Remembering Salil Chowdhury:: - “ VOICE ” and “ SOUL” of “ MUSIC-INDIA ” AND “ INDIA's ” SONAY KA DILWALA , A true genius who bridged that fine line between writing and composing music
Remembering Salil
Chowdhury:: - “ VOICE ” and “ SOUL” of “ MUSIC-INDIA ” AND............. “ INDIA's ” SONAY KA DILWALA , A true genius who bridged that fine line
between writing and composing music
.
Very few can do and there are very few who can be a MASTER IN ALL THE TRADE
though the adage is JACK OF ALL TRADE. One such element wa Mr Salil Chowdhury,
a renowned musician and a genius in the field of music creation. Salil
Chowdhury was a musician proficient with themes such as Indian Nationalism,
Western Classical music and Communist Bengali songs.
Song :: Mila Hai Kisis Ka Jhoomka, Film " PARAKH "
U Tube :: Song From Film " PARAKH " , Mila Hai Kisi Ka Jhoomka - Lata Mangeshkar
In the interim fissures of time and musical history, many chords
have been played - few have been played just right. The greatness never is how
the chords are played but it is how PEFECTLY and with PRECISION over PEFECTION
the chords are played and one man who was always above perfection was Salilda
known as Salil Choudhury. The masters
have captured the intricate gradations and played the quivering notes of
freedom, emotion and theme.
U Tube :: Song From The Film " MAYA " >> " Koi Sonay Ke Dilwala " by Mohammed Rafi
The “ AIR ” of true music
:: Contrivances and Classicsm.
Music comes from anything that produces sound
and the mingling of the sound to convert it soohing to the ears, the mind and
the soul comproses what we call it as music. The true air of music comes from
the inimitable discernment of usage of its contrivances. There have been just a handful
of maestros who achieved a select unification of style, symphony and classicism.
Bengal always has felt the pangs of a vacuum post-Tagore. And few have filled
the void. One such started as a mere prawn in that ocean of literati and went
on to become prize catch. He had
taken to the seas and the seas took him. All the way to God’s own
country. He was their son. Their prawn……..
“ Edaa,
volume onnu kootiki, adhu nyanglde
chemeen aanu !”
Nothing and never has been
the music separated from the sound that the waves of the ocean or the sea
produces and the music that the water produces are always heart rendering and
rending that produces such an effect that one hardly finds to get away from it.
It enters very deep into the heart and it then remains there. Salil Chowdhury
was a world musician in many viewpoints. Proficient with musical and
non-musical themes, such as Indian Nationalism, Soviet folk songs,
North Indian classical music, Western Classical music and Communist Bengali
songs, Chowdhury developed a longstanding attraction to
compositions for throngs of Indian audiences. Compilations of Salil Chowdhury's
work such as ' Prantarer Gaan ' and
' Salil Chowdhury Gaan ' have
become foundations for musical composition.
Salil-Da — A Life in retrospect
Nikhil Chowdhury was the director of an orchestra
called Milan Parishad,
which gave Salil Chowdhury the exposure to instrument, composition and the
finer aspects of the orchestral opus. He caught on to the bamboo flute and was
trained on the violin and piano, which formed the core of his rudimentary work.
Studying in Calcutta, Salil experienced firsthand the tenets of Indian
nationalism and the stirring of the masses against British rule. It was then
that he started composing the national song to enthuse the freedom fighters
against the Britishers,and that set the ball roling. The penchant to write the
composition and to mingle it with the music soon started at that time and that
is how he started it . It was during
this time that he penned his first compositions - ' Bicharpati Tomar Bichar ' in 1943, and ' Dheu
Uthchhe Kara Tutchhe ' in 1944. These songs, intended to aid the Quit India Movement were both
immediately banned.
A “ MIX” Of MANY A QUALITY
– SUBJECTS FOR POST GRADUATE STUDENT
Salil Chowdhury was a writer, a poet, and a composer. Most
often, he would write the lyrics to the song at the back of an envelope, while
composing its music. As it was the struggle of Indian Independence and the QUIT
INDIA MOVEMENT was in full flow, he poured his pen, his mind and his creation
into it. Salil became reputed for his
anti-colonial songs depicting the misery and apathy of poor and oppressed landless
peasants. They dealt with themes of independence,
oppression and social injustice, as against idealism and romanticism,
which were flowering themes in Bengali musical compositions of the day. In fact, Salil Chowdhury's poetry and
songs gained recognition as a subject for postgraduate Bengali students in the
Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta.
