गाए लता, गाए लता - Part 3 (non-Hindi)

Namaskaar. Thank you so much for appreciating the last 2 parts of "गाए लता, गाए लता" - my tribute to the legendary Lata Mangeshkar. In case you have missed to visit it, here are the links - गाए लता, गाए लता - Part 1 (Solo) and गाए लता, गाए लता - Part 2 (Duets).

This is the last part in the 3-part series in which I will cover Lata's songs in the Indian languages other than Hindi. I am going to present 13 of her best solo non-Hindi songs below - 5 Marathi, 3 Bengali and 1 each in Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil. Hope you will like these too. Please do leave a comment on the blog itself. Thank you again.

1) (আকাশ প্রদীপ জ্বলে) Akash Prodip Jole - Bengali Non-film (1956), Lyrics: Pabitra Mitra, Composer: Satinath Mukherjee

Apparently, this is Lata's first Bengali song! (or was it "Prem ekbari esechilo nirobe" composed by Hemant Kumar? I am not sure though) Lata sang over 200 songs in Bengali. According to Snehasis Chatterjee who has compiled 13 volumes of Lata Geetkosh, this number is 296! All of my Bengali friends have confirmed that Lata's pronunciation of Bengali words was 100% perfect, if you don't know her name, you may not be able to tell whether she was a Bengali or not, such was the perfection. In his article "Nightingale's tryst with Bengali music", the famous writer Ranjan Dasgupta recollects his conversation with Lata Mangeshkar, and I quote below a sentence from his above-mentioned article:

"She (Lata Mangeshkar) had once said,”My best Bengali songs are composed by Satinath Mukhopadhyay, Salil Chowdhury, and Hemant da (Hemanta Mukherjee). ‘Akash Pradip Jole’, ‘Saat Bhai Champa’, and ‘Jabar Bela’ are some of my best numbers.”"

You won't believe but my list of Lata's Bengali songs that I had compiled for this blog had all three songs mentioned above but had to leave out the last one due to the limit on no. of songs I would like to present.

While listening to Lata's Bengali songs, you may wonder which is sweeter - Lata's voice or Bengali language? I would say both complement each other to produce the real magic for the listeners. Enjoy the song. 

2) (আশার শ্রাবণ মানে না তো মন) Asharh Sraban Mane Na To Mon from Bengali film "Monihar" (1966), Lyrics: Mukul Dutt, Composer: Hemanta Mukherjee aka Hemant Kumar

Directed by Salil Sen, "Monihar" is a typical love triangle between elder brother Ajay (Soumitra Chatterjee), younger brother Arun (Biswajit Chatterjee) and Bandana (Sandhya Roy). Soumitra Chatterjee was to Bengali cinema what Amitabh Bachchan is to Hindi cinema. Excellent music by Hemant da, the movie had 11 songs out of which Lata sang 4 solo and 1 duet, all great songs. This particular song starts with a lambi taan of 17 seconds. Anyone who claims to be a good singer must try this lambi taan before staking the claim. Sitar and Tabla are major accompanying instruments in the composition as well as on screen.

3) (সাত ভাই চম্পা জাগোরে) Saat Bhai Champa Jagore - Bengali Non-film, Lyrics: Salil Chowdhury, Composer: Salil Chowdhury

This song is yet another sweet Bengali gem. It is one of the most popular songs till date. The composition looks modern (compared to Rabindra Sangeet) however it is still a classical based song. The tune is catchy, excellent use of Accordion, Violin and Tabla. The beat, if slowed down a little, would match the beat of the songs played in Garba - that's my thought, I may be wrong though.  You will love the fast rhythm and the happy mood the song creates. Here is an interesting thing - there is short 2 min. video of Pt. Ajay and Kaushiki Chakrabarti singing this song in one of the programmes that was telecast live on Akash TV many years back. You can watch it here - Pt. Ajay and Kaushiki Chakrabarti version. Enjoy the original song below.

