“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,…. it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” Charles Dickens started his “A Tale of Two Cities” with these lines. If we look at the last two months, this has been a period of unmitigated darkness, the winder of irredeemable despair. In fact, the eleventh year of the SOY began in a state of Lockdown, but then it was a piece of statistics for us, these things do not happen to us. The recent second wave has been ferocious beyond imagination, and there is hardly anyone who is unaffected by it.

Our judgment is overshadowed by the recent events. If I look at the eleventh year of SOY as a whole, it has been surprisingly quite a good year. The total of 33 articles in the year is a healthy average I have been maintaining for many years. Out of these, 16 posts, i.e. about half are guest articles; that is an endorsement by the readers who also feel compelled to contribute. Besides our regular contributors N Venkataraman, Ashwin Bhandarkar, DP Rangan, Ashok Vaishnav, Hans Jakhar and Subodh Agrawal, one of the newer readers Rahul Bhagwanrao Muli made his debut, heralding the New Year of 2021 with a post on an interesting theme he described as ‘Hans Akela’. I welcome Mr Muli to the comity of the writers on SOY, and thank all the guest authors for enriching the blog.

We regularly find silent committed readers, who once in a while, drop in just to express their regard for the blog. Another silent reader sent me a very nice article on Shankar-Jaikishan’s Waltz-based songs for publication on the blog. I had to explain to him that guest authors on SOY have graduated from active participants, and some I have invited for very special reasons. He was very understanding and I am grateful to him.

After SOY completed ten years in 2020, which also neatly coincided with the year-wise review of the best songs of 1945, I had thought prolonging the blog might be overstaying my welcome. But the ‘overhang’ year has been like any other year, and I have to thank the readers wholeheartedly for this. The year-wise review continued further back into the Vintage Era with 1944. Between going into the Vintage Era, or the 1950s and 60s, in retrospect, I am happy that I chose the former. A significant landmark has been the Centenary Celebration of Hemant Kumar, which was anchored by Venkataramanji with his superb two-part articles, which was supplemented by Ashokji exploring his different combinations. The comment section continued as the mainstay of the blog. Venkataramanji mentioned that three posts have clocked over 1000 comments in the year – one of the three overflowed from the preceding year. Numbers are not important, it is the quality of comments that not only inform, but also widen our horizon. Some other old posts also had strong re-run.

The Young Singer from Bengal (YSB) who has to remain anonymous for SOY for now

This is a unusual way of talking about a singer who has mesmerised me with his rendition of Chadariya jheeni re jheeni. I have had hours of blissful joy listening to this Kabir mystic verse from the YSB who, in my reckoning is far above most of the singers who have sung it. The black & white video was equally imaginative and created a Sufi-Nirgun environment. That video in its detailed description had given a mobile number and a mail id. When I established contact and expressed my desire to know more about the YSB for presenting him to SOY today, I got a call back that the YSB has got that video pulled down; he was suspicious that someone was trying to exploit it for commercial benefit. I was taken aback, but could understand his paranoia. Once an artist gets some fame, his managers take command of his affairs and discretion. But they are often illogical; his many videos are available on the YT. Since I was keen to present him with Chadariya jheeni re jheeni at the top, he has to remain anonymous for now on SOY.

Ustad Farid Ayaz & Ustad Abu Mohammad

Since I am not able to present YSB’s Kabir, here is a Kabir poem sung by Ustad Farid Ayaz & Ustad Abu Mohammad of Pakistan. Ustad Farid Ayaz was born in 1952 in Hyderabad (India). His family shifted to Karachi, Pakistan in 1956. He learnt classical music from his father, Ustad Munshi Raziuddin Ahmed Khan Qawwal. He sings with his younger brother, Ustad Abu Mohammad. They trace their lineage to one of the disciples of Amir Khusro. In Pakistan, they are known as the flag-bearers of Delhi School of Music. They are one of the most popular qawwals of Pakistan, they are famous for their Sufi singing. In a performance in India, Ustad Farid Ayaz jocularly said that in Pakistan they are known as Delhiwala singers, and in India they are known as Pakistani singers. Ashwin introduced them with their rendering of khayal bandishes in qawwali style.

