It used to irk me a lot every time when someone argued 'Gaane to humare/puraane zamaane mein the, aaj kal ke gaane mein woh baat nahi'. (Great songs were in our times/old times, today's songs lack that thing). I always begged to differ, as each generation, each decade has their own share of awesome as well as dreadful soundtracks. But after reading this, my belief proved wrong. Yes, there were bad soundtracks in those times too, but the good ones were so great, from each aspect, and having shelf life so long, it continues to mesmerize us even today.
Balaji Vittal and Anirudha Bhattacharjee's second book, Gaata Rahe Mera Dil tells the tale of 53 such albums (yes, and not just one song from each album), that makes you floored by the detailing and research. Efforts to gather the information, are at remarkable level, that makes you revisit all the songs with totally different perspective. For example, even the simple melody of Yeh raat bheegi bheegi, gave me goosebumps at the lines 'Iss raat ki jhagmag mein, main dhoondh rahi hoon apne ko'. Or some albums which I avoided to listen, just because I love 'well arranged' sound more, when I put on my headphones; are on repeat mode now in my phone. All this because now I know what is the story behind them.
Of course, there are portions, which were difficult for an average 'admirer' of music like me. Like the Komal Ni, Soft Dha and other information about the structure of the songs like chords and coda. But that, makes one want to learn how these things work.
Yes, the list is SDB, RDB heavy. But path breaking, their music was as everyone agrees. Manna Dey has major chunk when talking about male voice, and Lata of course, as female one. But still there are talks of voices like Vani Jairam, Minmini, Bhupinder Singh - rightfully done.
This is one book, you can't afford to miss, if like me, you proclaim yourself a 'music lover'. The only side effect is - this will make your 'To play' list quite longer. And you will miss listening to recent albums, well, though there is nothing to lose in doing so.
Off topic : So I read in this sequence, books that were linked with each other : Conversations with Waheeda Rehman > Sun Mere Bandhu Re:The music journey of SDBurman > The Guide > Romancing with Life by Dev Anand > Gaata Rahe Mera Dil. Phew, now its time to break the link. Though I so want to read Meena Kumari's life account, written by Vinod Mehta, but that can wait. Now its time for a fiction.
Balaji Vittal and Anirudha Bhattacharjee's second book, Gaata Rahe Mera Dil tells the tale of 53 such albums (yes, and not just one song from each album), that makes you floored by the detailing and research. Efforts to gather the information, are at remarkable level, that makes you revisit all the songs with totally different perspective. For example, even the simple melody of Yeh raat bheegi bheegi, gave me goosebumps at the lines 'Iss raat ki jhagmag mein, main dhoondh rahi hoon apne ko'. Or some albums which I avoided to listen, just because I love 'well arranged' sound more, when I put on my headphones; are on repeat mode now in my phone. All this because now I know what is the story behind them.
Of course, there are portions, which were difficult for an average 'admirer' of music like me. Like the Komal Ni, Soft Dha and other information about the structure of the songs like chords and coda. But that, makes one want to learn how these things work.
Yes, the list is SDB, RDB heavy. But path breaking, their music was as everyone agrees. Manna Dey has major chunk when talking about male voice, and Lata of course, as female one. But still there are talks of voices like Vani Jairam, Minmini, Bhupinder Singh - rightfully done.
This is one book, you can't afford to miss, if like me, you proclaim yourself a 'music lover'. The only side effect is - this will make your 'To play' list quite longer. And you will miss listening to recent albums, well, though there is nothing to lose in doing so.
Off topic : So I read in this sequence, books that were linked with each other : Conversations with Waheeda Rehman > Sun Mere Bandhu Re:The music journey of SDBurman > The Guide > Romancing with Life by Dev Anand > Gaata Rahe Mera Dil. Phew, now its time to break the link. Though I so want to read Meena Kumari's life account, written by Vinod Mehta, but that can wait. Now its time for a fiction.
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