Who else? It is indeed Mohammed Rafi.  The best quality male voice that Indian Music has ever produced – it is Rafi Sahab’s voice. His voice was pure as crystal, with high quality tone & texture and his singing was flawless. He could sing any type of song effortlessly and with great emotion & ecstasy.

Mohammed Rafi got his classical training from Ustad Abdul Vahid Khan and Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan. Rafi got a break in playback singing through music director Shyam Sundar. However, he became a popular singer after Naushad Sahab signed him for film Baiju Bawra. O duniya ke rakhwale, Mana tarapat hari darshan ko aaj became the hit songs. Soon, he became a favourite singer of popular music directors like O P Nayyar, S D Burman & Shankar Jaikishan of that era and created great hits with them. Rafi became voice of Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand and major heroes during those times. He also gave his voice to Singer Kishore Kumar who started his career as an actor.

Rafi’s speciality was that he could sing classical based songs very smoothly, I mean, without compromsing on his texture of voice. The variations he sang were with ease and he maintained the softness of his voice while singing them. He had tremendous range of voice and hence he could maintain his voice quality while singing high notes and even low notes.

Rafi is the only singer who has sung some of the longest songs in hindi films such as ‘Ye duniya ye mehfil mere kaam ki nahi’, ‘Mere Mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam’, ‘Rang aur noor ki barat kise pesh karoon’.

Some of his songs which I like the most are ‘Zindagi bhar nahi bhulegi vo barsat ki rat’, ‘Tumhari zulfa ke saye me shaam’, ‘Teri aakhon ke siva duniya mein rakkha kya hai’, ‘Tere mere sapane ab ek rang hai’, ‘Ye zulfa agar khulke bikhar jaye to acchha’, ‘Mai nigahen tere chehre se hataoon kaise’, ‘Chhoo lene do nazuk hothon ko’, ‘Ek haseen shaam ko dil mera kho gaya’, ‘Achal mein saja le na kaliya’, ‘Man re tu kahe na dhir dhare’, ‘Dard e dil dard e jigar’..the list will go on.

Some of his duets that I like are ‘Deewana hua badal’, ‘Isharon Isharon mein’, ‘Aaja Aaja mai hun pyar tera’, ‘Abhi na jao chhodkar’, ‘Chura liya hai tumne jo dil ko’, ‘Phir miloge is baat ka vada kar lo’ (Sung with Asha) & ‘Ye dil deewana hai’, ‘Dil Pukare’, ‘Tasvir teri dil mein’, ‘Teri bindiya re’ (sung with Lata).

Rafi’s voice was made for any kind of song be it a romantic song, a patriotic song, a classical based song, a comedy song, a fast hindi pop song. Rafi sang each song with great ease and perfection. Unfortunately he lived only for 55 years and after him the film industry struggled to find another voice like him.

Today you may find singers who imitate Kishore Kumar but you won’t find another Mohammed Rafi. Rafi truely was a complete singer! 

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi at the age of 82 still sings with same energy & passion. He is the most powerful singer in hindustani classical music today. Bhimsen Joshi belongs to the Kirana Gharana. He is the disciple of Sawai Gandharva who was one of the initiator of Kirana Gharana. Sawai Gandharva was a chief disciple of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is a master of Khayal form of singing.  Any Raga form he sings he goes deep into it and brings out all the details and presents it in a very powerful manner. His voice & his notes (Swara) has got so much depth that it gets registered in your mind & body when you listen to him. When you see him perform, he sings with full passion, his entire body moves from head to the waist in the sitting posture. He is probably the only performer who has tried to give more than 100% in each of his performances.  The hours of riyaz (practice) that he has gone through in his young age has helped him to reach great heights during his performances. To me, he is the greatest hindustani vocalist of all times. He has a natural heavy voice which is so close to the nature. If the mountains like the himalayas could talk or sing they would resemble Bhimsen’s voice.

The speciality about Panditji’s singing is the depth in the khayal (very slow beat siniging) singing, the perfection of notes & the prolonged high speed tanas! When he performs he dominates not only the notes, but the taal & laya in a very natural way. The music flows in him and comes out with great aggression. The best thing about his singing is his voice quality which he has maintained for more than six decades. While singing both the lower & higher notes, his voice is so clear and profound.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has sung many bhajans in Kannad (his mother tongue), marathi & hindi. His bhajans in marathi are most popular and are all classics. If you do not like classical music so much, you should atleast have a collection of Bhimsen Joshi’s bhajans in your home. It will definitely create a positive energy & happy atmosphere in your house. You should listen to bhajans early morning, but anytime is fine.