Salil Chowdhury became a founding member of the Gana Natya Sangh, or
Indian Peoples Theater Association (IPTA). At this juncture, he composed a host
of songs under the title, ' Ghum Bhangar Gaan '.
Salil worked on rendering music to Sukanta Bhattacharya's poems, Abak Prithibi and Runner. His most notable
output from this period includes ' Hei
Samalo ' written for the Tebagha Andolan in 1948, and 'Amaar Pratibader Bhasha '.
Along with Ruma Guha Thakurta, who later
was to marry Kishore Kumar and who happens to be the mother of Mr Amit Kumar
Ganguly, Salil Chowdhury founded the Calcutta
Youth Choir, which traversed villages in Bengal with the IPTA, singing
Chowdhury’s compositions.
. This infact again gave him to experiment and the experiments
were now taking him to a new range and a new genre of music during those days
altogether. He started his s discoveries
here in India about the Western music and how that could be made use of and
into in a different manner and in a different way of putting them into the
place of Indian music. He wanted to recreate a new pattern and he started
inventing them. Soon some took some kind of a shape as well. During his twenties
and thirties, Chowdhury had established new stylistic conventions and
developed an original modus operandi, combining Western influences into his
music, to generate intricate structured patterns of East and West. It
is to Salil that we owe the adhunik style of popular music
in Calcutta. Logically, Salil Chowdhury graduated to writing
playback, and these years mark some of the greatest compositions not only in
his life, but in the variegated past of Indian music.
The “ PARADIGM ” of Indian Music And The Composition Of Song
Changes Forever
Salil turned out to be the leading playback songwriter in
Tollygunj, writing scores for Bengali films. His name and fame started flowing
all over India and soon he was at Bombay the land and the HEART of the Hindi
and Indian film industry. Discovered by
Munshi Premkumar, he made his advent to Bombay and the world of Bollywood
filmdom. For twenty years, he contributed music to noted films such as Jagte Raho/Ek Din Ratre, Madhumati, and Kabuliwala.
It was here that he came across Madam Lata Mangeshkar and he amd
latadi thereafter became the HEART which pumps the BLOOD and the NOSE that
breathes the air. That was an UNIQUE and a EXUBERANT class and combination
which still is unparralled in the annals of Indian music and film and the
industry that it holds. MADHUMATI for a LONG and in a large manner completely
changed the entire PARADIGM of Indian film music and the ground that it held.
Latadi and Salilda were the one’s who were responsible for that and THAT WAS THAT THEREAFTER.
On his return to Calcutta, Salil’s compositions were marked with a
new maturity, combining conceptual ideas of a revival movement, with catchy
songs such as ' Surer Jharna
' and 'Teler
Shishi '. His symbolic style caught on to Bengali theater as well,
and Salil
became one of the most popular composers for a popular Bengali theater form
called Jatra.
Chemmeen (1965) :: KERALA AND SOUTH INDIA BECOME WORLD FAMOUS
& SALILDA DOES THE MAGIC with his music
It was probably never imagined that when director Ramu Kariat made
a film about a traditional Kerala
fishing community, it would go on to become a milestone achievement of film-making and cinematic
music. Based on a story penned by Thakazhy Shivashankar Pillai, and
edited by Hrishikesh Mukherjee,
Chemmeen’s music was placed in the hands of Salil Chowdhury. It was a
singularly odd combination, and a definite play against the odds. Uncannily,
this click clicked and Chemmeen and Salil became buzzwords in
Malayalam cinema. The pivotal film received the Presidents Award in 1965,
and was dubbed in Hindi as Chemmeen
Lahren.
The song ' Pennale
Pennale ' became a groundbreaking representation of what it
meant to be a playback composer. It
became a domestic essential in every Kerala household’s radio box. Like
tamarind… To the fishermen, it was their kallu. Quite a potent mix considering the
combination. Manna Dey’s rendition of ' Manasa Mynae Varu '
and Yesudas who came up with another FLIER “ KADLI NAKAR PONO RAY ” for Chemmeen, was another
notch in the belt for Salil Chowdhury, who was responsible for setting it to
music. Manna Dey once recalled, “ Even if there is one Malayali in the
audience, he will insist that I sing that song! ”
Salil Chowdhury attained his slice of the pie in terms of
recognition in South India, and went on to compose music for more than 25
Malayalam films, apart from a host of Telugu, Kannada and Tamil
films. Based on the acclaim that Chemmeen received,
Salil Chowdhury worked with Ramu Kariat again on Ezhu Raathrikal and Karumbu.
