Thread by @Raaga_Suresh

[Music Thread] In the morning, I promised I would do two threads today. One on books, which I did and one on music, which I will do now. Books and Music are two things associated with Saraswati

The music thread will be about music directors of Indian Film Music across different languages. These will be the old (and sometimes forgotten) masters of Indian Film Music.

In a recent article on Lata's 90th Birthday, Baradwaj Rangan had mentioned that not many youngsters listen to Lata. If that is the case with Lata, then the cases of Anil Biswas, Sajjad Hussain et al is even worse. Many don't even know their name

Having said that I also feel that if pointed in the right direction there are lot of youngsters who will dig the treasures available. This is an effort to point towards some music directors, especially for the youngsters to discover them

This is because good music is eternal. There are many many who want to listen to what is fashionable but there will always be a set of people who want to search and discover the eternal. This thread is for such people.

Let me first start with the Hindi film music directors. I am not going to just list all the old MDs. Instead I am just going to point to those MDs who have given me great joy. So you may find some famous MDs missing. Probably it is not due to oversight :))

The Hindi film music director I want to talk about is Kemchand Prakash. You will take some time to get used to his music. It will sound odd first but once you cross the hurdle, you will love him. Here is a song from 'Mahal'

Next comes a personal favorite of mine, Anil Biswas, aka Anilda. He was one of the early modernist of Hindi film music. His melodies are to die for. Here is 'door papiha bole' in Suraiya's voice

Sajjad Hussain is another music director I go to often. Though he did only a few films (around 16 I think) he has left behind a lasting legacy. The superb 'woh ayenge' from 'Khel', in the voice of Samshad Begum

C Ramachandra was a trend setter who introduced rock-n-roll into Hindi film music. The truth is that he was also a great melody maker, whose songs were heard throughout India. The Bageshree based 'jaag dard-e-ishq' from 'Anarkali'

If you want to know why Lata is the legend she is, listen to her voice in this song.

Now I will talk about two outstanding melody makers. The first one is Madan Mohan. His melodies are timeless and his combination with Lata is legendary. He was great with other singers as well. Here is Mukesh with 'booli huyi yaaden' from Sanjog

It is very difficult for me to just give you one Madan Mohan beauty. So for you, here is Lata with another beauty. 'baiyan na daro' from Dastak This movie fetched Madanmohan a National Award I think

The man who matched Madan Mohan in terms of melodic skills was Roshan. While Lata is generally associated with Madan Mohan, her work for Roshan is no less melodic. 'jurm-e-ulfat' from 'Tajmahal' What a beauty this is.

One more Roshan for you. The iconic 'Barsat Ki Raat' song, 'zindagi bar nahin boolenge'

Salil Chowdary, aka, Salilda, was a man who loved to experiment, just like Sajjad Hussain. He gave us lot of unforgettable melodies. His tunes had a certain complexity without compromising on melody. 'do akhiyan jukhi jukhi' from 'Prem Patra'

Jaidev was another music director who probably didn't get his due. He has some amazing numbers to his credit. Here he tunes a Saharyar poem perfectly. 'seene mein jalan' from 'Gaman'

Ghulam Mohammad did not do too many films either but his 'Mirza Ghalib' and 'Pakeezha' are eternal, immortal. 'nukta cheen' from 'Mirza Ghalib' based on Kalyani (Yaman). Suraiya's voice

S D Burman survived many changes in fashions. Somehow he kept himself and his music youthful such that he stayed relevant in every era. Here is Lata from 'Sazaa'

Khayyam died recently and I written a post about him in my blog. He was a wonderful melody maker. Here is Talat from 'Footpath'

From Hindi we will move to Malayalam. The first one I want to introduce you to is Baburaj Master. His combination with Janaki was top class and well loved. There was a touch of N.Indian music in some of his tunes. 'taliritta kinakal' by Janaki

Devarajan master was another music director who gave lot of great melodies and was loved by all music lovers. His music used to be played a lot in our music room when I was doing my masters. 'swarna chamaram' Leela. Based on Kalyani

Dakshinamurthy Swami was a well respected music director. Raja considered him as one of his gurus. He had a wonderful knack of adapting Carnatic ragams to film music. Here is an example. 'swapnangal swapnangale'

Ravindran master was a music director who was involved as the music director in some of the Malayalam classics and his music played a great part in making them the classics they are. Here is the superb 'thamburu kulir' from 'Soorya Gayathri'

Johnson master was another music director who gave some lovely music. 'gopike nin viral'

For a brief period, Shyam was a shining star and he too gave some wonderful melodies. I have a feeling that he was very influenced by Salilda. Here is 'mainakam'

Salilda has also given some superb songs in Malayalam including the music for the legendary 'Chemeen'. Here he is with 'sandhye'

It is close to midnight now so I will put an end to this thread. Will do one on Kannada and Telugu music directors on some other day.

Finally want to acknowledge the fact that @nom_d_plum was the man who had first asked me to do a thread like this. He had asked long time back. Only now I was able to get to it. So thanks are due to him