Pt. Bhimsen Joshi has received many awards including the Padma Vibhushan and the sangeet natak academy award. Some of his disciples like Upendra Bhat and his son Srinivas follow his style and singing, but I like Anand Bhate (who was a child prodigy and was named as Anand Gandharva) who has been a disciple of Panditji but maintains his own style & voice.

The best quality of Panditji is his simplicity. He is a very humble & kind person. He has been very successful & famous individual but success has never got into his head. To me, he is the ‘Real Artist’.

Well, the other day I saw movie ‘Om Shanti Om’. Movie was good. Liked Shah Rukh’s acting!!! BTW, I am Aamir Khan fan. Anyway, the songs in the movie were all decent, except the ‘Darde Disco’ (I really wonder lyricist’s imagination to arrive at this terminology). The one song I liked was ‘Tumko paya hai ke jaise khoya hun..’ After the movie was over I kept singing the tune and realised that there are many songs on similar lines or in same pattern both in rythm & melody. ‘Pukarata Chala hun mai’ (Mere Sanam), ‘Dilbar mere kab tak mujhe aise hi tadpaoge’ (Film: Satte pe satta), ‘Mein shayar to nahi’ (Film: Bobby), ‘Ye rate ye mausam nadi ka kinara..’(Film: Dilli Ka Thug), ‘Ye hawa ye nadi ka kinara..’, ’Dil ki nazar se nazaro ke dil se(Film: Anadi)’, ’Ye jo Mohabbat hai..’ (Film: Kati Patang)..& so on.  All these songs are played on 6 beats, but even the notes are similar and so the melody.  Are these songs based on some Raga? They must be close to some Raga. Is it Kirwani? I think so. Well, I am not an expert on classical music but would appreciate if someone can come up with the name of the Raga…Thanks!

Naushad Ali was one of the only Music Directors who composed maximum classical songs for Hindi Films during his time.  Perhaps, he was the only choice as a Music Director for most historic movies. Naushad Ali learned classical music during his young age from Ustad Ghurbat Ali, Ustad Yusuf Ali in Lucknow and moved to Mumbai later with an aspiration to become a Music Director. He also learned to play the Piano and worked as a musician initially for a studio orchestra. He started his career as a Music Arranger for Khemchand Prakash and eventually became a Music Director in 1940s. By 1960 he was one of the most popular Music Director. Some of his memorable films are Rattan, Shahjehan, Baiju Bawra, Mother India, Mughal-E-Azam, Pakeezah, Ganga Jamuna, Mere Mehboob.

The speciality of Naushad Ali’s music was that he created raga based music and tried to keep his compositions in pure raga form. For eg: the song ‘Mana tarpat hari darshan ko aaj’ is based on raag Malkauns, the song ‘Madhuban mein radhika nache re’ is based on raga Hameer, the song ‘Aye Duniya ke rakhwale’ is based on raga Darbari Kanada & the song ‘Ek Shahenshah ne banwa ke hasin tajmahal’ is based on Raga Lalit.  He also used some of the distinguished classical singers like Ustad Amir Khan & Pt. D. V. Paluskar for his film ‘Baiju Bawra’ and Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan in ‘Mughal-E-Azam’.

Apart from raga based music he also composed very rich romantic numbers like ‘Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki’, ‘Aaj ki raat mere dil ki salami le le’, ‘Tasvir banata hon teri khun e jigar se’, (All sung by Rafi) ‘Gam diye mushtaqil’ (sung by Sehegal), ‘Jane wale se mulaqat na hone payi hai’ (by Lata), Mere Mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam (sung by both Lata & Rafi) & many more.

Naushad was a perfectionist. He used to spend several weeks at times, recording a single song, until he was satisfied with all the aspects of music. He composed music for only 66 films in his 60 years of music career, which means 1-2 films per year.

Though Naushad used western instruments in some of his songs but he could not adapt to creation or development of songs with a combination of Indian & Western music. Music Directors like O. P. Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishan, S.D. Burman became more popular with the new trend of Indian folk music blended with Western style & approach. Naushad could not compete with them as he probably could not compromise on his approach on maintaining pure form of Indian music in his compositions.