1. Bhala hua mori gagri phooti (Kabir) by Ustad Farid Ayaz & Ustad Abu Mohammad

In one of his videos the Ustad explains that you can’t understand Kabir from a scholar or a professor, but you have to reach Kabir for understanding him. I don’t know how many of us can reach Kabir, but here is a mystic verse in which the lady expresses satisfaction that her pitcher is broken, now she is spared the drudgery of carrying water.

2. Main Nijam se naina laga aayi re (Amir Khusro) by Ustad Farid Ayaz & Ustad Abu Mohammad

Every qawwal has sung Main to piya se naina laga ayi re. Changing one word does not change the sense, but the duos singing is as good as any you would have heard.

3. Bajuband khul khul jaaye (Bhairavi thumri) by Ustad Farid Ayyaz & Ustad Abu Mohammad

Now the sada suhagan Bhairavi thumri in the voice of the duo. You can’t miss the tear in his eyes. He is overcome by emotion in most of his performances. And you would also notice his reference to Kanhaiya breaking the pitcher of the cow-maidens. If his mehfils in Pakistan have listeners for Radha-Krishna lore, that is some endorsement of the power of music transcending culture and faiths.

The two Ustads are infectious, it is a pleasure to explore them on the YouTube. But I stop here, and present the other singer who was unknown to me until recently.

Reba Muhuri (1930 – 13 May 2011)

I can bet most of you, except our Renaissance Man from Kolkata and a couple of music experts on this blog, would not have heard of Reba Muhuri’s name. But you will not believe if I tell you that most of you must have heard her songs, at least two of her songs. To resolve this puzzle I have to take you from how it all began to how I ‘discovered’ her. Reba Mehuri has since become my top favourite singer for light classical songs, i.e. bhajan, thumri and ghazal, at par with Begum Akhtar and Shobha Gurtu.

Born at Krishnagar of Nadia district in 1930, Muhuri was initiated into music by her musicologist father Amiyanath Sanyal. Despite her marriage with an Army officer at the age of 16, Muhuri continued her music pursuit and was mainly trained by Badi Moti Bai in Banaras. That explains ‘Banaras’ in her voice and why she reminds you of old-timers like Siddheswari Devi and Rasoolan Bai. Muhuri performed in several parts of the country and abroad. Her autobiography `Thumri-o-Baiji` (in Bengali), published in 1986, is regarded highly among the music lovers. I am not aware if its Hindi or English translation has been published. We would look forward to hear more about her from our eminent member of Bhadralok from Kolkata.

She breathed her last after a prolonged illness, in Army Command Hospital, Kolakata on Sunday March 13, 2011.

I give the credit for my ‘discovery’ of Reba Mehuri to Sadanand Kamath who has been writing an excellent series on Hindi film songs in Bengali films. This song posted by him on Atul Song A Day mesmerised me. Anything in Raga Bhimpalasi sounds beautiful, but in this case Reba Muhuri’s voice, too, was exceptional.

4. Mohe laagi lagan guru charanan ki by Reba Muhuri from Jai Baba Felunath (1979), lyrics Meerabai, music Satyajit Ray

This song would remind you of the best of Begum Akhtar, Shobha Gurtu and Juthika Roy.

5. Hey Govind raakho sharan by Reba Muhuri from Jai Baba Felunath (1979), lyrics Surdas, music Satyajit Ray

I was so impressed by her voice that I watched Jai Baba Felunath only for her songs. Here is another gem, now in Raga Desh.

6. Bajaye bansyuriya Shyam jamuna kinare by Reba Muhuri from Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977), lyrics Traditional, music Satyajit Ray

All this discovery led me to Shatranj Ke Khiladi in which she had sung at least two beautiful songs. I have seen that film a number of times, but somehow I did not give much attention to her ‘traditional’ songs.

