#395

        Song:   jiyuunga jab talak tere fasaane yaad aayenge
                kasak ban kar mohabbat ke taraane yaad aayenge

        Film:   Chingari (1953)
        Singer: Talat Mahmood
        Music:  Manohar
        Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
        *ing:   ?

There are certain songs whose structure, composition and  musical
patterns are a non-trivial break from the norm, and not always in
a bad way. They are what I'd call latent or disguised melodies  ;
more  often  than  not  they  rely on the singer to capture their
nuances and make the tune sound melodious.   Or  at  times,  they
require  a  certain  quality  or breed of voice to exploit it, so
they sound best when sung by a specific singer, as opposed to the
"empirical" melodies that sound sweet in any good singer's voice.
Empirical melodies tend to be inherently simple compositions.

This song falls into that "special quality"  category.  It  is  a
subdued,  unassuming melody, not as strikingly deviant as, say, a
Sajjad or a Hridaynath Mangeshkar tune. Yet, I think no one  else
could  have  made  it  come  out the way Talat has. The tune idly
hovers over the same set of closely spaced notes in "tere fasaane
yaad aayenge", almost indecisively. It seems as if it is confused
about whether to go higher, or sink lower  and  ends  up  staying
right  where  it  is.  And  Talat's  tremulousness  bolsters this
indecision admirably. It almost seems the tune was composed  with
Talat in mind. A beautiful song.

Let me sign off with one of  Sahir's  antaraas  in  this  song  :
        kahii.n  guu.njegii  shehnaaii  to  legaa  dard  angDaaii
        hazaaro.n gham tere gham ke bahaane yaad aaye.nge I  like
the second line.

Anyone have any more information on this lesser known MD's output
?


Guest Author: Hrishi Dixit