I was lucky to meet Naushad Sahab on a flight from US to India on 9th October 2001. Nobody recognised him on the flight. I went to him and just mentioned that I like his music & adore some of his songs. He just said ‘Shukriya’ & ‘Allah aapko salamat rakhe’! I will never forget his words. Few years later, during May 2006 he passed away.

I would like to end this post with a mukhda of one of his best compositions (Raga Kalawati), which I like the most. Rafi Sahab has sung this beautifully.

‘Koi Sagar Dil ko behlata nahin…bekhudi mein bhi karar aata nahin…’

Monsoon is here and for last few days I have been listening to some of the most melodious monsoon songs – O sajana barakha bahar aayi..rasa ki puhar layi akhiyon mein pyar layi; aha rimjhim ke ye pyare pyare geet liye..Wow, what pleasant songs! And the music composer of these songs is Salil Chowdhary, one of my favourite musicians. Salilda has been a great composer, poet, arranger & an intelligent musician. It clearly shows from his compositions that he has done indepth study of both Indian folk & classical music and western classical music. From childhood he has been listening to compositions of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin etc. that inspired him and has reflected in his music. He started his career in Bengali films as lyricist & Music Director. But he became popular in India when he gave music for classics like Do bigha Jameen, Parakh, Jagte Raho & Madhumati. Salilda could play many instruments like piano, flute, sitar, tabla. Every song that he composed he experimented in a variety of instruments, chorus in background, harmony blended with perfect orchestration.  The sitar pieces in ‘O sajana’ from film Parakh are exceptional. The saxophone played in ‘Zindagi kaisi hai paheli’ from movie Anand is very profound. The flute pieces in ‘Dil tadap tadap ke kah raha hai’ from film Madhumati are very nicely rendered. He has used chorus very effectively in the entire song ’Na Jaane kyun’ from film Chhoti si baat. Some of his classical based songs like Jago mohan pyare(Jagte Raho), Aaja re paradesi(Madhumati), Na Jiya lage na (Anand) are very subtle & beautiful. Other songs like Baag mein kali khili (sung by Asha Bhosle), Itna na mujhse tu pyar badha (sung by Lata & Talat Mehmood), Chandani Raat tum ho sath (sung by Kishore & Lata) are some of his difficult numbers that are very rich in harmony & overall orchestration.  Salilda was a great composer by all standards & in all dimensions of music. He created a unique style in his compositions that cannot be repeated, remixed or representated by anybody else ever.

I would like to end this post by remembering one of his great songs wonderfully sung (especially the zamzama) by Manna Dey – Aye mere pyare vatan, Aye mere bichhade chaman…tujhpe dil qurban..Amazing!!!

Kumar Gandharva (Real Name: Shivputra Komkali) was an outstanding classical singer with a unique style of singing that was not confined to any particular gharana of hindustani music. He was a child prodigy and attained the Gandharva title (It is said that in Heaven there are Gadharvas (Singers) who sing for the King of Gods – Lord Indra Dev) and was named Kumar Gandharva at a very early age.  He lost one lung in young age due to illness, but continued  to learn music and developed his own style of singing which became very popular, though he got criticism from people who were followers of the traditional form (gharana) of music. He received initial training in music from Professor B. R. Deodhar. After his lung surgery, he could not sing for few years, but during this time he studied music and tried to attain the best from all the gharanas and gradually developed his own style of singing where by he managed with short but crisp bursts of music rather than deep and slow approach of traditional singing.

It is a delightful experience to hear Kumarji’s compositions or Ragas. When he starts singing you feel as if he is singing for himself, as if he is practicing alone. But soon his singing catches the audience and takes them into a divine feeling. He is able to deliver the entire Raag form within few minutes with great variations that takes one on a joyful ride. The most important asset that Kumarji had was tremendous control over the notes (Sur). He could reach from lower notes to higher notes or vice versa in fraction of a second. He could deliver taans (variations in faster speed) most effectively and in a focused manner than getting into longer variation cycles & then manage to reach to the ‘sam’ (the first beat of the taal cycle) like most traditional artisits do. The best I like about him are his nirguni bhajans (by Sant Kabir, Surdas). Most of his compositions have essence of folk music of north India. He has sung every bhajan from the bottom of his heart, giving great impotance to the words and without getting into too much variation to prove his classical skills like most classical singers tend to do. All his bhajan compositions look simple but are most difficult to sing. He has also sung a few marathi natyageet (semi-classical songs) beautifully.

