'And The Music Lives On' book review: The Sound of Nostalgia
Aptly titled, this book is all about music. Collected from the archives of a Jaipur daily, where the chapters appeared as a column by Premchand, the book is a researcher’s delight. Information of various kinds links up to songs on a connected theme. For example, chapter two titled Welcomed with Arrows begins with a detailing of the tribal inhabitants of the North Sentinel Islands, a part of the Andaman Islands, where protected people still use bows and arrows. Written in 2019, it tells us how an American named John Chau was shot down by arrows when he persistently tried to enter the tribal colony. Leading from this incident, Premchand jumps to songs where teer and kaman or baan feature as instruments of Cupid’s attack. A long list of songs starting from Shamshad Begum singing Nainon ke baan ki reet anokhi in 1941 for Khazanchi to 1967, where Mukesh sings inviting arrows to pierce his heart in Gunahon ka Devta.
An amazing list, and one wonders on the sources that yeilded this wealth of information, for no compilation of this sort is known to exist
SD Burman, Nanda, and Balraj Sahni are among the chapters dedicated to persons from the world of Hindi cinema, and Ameen Sayani, the ‘Voice Extraordinaire’ gets his due too, and rightfully so. A segment called The Surrogacy of Transferred Emotions in a chapter titled Conceived Immaculately talks of songs that do not have any singing by the actors on screen but take the story forward. Perhaps Waqt ne kiya kya haseen situm from Pyaasa is the example that will come immediately to mind, but the author is able to offer songs from 20 other films as well as single-out songs filmed on a non-lip synching Ashok Kumar, Dev Anand, Nutan, and others.
Yet again, Premchand narrates the story of the iconic Watsons Hotel, which was in the news a decade ago when it was saved by conservationists for being India’s oldest cast-iron building, to spin out scenes and songs that mention hotels, eating joints, and their ilk. He includes Manna Dey singing Aaya main laya chalta phirta hotel from Naya Zamana, 1971, as well as the better known 1978 number, Kisi disco mein jaaye... from Bade Miyan Chote Miyan.
A chapter on Hariprasad Chaurasia reveals to those not aware of the fact that through the 1960s to most of the ‘70s, every flute accompaniment was played by the flautist. The long list of songs that follows a short bio includes melodious numbers from films like Aakhri Khat, Himalay ki Godmein, Amar Prem, Khusbu, and Shiv Hari’s own compositions in Lamhe.
Songs for vamps, dance numbers for children and by children, Qawallis, a survey-led list of the best song from a film and the least liked song from the same film, which covers 30 films with interesting results, are some notable chapters.
The book is peppered with trivia that is a part of the unrecorded history of the industry, so we have stories of a quip from Shamshad Begum, among others. Comic songs, sad songs of parting, boatmen’s ditties... Premchand has mined them all and the lists snake through the pages.
For readers who still swing to the tunes of the ‘60s and ‘70s, there is much in this book to make them reach out to their favourite online music channel to tune in and refresh memories. For students of Hindi cinema music, this is great background material.
Not a book to be read in one go, but to be delved into when the mood strikes. After all, it is excerpted from a column that spanned years.