4) (জোনাকাৰে ৰতি) Jonakare Rati from Assamese film "Era Bator Sur" (1956), Lyrics: Bhupen Hazarika, Composer: Bhupen Hazarika

Typical Assamese sweet song. It starts with humming in a haunting voice which was Lata's strength. We have witnessed many of her haunting melodies composed by Hemant Kumar such as "Kahin Deep Jale Kahin Dil", "Jhoom Jhoom Dhalti Raat", "Gumnam Hai Koi", "Mera Saaya Saath Hoga", etc. This song is no different. Great voice control. Use of Shehnai, Flute, Dholak and Cymbals is very soothing to ears. Hope you will like the song.

5) (ಬೆಳ್ಳನೆ ಬೆಳಗಾಯಿತು) Bellane Belagaayithu from Kannada film "Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna" (1967), Lyrics: Pundalika Dhuttharagi, Composer: Lakshman Berlekar

This song reminds me of extremely melodious songs from old Marathi films from 1950's. Typical set up of a village house, a fresh looking Gruhini (housewife) sweeping the courtyard, sprinkling the water thus creating a very pious environment. This song is apparently Lata's first Kannada song, the composition is inspired by the famous Hindi song "Jyoti Kalash Chhalke" composed by Sudhir Phadke for the film "Bhabhi Ki Chudiyan" (1961). Please listen to the very sweet Taan on the word "Chaluvaa..". The Thehrav of the song is amazing. Enjoy the song.

6) (માઝમ રાતે) Majham Raate - Gujarati Non-film, Lyrics: Venibhai Purohit, Composer: Purushottam Upadhyay

We have so far covered Lata's Bengali, Assamese and Kannada songs. Singing in a particular language requires the singer to adapt to the peculiarity of that culture, language and composition. And Lata has done so beautifully that you don't doubt if she belongs to that region/language. Even for this Gujarati song, listen to the typical Gujarati folk music that she has adapted to so well. Without the God's gift and her own efforts this would not have been possible, it's surely not as easy as she makes us to believe! Hope you like the song.

7) (నిదురపోరా తమ్ముడా) Nidurapora Thammuda from the Telugu film "Santhanam" (1955), Lyrics: Anisetti Subba Rao, Composer: Susarla Dakshinamurthy

This is the first of the few Telugu songs that Lata Mangeshkar recorded in her entire singing career. It is a soul-stirring lullaby a young girl is singing to make her younger brother sleep. Lata ji has given the meaningful lyrics an eternal life through her extraordinary rendition. This song is very popular till date amongst the Telugu speaking audience. 

8) (எந்தன் கண்ணாளன்) Enthan Kannaalan from the Tamil film "Vaana Ratham" (1956), Lyrics: Kambadasan, Composer: Naushad

"Udan Khatola" (1955) was an extremely popular Hindi film starring Dilip Kumar and Nimmi. It had some wonderful songs by Lata and Rafi, composed by the legendary composer Naushad. The film was dubbed in Tamil and released in 1956 as "Vaana Ratham". All the compositions from Hindi were reused in Tamil with the Tamil lyrics by Kambadasan. There is a good blog by Sriram V comparing the two films - Hindi and Tamil, in which he interestingly calls Lata's pronunciation of Tamil words as "abysmal" as P. Susheela's Hindi pronunciation!! The blog also gives links to all Hindi and Tamil songs from these 2 films. Anyways, let's just enjoy young Lata's voice and mastery once again. The creator of the following video has mentioned that he has mixed the video of Hindi film with the audio of Tamil song, so it is not synchronized, nevertheless, it is still very pleasing to ears.

Now, I am going to present last 5 songs from my mother tongue - Marathi. I normally listen to old Hindi songs, so Marathi songs is not my forte; however, these 5 songs have remained with me since my childhood, they all are real gems, very high in quality of music and delivery, by a team of extremely intelligent and talented artists. 