Kumarji is no more with us, but his sweet voice & great singing will be definitely preserved by his disciples, fans and well wishers for the next generations to be able to follow & understand the high quality of Indian music that he discovered for the music lovers of his time.

Some of his fans have posted his recordings on YouTube (http://youtube.com/results?search_query=kumar+gandharva&search=Search). Please listen to these recordings and you will admire the music by Pt. Kumar Gandharva.

Om Prasad Nayyar was the most lively music composer ever. When I say lively it means peppy, bubbly, sparkly..he was amazing. Surprisingly, he was not a trained musician like S. D. Burman, Madan Mohan, but his compositions were far great in terms of melody, rhythm and overall orchestration. The use of some instruements in his songs has made the songs rich and more popular. For example: the percussion instruement ‘dholak’ played in the song ‘bahut shukriya badee meherbani meri zindagi mein hujoor aap aaye’ or the piano played in the song ‘Jaiye aap kahan jayenge’ or the sarangi played in the song ‘Deewana hua badal savan ki ghata chhayi’.  O P sahab is the only music director who has given the most ‘happy & romantic’ numbers that are evergreen. Songs like ‘Isharon Isharon mein’, ‘Pukarta Chala hun main’, ‘Aapke haseen rukh pe aaj naya noor hai’, ‘Phir miloge kabhi is baat ka vada kar lo’, ‘Thandi hawa kali ghata’, Piya Piya Piya mora jiya’..the list is too long. Some of his songs became very popular & trendy because of the ‘horse’ rhythm.  Songs like ‘Mang ke saath tumhara’ (Film: Naya Daur), ’Yun to humne lakh haseen dekhe hai’ (Film: Tumsa nahi dekha), ‘Piya Piya Piya Mora Jiya Pukare’ (Film:Bap re Bap) are some of the best examples of the ‘horse’ rhythm. He gave some of the cutest ‘bhangra’ (Punjabi folk) songs like ‘Ude jab jab julfe teri’, ‘Sar pe topi lal hath mein resham ka rumal’, ‘Meri jaan Balle Balle’. The cabaret songs sung by Asha Bhosle like ‘Aao huzoor tumko’, ‘Yeh reshami julfon ka andhera’, ‘Aaeye Mehrbaan’ and ‘Babuji dhire chalna sung by Geeta Dutta were magnificent. O P Nayyar composed some of the most beautiful duets. ‘Isharon Isharon mein’ by Mohmd Rafi /Asha Bhosle, ‘Aakhon hi Aakhon mein ishara’ by Geeta Dutta / Rafi, ‘Aap yuhin agar humse milte rahen’ by Mohmd Rafi / Asha Bhosle are some of the great numbers.  The only missing thing in O P Nayyar’s songs is Lata Mangeshkar’s voice. He did not record a single song with Lata bai, yet all his songs sung by Geeta Dutta & Asha Bhosle became very popular. I remember his pleasant appearance as a Judge in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, a popular show on Zee TV. He was a great character, but looked to be a aloof person.  He is no longer with us but his songs will make us remember him for ever!

The Talwalkar family! When we talk about Talwalkars its all about Health & fitness – the famous gymnasium in Mumbai. No, I am not talking about those Talwalkars. Its about the musicians, one of the greatest musician family of recent times. Pt. Suresh Talwalkar, the Taal Yogi, is one of the eminent Tabla player of present times. He is a very versatile musician and a great human being. Pt. Suresh Talwalkar learnt tabla from Pt. Pandharinath Nageshkar & Pt. Vinayakrao Ghangrekar. He also learnt the carnatic layashastra (rythmic form) from Mrudungam player Pt. Ramnad Iswaran. Pt. Suresh Talwalkar is a very composed solo tabla player. He also understands the ‘Sur’ very well and is a very accomplished player when it comes to accomapaniment. His wife, Padma Talwalkar is a renowned hindustani vocalist and has acquired training from three gharanas – Gwalior, Jaipur & Kirana. She got initial training in hindustani music from Pt. Gangadhar Pimpalkhare. Thereafter, she got training from Moghubai Kurdikar, an eminent artist from the Jaipur Gharana. She also received training from Moghubai’s daughter, Kishori Amonkar who is one of the most versatile vocalist of Jaipur Gharana. Later she also learned music from Pt. Gajananrao Joshi, a master vocalist belonging to the Agra, Gwalior & Jaipur Gharana. Padma Talwalkar is a talented singer with a very profound voice. Their son Satyajit & daughter Savni Talwalkar have also developed interest in playing tabla at a very early age. Satyajit has been performing as a Solo artist and also acompanies his mother for her concerts. The entire family has dedicated their life to music and both Sureshji and Padmatai have a big Shishya parivar (family of students).  Ofcourse, they also have a huge fan following across the world. I have been fortunate to have learned tabla lessons form Pt. Sureshji for about 2 years and observed their family very closely. They have been very successful in leading both the personal and professional life.  I wish them great success and happiness in their future life. For more details on Pt. Suresh Talwalkar, log on to www.sureshtalwalkar.com

