Sa re ga, re ga
Re ga ma pa, ma pa
Ma pa dha ni, dha ni
Dha ni sa, re ga, re sa.
These are the starting notes of a very famous song in Bengali from a very famous film’Jay Jayanti’, a Bengali adaptation of the famous Hollywood film, The Sound Of Music.
India the land of cultural diversity, we wake up and go to sleep with the sound of music. We have songs and music for every occasion, from birth to death, every season and every reason, love, romance, devotional, patriotic and folk. We even have music for each time of the day, specific ragas for dawn, break of day, afternoon, dusk, evening, night and midnight. The different varieties of music and musicians cannot be counted, some make it big but others don’t.
To enrich this musical tradition, Bollywood, the celluloid giant in India has contributed a lot. From the time the celluloid went vocal, films gifted us unforgettable melodies. We have sung to the tunes of Anil Biswas, the Burmans, Shankar Jaikishan, Salil Choudhury, Naushad or present day’s A R Rahman, Annu Malik and many others. These gems have come from the pens of Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi, Gulzar, Javed Akhtars. We have been mesmerized by the voices of K L Sehgal, Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt, Lata Mangeskar, Manna Dey, Kishore Kumar to the present talents of Shaan, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Sonu Nigam to mention just a few. From this countless list it is impossible to select twenty. So I have segregated the list on basis of few topics but the list would vary each time I will write it.
I am not a great exponent on music, for me music is something that touches my heart and soul. In some it’s the melody or the voice that I love but there are others where the lyrics do the magic.
Eyes: The most precious gift that life has given us is our sight, with which we can see the world and its beauty. Eyes just don’t see things but they also talk, they express happiness, sorrow, anger or gloominess. May be that’s why, so many excellent melodies have been written on Eyes.
a. Jeevan se bhari teri aankhen, majboor kare jine ke liye - a song of hope, love and life, picturised on a person who’s dying. Film: Safar, Singer: Kishore Kumar
b. Yeh nayan dare dare, yeh jaam bhare bhare - Singer: Hemanta Kumar, Film: Kohra
c. Jhuki Jhuki si nazar, bekarar hai ki nahin, even when you are hiding your feelings its your eyes that tell the truth, Singer: Jagjit Singh, Film: Arth
d. Aapki nazron ne samjhah, pyaar ke kabil mujhe, an expression of gratitude, Singer: Lata Mangeshkar, Film: Anpadh
Eyes are so important for life, so let us decide that when we have to bid our final farewell to the world we would let our eyes stay back over here for those who cannot see.
Night: Daytime is general in the crowd, we are with others but our nights our entirely ours that’s why they are very special. Darkness and night always create a sentiment of anonymity and uncertainty. It’s this darkness that brings in an essence of romance for some and melancholy for others. Some songs on night -
a. Mann kyun baheka re baheka, aandhi raat ko - Singer: Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle, Film: Utsav
b. Jin raaton ki bhor nahin hai, aaj aisi hi raat aayi - Singer: Kishore Kumar, Film: Door gagan ki chhaon mein. I am big fan of Kishore Kumar, love alltypes of song sung by him but somehow it’s his sad numbers that are very close to me, Specially this one.
c. Dheere dheere chal, chand gagan mein - 2
Kahin dhal na jaye raat, tut najaye sapne., a wonderful melody, Singers: Mohammad Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar
Although this song is not a night specific song rather a reverse, but I love this number from the Film - Sur,
Aa bhi ja, aa bhi ja, Aye subah aa bhi ja.
Raat ko kar vida, Dilruba aa bhi ja
Time: Such a precious thing. We all have to face the time and it’s power, if only we could stop that clock ticking but time ticks away from our hands like the slippery sand. No wonder melodies on time touch our soul more than anything.
a. Samay oh dheere chalo, dheere chalo
Bujh gayi raah se chhaon
Door hai door hai, pee ka gaon
Dheere chalo, dheere chalo.
Singer: Bhupen Hazarika(This song has been sung by Lata Mangeshkar as well as Asha Bhonsle), Film: Rudali
b. Aane wala pal, jaane wala hai - a universal truth put down on melody, Singer: Kishore Kumar, Film: Golmaal
c. Aage bhi jaane na tu, peechhey bhi jaane na tu - Singer: Asha Bhansle, Film: Waqt
d. Waqt ne kiya, yeh kya haseen sitam - time spares nobody it tests us all. Singer: Geeta Dutt, Film: Kagaz Ke Phool
Rivers: I have grown up with rivers, so my list is incomplete without the mention of rivers. Due to space and number constraints I will put just two of my very favorite songs on rivers.
a. Tal mile nadi ke jal mein, nadi mile sagar mein.
Singer: Mukesh, Film: Anokhi Raat
b. This song I had heard somewhere longtime back, I don’t know whether it is from some film or album or is it a folk song but it is another of my favorites. A boatman song -
Ab machal utha hai dariya ha
Aur sar par giri badariya ha
unchaas pawan dole
jhanjhake baji badariya ha, naiyaa paar laga
c. Oo Maajhi, O Majhi
Mere sajan hai us paar, main is paar
Film: bandini, Singer: S D Burman, (this is a very special choice of mine, I don’t know how I missed it before.)
- All of us sometime or the other, fall in love, romance is a part of life. Romance may be with your beloved or you may be just a romantic soul, romantic about life itself, nature or universe. Romance has two phase, togetherness and separation. Romance has been the subject of choice for poets of all times, millions of poems and literature have been written in each language. Just a few from the collection of million gems -
Songs of togetherness
a. Jab deep jale aana, jab sham dhale aana - Singer: Yehsudas, Film: Chitchor. There’s another song from the same film, which is also my favorite - Tu jo mere sur mein, sur mila le.
b. Dil ne kaha chupke se, yeh kya hua chupke se - Singer: Kavita Krishnamurthy, Film: 1942 A Love Story, the lyrics of this songs are beautiful
c. Mujhe raat din bas mujhe chahti ho - the lyrics do the magic
Singer: Sonu Nigam, Film: Sangharsh
d. Itna na mujhse tu pyaar bada ki main ek badal awara - Talat Mahmood and Lata Mangeshkar, Film: Chhaya
Songs of separation - I feel pain can be best expressed with ghazals no wonder the best of tragic songs are best of ghazals.
a. Koi ye kaise bataye, ki woh tanha kyun hai - Singer: Jagjit Singh, Film: Arth
b. Ranjish hi sahi, dil hi dukhaane ke liye aa - The pain of separation beautifully picturised in the nazms, Singer: Mehdi Hasan, Private Album
c. Badi suni suni hai, zindage yeh zindagi - Singer: Kishore Kumar, Film: Mili
d. Yeh kya jagah hai doston - Singer: Asha Bhonsle, Film: Umrao Jaan
Continued in comments.
Edited: 14th Dec 2003, added a song in rivers, very special song my list can’t be complete without this, its already 22