The Written Word :: Those Words Made Bimal Roy And Salilda As ICON
“If Salil became a full time writer, we would lose him as a
composer and lose his wonderful songs, but we hope that Salil doesn't stop
writing.”
- Narayan Gangopadhaay, Bengali writer
Salil was also a writer of much acclaim. His first Bengali short
story, titled Dressing
Table, was a runaway hit, and prompted a furor of stories and
plays. The thematic exploration in works such as Sunya Puron, dealing with
a midget's fight to overcome the shortcomings of his height, became an integral
part of his writing. Chowdhury’s first play to be staged was Chaal Chore, and he
went on to write scripts such as Janaantik and Sanket. A significant literary triumph
for Salil was translating the renowned Irish play, At the Rising of the Moon into
Bengali as Orunodoyer
Pathey. Another momentous work was Aapni key? Aapni Ki karen? Apni Ki korte chaan? (Who
are you? What do you do? What would you like to do?), directed by Shekhar
Chattyopadhaay, and staged by the Theater Unit of Calcutta in 1972.
Salil’s advent into films was marked by his first film
script Rikshawalaa,
written in Bengali. When Bimal Roy saw the film, he invited Chowdhury to
rewrite it in Hindi. This was none other than the critically applauded Do Bighaa Zameen,
which established both Roy and
Chowdhury as icons of the Indian screen. Pinjre Ki Panchhi, Parakh, and Minoo followed in
their wake, and were punctuated by the Kannada
film, Chinna
Ninna Muddaduwe.
Chowdhury also penned a Bengali film, Ei Ritur Ak Din, which he planned to direct
himself, but it never came to life as a film.
Salil Chowdhury was one of those rare individuals gifted with
the spirit of articulation. It came to life and manifested in a thousand different modes of
expression – in the muses of writing, music, composition, theater, film and an
overall heightened sense of creative fever.
The art of the word is in the mind, and the art of music making is
in the emotion. The art of bridging these two cross platform aptitudes is what
defines the fine line between mere talent and otherworldly genius. Having to say it in words demeans the
strength of the message. The only truth that can never fade away is the real
truth – printed in black and white…
Salil Chowdhury will always be the one background word, voice
and soul of India.
For the readers I hereby insert TWO of his composition, ONE
each by Latadi in “ PARAKH ” and
with Rafi Sahab in “ MAYA ” .
Ofcourse the head picture and the head song would be of CHEMEEM
.
Well , that is it
Regards and Thanks
Pics
Shyamal Bhattacharjee
Mr Shyamal Bhattacharjee, the author was born
at West Chirimiri Colliery at District Surguja,
Chattisgarh on July 6th 1959 He received his early education
at Carmel Convent School Bishrampur and later at Christ
Church Boys' Higher Secondary School at Jabalpur. He later
joined Hislop College at Nagpur and completed
his graduation in Science and he also added a degree in B
A thereafter. He joined the HITAVADA, a leading dailies of Central
India at Nagpur as a Sub-Editor
( Sports ) but gave up to complete his MBA in 1984 He
thereafter added a Diploma In Export Management. He has
authored THREE books namely Notable Quotes and Noble
Thought published by Pustak Mahal in 2001 Indian Cricket :
Faces That Changed It published by Manas Publications in 2009
and Essential Of Office Management published by NBCA, Kolkatta in
2012. He has a experience of about 35 years in Marketing
Signature Of Shyamal Bhattacharjee
=======================================================
THIS
WEBSITE IS CONTROLLED AND MANAGED BY " OOK'S " TECHNOLOGIES , by Mr
Amook Vandan Yadav , Varanasi
=======================================================
Oh well that's an awesome write up. Though I believe it's incomplete. Lot more to come, isn't it? Wow re Salil da thou has left us physically but is with us through the soul stirring pearls that you have treasured up for us in our hearts. Only one film sums it up, Salilda will never be forgotten till humans exist. R. I. P.
ReplyDeletePranamam 🙏🙏🙏