Reviving Golden Melodies

By Kavita Chhibber

They became synonymous with all that is outstanding in music. Their melodies ranged from the haunting to the rocking. They wowed an entire nation from the soulful Chandan sa badan from Saraswati Chandra that netted them the national award, to my personal favorite Jeevan se bhari teri ankhen, to the heart breaking Kasme Vaade pyar wafa sab that gave Pran a whole new look, to the rocking Khai ke paan banaras wala. The hot sizzling number yeh mera dil yaar ka diwana which the group Black eyed Peas incorporated in their song Don’t Phunk with my heart landed them a Grammy.

In fact I was reading in Wikipedia that “in the late 1990s and early 2000s, their work was introduced to a young Western audience by three albums. 'Bombay The Hard Way: Guns Cars And Sitars' was a mix album put together by US DJ Dan The Automator; 'Bollywood Funk' was an Outcaste compilation album put together by Sutrasonic DJs Harv and Sunni; while 'The Beginners Guide To Bollywood' was compiled by John Lewis from Time Out magazine. All three of these records concentrated on Kalyanji Anandji tracks from 1970s films that featured funk breakbeats, wah-wah guitars and Motown-style orchestrations.

Indeed the list is never ending-Qurbani, Dharmatma, Laawaris, Mukkadar ka Sikander, blackmail, Zanjeer, Upkaar, their songs sizzled on the Binaca Geetmala week after week setting new records and Kalyan ji Anand ji ruled Bollywood  from the mid sixties for more than 2 decades.

Kalyan ji passed away in 2000, but his effervescent brother Anand ji, and his son Deepak led a cast of stellar singers and musicians to stage a memorable show on April 20th at CenterStage in Atlanta. The hard working Mustafa Ajmeri left no stone unturned to take care of the musicians and honor the legendary music maestro.

While the focus was to take the audience back to the golden era of music Anandji and his troupe created a potpourri of the old and the new. Not just that, this is the first time I have seen any musician have the grace and graciousness to showcase the songs of other music directors. It not only shows how secure he is as a musician but there is a rare generosity of heart that isn’t found in today’s world. Anand ji’s talented son Deepak was there directing the musicians and indulging in some light hearted fun with everyone including his father. Anandji and his wife Shanta Ben both look decades younger than their 70 plus years, and have a youthful zest for life that is very infectious. The Kalyanji Anandji duo was the first to bring Kishore Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan to do stage shows.

The show in Atlanta began with a performance by local Atlanta kids from Smita Doshi’s Dhoom Machao group. Many community leaders like Mr Subash Razdhan (Chairman of the Gandhi Foundation USA), Nitin Shah (Chairman of Katchh Samaj of USA), C K Patel (Treasurer of AAHOA), Bobby Patel (Haven Trust Bank), Dr Prakash Desai, Deepak Shah from the Jain society came on stage and honored Anand ji Bhai with mementos. Anand ji was deeply touched and  said that he wished his older brother was here to see how much people appreciated old musicians.

It was interesting to see how many exceptional singers, the popular program Sa re Ga ma Pa has produced. Sarita who was the first to come on stage is a product of that show. This singer from Gwalior who started singing just for fun, was greatly encouraged by her father and started training seriously in music around the age of fourteen. She came to Bombay and knew no one. But a special lady made arrangements for stay in Bombay, and Sarita worked very hard after that and is doing well now. She started with the popular Lata number Yeh sama sama hai yeh pyar ka which is based on the popular Spanish hit-bessame mucho, followed by Ajeeb dastan hai yeh.

She was followed by Sagar who is from Indore and belongs to a musical family. Both his parents were talented singers but never got the opportunity to pursue this field, Sagar too won the Junior section of Sa re gama pa a few years ago and moved from Indore to first train under Kalyanji and then Anandji and says he has learnt a lot in the last 10 years from the brothers.

Now 23, the singer brings both charm and good vocals to the stage and began with the beautiful Kishore number Pal Pal dil ke pas from the movie Blackmail and the always beautiful Rafi number Tum Jo Mil Gaye ho from Hanstey Zakhm. Then very innocently Sagar said he wanted to sing one Bhajan and would the audience clasp their hands together and join him? His alaap was very holy sounding when suddenly he changed it to a rollicking rendition of the blockbuster Chand Sifarish from Fanaa and the crowd went hysterical.

It was the multi-talented and beautiful Kavita Krishnamurti Deshpande a stellar singer with a multi-dimensional voice who stole the show. Kavita can sing in so many different voices- from Noor Jehan to Shamshad Begum to Lata and has great stage presence as well. She started with Jawan hai Mohabbat, Kabhi aar Kabhi paar and the duet Teri Mehfil mein Kismat azma ke in dual voices of Lata and Shamshad Begum among her other songs.

Sanjay Tandon, revived memories of Mukesh with songs like Jo tum ko ho pasand and mere tootey huey dil se before singing the duet Phool Tumhe Bheja Hai khat mein with Sarita. Sagar sang the hit Jaane Jaan dhoondhta phir raha with Sarita and then Kavita was back on stage to sing Piyu bole. Pradip Bavishi a microbiologist by profession but a passionate  self taught musician who was not only the national organizer of the tour but also regaled the audience with some lovely songs. The musicians Nilesh, Deepak, Shashi, Vinayak, Javed and Rajendra did a great job.

Sarita sang Dil Cheez kya hai and Sanjay came back with Dil Ki Nazar se, and Jaane Kahan gaye who din. Anandji  was then asked to come and sing and he sang Mera Jeevan Kora Kagaz to great cheers. There were other stellar numbers like Kya khoob lagti ho, Kajra re , damdum mast kalandar Bheegey Honth tere, hawa mein udhta jaye and mere desh ki dharti. When Sagar sang Salame Ishk, Samta Savla danced to it. Anand ji was very appreciative of the fact that the NRI community in Atlanta and other places was so immersed in preserving the Indian classical arts. He said he saw an opposite trend in Bombay where the Mcdonald culture is alive and thriving and most youngsters are more into going to discotheques and learning western music and embracing western things than appreciating their own traditions.

The group of singers and Anandji’s lovely wife of 62 years travel like a family. The entire experience was full of warmth and lovely melodies. These are the kind of shows where you really get your money’s worth and to see legends like Anandji is a once in a life time experience. It was indeed one of those magical nights to remember.

All Material © Copyright Kavita Chhibber, Kavita Media and respective photographers