Though we belong to Mumbai, we have settled down in Ahmedabad since last more than two decades; and one of the greatest benefits of living in Ahmedabad is that we can have some time to ourselves even on a full working day, if we manage to leave the office on time. That time can be used for social functions, friends' or family gatherings or cultural events - whatever.
Yesterday was one such day with a calender entry of the Gramophone Club Musical Night. The Gramophone Club is a fantastic group which organises six musical nights every year and all the songs are old or retro Hindi film songs. Every programme has a particular theme like songs of particular actor or music director or singer or lyricist or romance, classical songs in films etc. We have been members of this group since last 3 years or so, though the group itself has completed 25 years of their musical journey. And boy, the kind of programmes they bring out every time are simply fantabulous. The singers (different set of singers on different dates but they keep making repeat appearances) are always top notch. The orchestra is one of the best (Sharad Khandekar - conductor on keyboard, Sanket Khandekar on electric guitar, Akshat Khandekar on keyboard, Hemant Joshi on tabla, MiteshBhai on dholak, Congo, Rakesh Jani on plates, Ramakant on drums, Sinha on Saxophone, Appu Vaz on flute and Thakkar on base guitar). The comperers are the best and so the result is an excellent musical experience for the audience every single time with a lasting impact.
So, while in last three years, on multiple occassions, I felt like writing about the same but somehow, it was not done. But, today, I could not hold myself back. Why? What is the reason ?
Yesterday's theme was Chorus based songs and to provide that chorus, a group named Swaransh Pathak and Group from Indore had joined the orchestra. Swaransh was the chorus conductor and then there were seven young people - 2 boys and 5 girls Ashish, Simarat, Vaishali, Priya, Aayushi and Sujit; and they made every single song that much more worth listening to with their awesome choir chorus singing talent. So much so, that in every song, for certain chorus pieces, they made the audience forget the lead singers who themselves were delivering every song with their own panache.
The lead singers Anupama Roy with excellent voice quality suitable to sing high pitched notes close to Lata's style, Sagar Saavarkar and Prasanna Rao reminding the audience of Mohammad Rafi, Aanand Vinod performing mainly Kishore Kumar nos and Radhika Nande with a versetile voice with silky smoothness.
Here is the list of songs performed in yesterday's chorus special night.
वन्दे मातरम्
समा हैं सुहाना
आया सावन झुमके
कहना ही क्या के मैं एक अंजान से जा मिले
न आखों मे सोना
दिल के झरोके मे खुद को
कौन हैं जो सपनो मे आया
पैसा ये पैसा
अजीब दास्ता हैं ये
ना मांगू सोना चांदी
हम पे ये किसने हरा रंग डाला
बिछडे सभी बारी बारी
हमको मन की शक्ति देना
बार बार देखो हजार बार
हैं अगर दुश्मन दुश्मन
ओम शांती ओम
ये हवा ये नदी का किनारा
आ अब लोट चले
गोरीया कहा तेरा देस रे
अल्ला ये अदा कैसी है इन हसीनो मे
रुक जाना नहीं तू कही हार के
The first song "Vande Mataram" from the film Anandmath wherein Mother India is being praised with gusto and patriotic fervor thru the ultimate voice known in this century, the legendary Lata, was sung on the stage by Anupama and the Chorus of course. Why the chorus - because the canvas of the song is that the whole country is praising the motherland and hence it is important to impart that feeling of appeal as large as the whole national population. More so, it is being declared to the whole world and hence the chorus used is a Full throttled one, not being in background but along with main singers in full volume. Full of "josh".
The next song "Sama hai Suhana suhana" is a song with a totally different feeling and mood called romance where subtlety, keeping the matter of heart close to the heart or restricted only to the one for whom it is meant and hence the chorus was mainly humming, lingering in the background. The tone and pitch of the chorus is hence mild.
Or, the epic song "Bichhade sabhi bari bari" from the Magnum Opus "Kaagaz ke Phool" wherein the scale of the realisation of sadness for the hero (Gurudatt) is so much larger than life, that the chorus with melancholic notes brings out the ultimate impact as desired by the Great Maestro called SD Burman.
All such intricacies and much more was being explained by the comperer Sandip Panchvatkar in very apt words making the whole experience more meaningful.
What a night! What a night full of all above wonderful songs, full of melody, harmony, rhythm, beats, instrumental pieces and above all the Chorus effect - highlight of the night; and the best part was looking at all those 7 young souls enjoying the old songs thoroughly and grooving lightly to the music, delivering their parts, be it humming, be it voice effects, be it clapping, be it contra melodies, be it cross pitched lines; with ease, grace and happiness. The joy that they felt while doing their bit in the whole performance could be seen from their tapping feet, grooving bodies, moving hands, overall body language and most importantly the smiles full of joy and enjoyment. And they were being led and conducted ably by Swaransh Pathak who himself has got a magical voice.
In modern times where most of the young generation is under the influence of club music which as per my limited knowledge depends mainly on rhythms and beats or chords, looking at these young souls not only connecting to but thoroughly enjoying the old Hindi film songs was a great feeling. Such old Hindi film songs which are more encompassing - not only rhythm, bests, chords but also melody, harmony, rhyming, lyrics, ragas - giving more complete and fulfilling experience to the artists as well as audience and keeping one rooted to the culture through music.
It is not about only moving hips and chest to the beats but letting all above-mentioned aspects of Hindi music touching one's soul. It is this kind of music and musical experience that nourishes and enriches the artists, making them matured in their expression of the art form but keeping them young in mind and at heart.
When I witness something like this, I get overwhelmed by the possibility of more and more youngsters getting the opportunity to explore this experience and enrich their lives.
Platforms like The Gramophone Club would give them such opportunity. Though, I would like to see more young people in the audience.
I know about a person in Ahmedabad. His name is Akul Rawal and he is an ardent fan of RD Burman. Such a fan that taking inspiration from RD's experiments of sound effect, rhythms he has invented /made more than 100 new musical instruments. He also coaches lots of very young minds about RD's music, it's specialities, the possibilities of inspiring oneself from this learning thereby serving to a greater cause of making our Hindi music interesting to youngsters.
And the probable outcomes could be in the form of Swaransh Group or something similar.
Even now i.e. next day morning, my mind still has those superb notes and chorus going on in the background. And more profoundly, in the eyes of my mind I see those seven young people enjoying the old songs thoroughly and grooving lightly to the music, delivering their parts, be it humming, be it voice effects, be it clapping, be it contra melodies, be it cross pitched lines; with ease, grace and happiness. The joy that they felt while doing their bit in the whole performance could be seen from their tapping feet, grooving bodies, moving hands, overall body language and most importantly the smiles full of joy and enjoyment. My mind also sees the hand and finger movements of Swaransh guiding and leading his group through the job of giving perfect support, in the form of perfect choir chorus singing, to the lead singer and yet maintain the Group's own identity in the form of the wonderful musical performance.
Our lives got enriched yesterday with soulful music. We learnt a thing or two about how to listen to the chorus - atleast I learnt. My listening now of any song with chorus will now definitely go beyond only good chorus to the intricacies of chorus singing and reminding me of those seven faces showing the possibility of more youngsters getting enrolled into such music.
Thanks to them all and all the best to them for their journey through their musical life.
Manish Mohile
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