7. Chhabi dikhala ja baanke sanwariya by Reba Muhuri from Shatranj Ke Khlladi (1977), lyrics Traditional, music Satyajit Ray

She continues her fabulous singing in the film in this semi-classical song. I didn’t realise that I was making these discoveries in the Centenary Year of Satyajit Ray. Since everyone on SOY must have seen Shatranj Ke Khiladi, I claimed that you have heard her songs.

While on Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977), let us refresh our memory of Kanha main tose haari, sung by Pandit Birju Maharaj for Amjad Khan on the screen, playing Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.

8. Kanha main tose haari chhodi saari by Pt. Birju Maharaj for Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977), lyrics Bindadin (Traditional), music Satyajit Ray

Pt Birju Maharaj would often sing the compositions while dancing. The Kathak dancer in the film, I believe, is Saswati Sen, a disciple of Pt Birju Maharaj, dancing to Panditji’s Bhairavi thumri.

9. Barjori naahi re Kanhai (Bhairavi thumri) by Pt. Ajoy Chaktrabarty and Pt Birju Maharaj

One thing leads to another. Thumri, Kathak, Pt. Birju Maharaj took me to this beautiful Bhairavi bandish, sung by Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty. Pandit Birju demonstrates ‘bhaav’ while sitting. Pt. Chakrabarty is the leading exponent of Patiala Gharana, but he introducest this bandish from Agra Gharana. As a lay person, for me the commonality is that both gharanas are conspicuous for their muscular singing. It is also interesting that now very few singers of Patiala Gharana are left in Punjab. I should leave here for the music experts to throw more light on the cross-Gharana fertilization.

10. Chali dulhaniya chhamaachham chhali by Anima Sengupta from Jawab (1942), lyrics Pt Madhur, music Kamal Dasgupta

My Bengal mood led me to this song, picturised on Jamuna, the Paro of Devdas (1935). Jawab had some very well-known songs by Kanan Devi, such as Toofan Mail, ye duniya Toofan Mail; Ae chaand chhup na jana; and Kuchh yaad rahe to sun kar ja, tu haan kar ja ya na kar ja. Anima Dasgupta is a new discovery. Though the video quality is poor, the song is absolutely delightful. (My Bengal romance has nothing to do with the famous Didi of Bengal, slaying the marauders from outside threatening to overrun her Ma, Maati and Manush.

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11. Thillana (Bharatnatyam) from Chori Chori (1956), sung by ML Vasanthakumari

From Kathak dance in pure classical form in films, let us refresh our memory of a pure Bharatnatyam dance by Kumari Kamala (estranged wife of R K Laxman) in the film Chori Chori (1956).

This thillana is sung by ML Vasanthakumari, one of the great female Trinity of Carnatic music (the other two being MS Subbulakshmi and DK Pattamal). I take thillana as Carnatic equivalent of tarana, but while tarana is a very common part of vocal performance, thillana is mainly composed for dance performances. Experts may please throw more light on this. HFGK mentions in footnote that this thillana may not have been composed by Shankar-Jaikishan. Mr S Gopalakrishnan, who regularly shares with me classical music with some interesting information, mentions that its choreography was done by Bharatnatyam exponent KN Dandayudhapani Pillai. It is composed in ragas Hindolam, Mohanam and Kapi. The credit for including this in the film must be given to AVM Productions, Madras, who made this film. You might recall that the famous Sai Sisters had other dance songs in this film. Kumari Kamala was not as prolific as them, but she did have some landmark dances in the films Ram Rajya and Kismet (1943), such as her forced dance as the child Mumtaz Shanti at the instance of her drunkard, selfish father, unstoppable on the tabla, which crippled her.

Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
1. The information on Ustad Farid Ayaz is taken from Wikipedia.
2. The information on Reba Muhuri is taken from Sadanand Kamath, and her obituaries published in the Telegraph and Zee News on 15 March 2011.
3. The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This blog does not claim any right over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.

The post Songs of Yore completes eleven years first appeared on Songs Of Yore.