BENGALURU: Born into a family of musicians, legendary Hindi film composer Rahul Dev Burman was fondly referred to as Pancham. When he was younger, Burman’s crying apparently sounded like the fifth note of music notation, hence the nickname. But as he got older, Pancham da, as he later came to be known among close associates, went on to revolutionise Hindi film music.
On Friday, a musical tribute to Burman, PanchGem Da, is being held at Chowdiah Memorial Hall and celebrates the evergreen music that Burman produced over a career spanning nearly two decades. Some of his close associates during the height of Burman’s career are also part of the musical ensemble at the tribute event.
Every time drummer Franco Vaz, who started working with Burman in 1974, performs the latter’s compositions, he feels a rush of nostalgia. “Each time it brings back memories. The numerous arguments that Pancham da would have with his fellow musicians while producing a song. It wasn’t in a negative sense, but he would go through all the different opinions of other musicians, some of them renowned names, all in pursuit of the betterment of a song,” says Vaz.
Having risen to popularity with his compositions for Kishore Kumar and Rajesh Khanna-starrer films, Burman also gave the industry iconic hits like Dum Maro Dum, and composed music for cult classics like Sholay and Gol Maal. “Burman is like aged wine. His music only gets better as it ages. Even today, when I go to recordings, I see his influence everywhere. And whenever I’m performing, I’m asked to play something that is reminiscent of Burman. So he continues to be influential in Bollywood even though he’s not physically with us. His untimely passing was a huge loss,” says ‘Trumpet King’ Kishore Sodha, another close collaborator of Burman.
Vaz agrees and points to the continued popularity of Burman’s iconic hits. “The younger generation is actually well-versed with Burman’s music. I see a lot of concerts that younger musicians do these days. While they play a lot of music from contemporary composers, they always end those concerts with Burman’s songs. It’s always Dum Maro Dum or Mehbooba Mehbooba,” Vaz adds.
Introduced to Burman by Kishore Kumar, incidentally at an event at Lal Bagh, Sodha went on to become a permanent fixture in a majority of Burman’s innovative and often radical compositions. “He was immensely creative. He would make so many changes to his compositions on the fly, as and when he had a new idea. He brought in so many influences to Hindi music, he had classical, folk, and especially western influences. He would listen to a lot of jazz music and he would incorporate a lot of those elements into his music. I had learnt immensely from him,” he concludes.
(‘PanchGem Da’ will be held on Sept 22, 6.30pm, at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Malleswaram. Tickets are priced at `750 onwards. Details on bookmyshow.com)