatus between the
two. In fact, it was when he was 'high' that Shyam Sunder
was supposed to be at his composing best.
Lata was reportedly keen to pick not a Shyam Sunder duet,
but a Shyam Sunder solo, from "Alif Laila" for this album.
No, her choice was not to be, as you might expect, "bahaar
aayee khili kaliyaan" (from the N50450 78 rpm record), but
her "Alif Laila" solo on the reverse of the same record - a
record which, lucklessly, HMV could not find for her.
Know that "Alif Laila" solo carrying the Lata-Shyam Sunder
stamp all over?
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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian