Live Shows- Music

I remember the following concerts vividly-

Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle and RD Burman. Three of my favourites live at Brabourne stadium, Mumbai, around 1985. It was great fun, with Kishore and RD fooling around in between some marvelous songs.

Hariprasad Chaurasia did a SPIC-MACAY show at IIM Bangalore when I was a student. I remember being amazed by the size of his flute!

Ghulam Ali and Mehi Hasan live in Atlanta..this was a rare treat, to have two maestros of ghazal on the same stage. Their styles were contrasting, with Ghulam Ali more conscious of the public, and talking to us often, and Mehdi Hasan was a lot more serious.

Shiv Kumar Sharma and Zakir Husain together in Atlanta. Their jugalbandi was divine, with the Santoor and Tabla sounding out-of-the-world.

Pankaj Udhas singing his melodious ghazala, again at Atlanta, USA.

Shankar Mahadevan recently did a show at Pune just after he had acted in and composed for the Marathi film Katyaar Kaljaat Ghusli. A great show, with lots of tracks composed by him with Ehsaan and Loy. Dil Chahta Hai was the standout film album for me, along with the Marathi film.

Sudesh Bhosle doing a Kishore Kumar special in Mumbai a couple of years ago. Outstanding mimic, he sounded exactly like the original.

S.D. Burman special, done recently by a group from Pune, which recounted most of his hit songs. He is a favourite music director, and I first became aware of him through the music of Aradhana around 1970- both Rajesh Khanna and Kishore Kumar owe him one for that album.

Classical Music in Movies

I don't understand classical music too much, but sometimes, it is moving when you listen to it. I do listen to it occasionally. Of late, I have heard two great exponents- Bhimsen Joshi and Kumar Gandharva. But this is about its use in Hindi film music.

Many songs sung by Manna Dey fall into the 'classical category', or the semi-classical. But Mohammad Rafi sang a few too, and Lata Mangeshkar must have sung many.

Laga chunri mein daag chhupaoon kaise, is one of my favourites. Saw it on a TV show recently. Tere naina talaash kare jise woh hai tujhi mein kahin deewane from the old Talaash was also good.

Rasik Balma, I am guessing, is based on some raga-very melodious. Mere naina saawan bhadon, phir bhi mera man pyaasa also sounds like one.

Madhuban mein radhika naache re, was a very good song in this genre. So was Kahin deep jale kahin dil from Bees Saal Baad. And Nigaahen milane ko jee chahta hai..., Jab deep jale aana (Chitchor), and many other songs from it- Tu jo mere sur mein, for instance.

Ka karoon sajni, aaye na baalam from Swami has a haunting quality to it. Shiv Kumar Sharma and Hariprasad Charasia in their brief film career also composed a few good ones, in Silsila for example.