Far away from the technological blitz that has enveloped modern society, Times Music beckons at gentler times, softer and more lyrical music with a nostalgic tribute to two great musical legends – Kishore Kumar and Salil Chowdhury. The dual album offering is aptly titled as Madhur Smriti and the two singers who relive the golden […]

Far away from the technological blitz that has enveloped modern society, Times Music beckons at gentler times, softer and more lyrical music with a nostalgic tribute to two great musical legends – Kishore Kumar and Salil Chowdhury. The dual album offering is aptly titled as Madhur Smriti and the two singers who relive the golden past are Antara Chowdhury, Salil Chowdhury’s daughter and Sromona (Mamoni Guha Thakurta), Kishore Kumar’s protege. As a musical journey down memory lane, Madhur Smriti is a unique compilation simply because every song, rendition and nuance recreates a magical past. Songs such as Sajna tere naina, O koi ajnabi sung by Antara Chowdhury are not only sung with delicacy but also with such strong feeling that the original Bengali songs from which these have been translated are also enhanced in translation. The same sincerity holds true for songs such as Phir wahi raat hai or Aane wala pal in Sromona’s voice. Both albums contain ten handpicked songs – songs that have affected a nation when they first sprung from the composer’s baton. Antara in her own words says, “It was a challenge for me to sing the variety of songs, from my father’s vast repertoire.” Sromona, who is Ruma Guha Thakurta’s daughter also is unequivocal about the inspiration, “Every song has something of what he (Kishore Kumar) taught me. I owe my inspiration to him.” Sromona is the main member of the Calcutta Youth Choir, which her mother has founded. For Antara, the music has been re-arranged by Sanjoy Chowdhury and Yogesh and Raghav have penned the Hindi lyrics. For Sromona, the music arranger is Rocket Mondal. Madhur Smriti is a collection to savour, to dwell on, to enjoy. This two-part set will remain a favourite for years to come. Salil Chowdhury: Some facts Salil Chowdhury was born in the year 1925 and died on September 5, 1995, just before his 70th birthday. Salil was arguably the most versatile musician in Indian cinema. He was better known as the non-conformist music composer – his meticulous attention to details, a scrupulous ear for musical content, an insatiable desire for improvisation were legendary. Salil’s music was a unique blending of the east and the west. He had once said ‘I want to create a style which shall transcend borders – a genre which is emphatic and polished, but never predictable’. Kishore Kumar: Some facts Kishore Kumar Ganguly, a Bengali, grew up in Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh. He had no formal training in music. He used to frequent the Bombay Talkies Studio and, at times, joined the chorus under music director Saraswati Devi. Kishore was just 19 years when he was initiated into playback singing by composer Khemchand Prakash, his first song being the melancholy Marne ki duaen kyon maangu in the hit film Ziddi. Kishore Sahu sang his first hit playback song, Jagmag jagmag karta nikla chand poonam ka pyara, on screen. The song made Kishore Kumar a recognisable name. He sung a number of songs of varied moods, most of these were sung to the compositions of S.D Burman and R.D Burman.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006 at 11:35 am and is filed under Web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.