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Hitting The Right Notes: Hindi Cinema’s Golden Music
₹595.00Hitting The Right Notes is a collection of stories that explores the great music that was once made in Hindi cinema, the musicians who made it happen, the instruments that were part of the narrative, and hundreds of associated ideas that confluenced to make it happen. In these pages there are essays on parallel harmony and counter-melody, as also on songs that end on a high pitch, and why they are made to do so. There are articles that attempt to demystify ghazals, with plenty of examples from our cinema. Other stories tell us about rhythmless songs the west calls senza misura, as also the significance behind background songs, with examples again. All such fascinating subjects are offered in a page-turning, reader-friendly way, and needless to say, the other, simpler subjects are also treated in the same absorbing fashion. Instances of such subjects would be songs featuring the horse-trot beats, the music of OP Nayyar and SD Burman, actresses playing the piano, the presence of the dance form called Laavni, and so on. All these stories are sparked by the myriad facets of our wonderful music, and many have not been offered earlier in any way, anywhere.
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Talat Mahmood – The Velvet Voice
₹550.00Talat Mahmood was one of the most important and significant singers of the golden era of Hindi film music. His songs are recalled by music lovers, generation after generation. The quality of his voice and the richness of his expression made him a great singer both in cinema and outside it. His melodies are a precious part of any music connoisseur’s repository and for several people around the world his is the most moving and soul-stirring voice ever. It’s a little known fact that as much as a third of his work is non-film recordings, which consists of several songs of absolutely stunning and magical melodies to touch the listener’s heart. There has never been someone quite like Talat till today and it is to his credit that he sang his songs softly and left deep impressions on our psyche. Because Talat Mahmood was handsome, he also acted in a few films, being cast opposite many beautiful ladies of the time, including Nutan, Suraiya, Nadira, Mala Sinha, Shyama et al. However, it is not as an actor but as a singer that he will be remembered. Inside the present work, tributes from his son and daughter find space. This is a focused effort to look at the life and times of this amazing singing-actor, seen from the perspective of many music lovers who either knew him or understood his music. His entire repertoire of songs is tabulated and can be readily referenced. Plus there is a great deal of trivia related to the films in which his songs were featured. This is one book on the gentleman singer in which the readers or music lovers will find everything they always wanted to know about Talat, presented in a fun-to-read way, while continuing to fulfill its task of being an exhaustive work of reference.