Recently we oragnised a concert of classical music through my foundation Swar Sadhana (www.swarsadhana.com). We had two performers, a samvadini player – Rajendra Vaishampayan and a tabla player – Prafulla Athlye.  This time we wanted to entertain the crowd of IIT Bombay with a different concept - a jugalbandi of Samvadini & Tabla. The programme started with solo performance by Prafulla on Tabla with Taal Teen Taal while Rajendra was accompaning him by playing the lehera (16 beats tune). Prafulla, a disciple of Ustad Alla Rakha, played magnificently on the tabla with his graceful fingers. He played peshkar, kaydas, rellas & gats and some creations of Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Thirukva & Pt. Sapan Chowdhary with elegance. The next session was controlled by the Samvadini Artist, Rajendra Vaishampayan, a disciple of Pt. Manohar Chimote. Rajendra actually started communicating with the audience through the instrument by playing the Raag Kirvani. Kirvani is a beautiful & most romantic Raag. Most old hindi songs are based on this raag. Samvadini is an improvised version of the harmonium (Indian Keyboards). Usually, Harmonium is an instrument played for accompaniment.  But Samvadini has really brought a positive change in the instrument and its sound. If you close your eyes and listen to the notes you will feel as if its trying to say something. It also depends on the Artist how he plays the instrument and expresses the emotions via the instrument. Rajendra is an exceptional performer and he plays the samvadini with great confidence and ease. He also played a bandish & ended the concert with a dhun in Bhairavi. Rajendra has a great future ahead and I wish him all the success for his future concerts. For more details on Samvadini visit Rajendra’s site: www.samvadiniartiste.com.

This was my first Music Album that I released on February 14, 2005. This album is dedicated to all the passionate lovers around the world. I started writing songs when I finished college and was working for a computer consulting firm. This was the time when I had a strong desire to create music which I would sing for my beloved (??). And my passion for music kept increasing as I wrote one song after the other. Composing a melody was not a difficult task as I use to hear film music a lot and was inspired by Madan Mohan & R D Burman’s music. My sister use to sing hindustani vocal and I use to accompany her on tabla. In the process, I heard a variety of musical forms (Raagas) and the classical music got into my blood & soul at a very early age which created a base for me to create my own music. I could have played Tabla and made a big name as a Tabla artist but somehow there was a music composer within me which dominated the tabla player. I started writing songs and composing them & also recorded them on my music player. People at home started appreciating my efforts and I also felt that I am creating decent compositions. The lyrics were simple, but the compositions had to be complex and good enough. I made an attempt to keep originality in my compositions and tried to create each and every song in different form and mood. The basic mood was ofcourse romantic, but I tried to give various shades of romance & love to my compositions so that it could create a positive impact on the listeners, their romantic feelings.  The title song ‘Tumse hi hai Pyar’ is my best composition, which my friend Swapnil chose to sing when we recorded the songs. My personal favorite is Tumsa Nahi Dekha, but as a musician my best composition has been ‘Meri Zindagi mein aakar’ and it has been beautifully sung by Swapnil. If you want to buy or gift my album to your beloved or a friend, you may log on to www.cdbaby.com (http://cdbaby.com/cd/smsb) and purchase a copy. I have been distributing 100 CD’s every year on valentines day for free. If you are the lucky one you will save some bucks. I would say $6 is a very small investment for your love life to flourish by listening to these songs. I don’t intend to sell my CD through this post but I strongly feel that good music should be listened, shared and appreciated by everyone who has liking in music. I do have plans to produce another album shortly, mostly during 2009. Keep watching!