9) (ये जवळी घे जवळी) Ye Javali Ghe Javali from the Marathi fillm "Manasala Pankh Astat" (1961), Lyrics: V. S. Khandekar, Composer: Meena Mangeshkar (Khadikar)

The first one is a song composed by Lata's younger and talented sister Meena Mangeshkar-Khadikar. It was penned by the Jnanapeeth Award winner author Padma Bhushan Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar. The song depicts the feelings of an island who is alone in the huge sea around it. The island represents the downtrodden people in the society while the sea represents the well settled society. The original movie song can be watched here since it is not available to play outside YouTube. Given below is the video which is the reproduction of the same song by Lata ji during her rare program on Mumbai Doordarshan. It is always a great pleasure to see the legendary singers perform live. Whenever I have watched Lata Mangeshkar sing live, one thing that is prominently noticed is that there are zero or very minimal hand movements. Ordinary singers use their hand movements to assist their singing, but great singers do it through their vocal cords only! Also, do not miss Lataji's beautiful smile at 01:40 in the song. :-)

10) (अखेरचा हा तुला दंडवत) Akheracha Haa Tulaa Dandavat from the Marathi film "Maratha Tituka Melvava" (1964), Lyrics: Kavi Yogesh (Bhalaji Pendharkar), Composer: Anandghan (Lata Mangeshkar)

What is unique about this song is that it is penned by one of the greatest directors of Marathi movies - Bhalji Pendharkar, and is composed by the legendary Lata Mangeshkar herself under the name Anandghan (आनंदघन). The film is based on the Chhatrapati Shivaji era and highlights the contributions of common people towards the Swarajya movement spearheaded by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The song is picturized in the hilly areas and hence the composer has very intelligently used the echo in the song. Lataji's voice adds to the beauty of the song which was picturized on Jeevankala.

11) (नीज माझ्या नंदलाला) Neej Mazya Nandlala - Marathi Non-film (1970), Lyrics: Mangesh Padgavkar, Composer: Shriniwas Khale

One of the greatest lullaby's of all times. What a divine and extremely difficult composition by Khale saheb and rendered equally beautifully by Lata ji. One thing that strikes you in this song is the ठहराव of the composition. Khale saheb was such a genius, that in many of his songs, it is very difficult for the singer to keep pace with the लय and ताल. Enjoy this gem.

 

12) (तुम्ही रे दोन, दोनच माणसं) Tumhi Re Don Donach Manas from the Marathi film "Chaani" (1977), Lyrics: Aarati Prabhu, Composer: Hridaynath Mangeshkar

The famous director V. Shantaram had earlier worked with Prabhat Film Company, however, later formed his own film company viz. Rajkamal Kala Mandir. This particular film was produced by V. Shantaram himself. It was an extremely bold movie in those times. The story was about the hardship faced by the child born out of a wedlock between an Adivasi girl and a foreigner. Pt. Hridaynath Mangeshkar, as a composer, has done brilliant work in this film. The song has a different rhythm and beat than the normal songs, and the instruments seen on the screen are the same which are used to create the background music of the song. By 1977, Lataji's voice quality was no longer the same as was in early 1950's, and understandably so. Yet, she creates the magic by literally playing with the beat and the rhythm. Apart from this song, I also like the other one in the film viz. To Ek Rajaputra. Hope you will enjoy the song.

13) (मज सांग लक्ष्मणा जाऊ कुठे) Maj Saang Laxmana Jaau Kuthe - Marathi Non-film (Geet Ramayan) (1955), Lyrics: G. D. Madgulkar, Composer: Sudhir Phadke

Shriniwas Khale, Hridaynath Mangeshkar and Sudhir Phadke are the 3 composers without whom the Marathi music - be it film or non-film - is incomplete. The reason to add this song is that the songs from the famous Geet Ramayan (a collection of 55 songs depicting the entire story of the epic Ramayana) were originally sung by various singers; however, later when records/cassettes were published, all songs were sung by the composer Sudhir Phadke himself which were equally popular. Aakashvani have been playing original song recordings every year from the Ram Navmi day for next 10 days. Out of 55 songs, Lata had sung only one song, hence was tempted to include it as the last song in the series. It's a sad song, Lata, through her voice, has portrayed extreme pain and anguish that Seeta goes through when she was left in the jungle by Lakshman on the order from Ram. Hope you will like the song.

Thus, I conclude my tribute to the legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar. Her songs will continue to be with us in every moment of our lives, her memories will be cherished always, and we will remain indebted to her till the end of our lives for the sheer pleasure she has given to us through her masterly songs. 

It's been a very emotional yet very fulfilling journey personally for me for last 2 weeks. Thank you for being with me in this journey. Please leave a comment in the blog and share further if you have liked it. Namaste.