{"id":3374,"date":"2020-07-14T00:00:52","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T18:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=3374"},"modified":"2021-03-17T21:55:57","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T16:25:57","slug":"manek-premchand-hitting-right-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/manek-premchand-hitting-right-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unforgettable Music of Hemant Kumar: In Conversation With Author Manek Premchand"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Author

Manek Premchand<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018Hitting the Right Notes\u2019 \u2013 <\/em>the name itself says it all. In this book, renowned film historian, musicologist and author Manek Premchand<\/a><\/span> takes the reader on an engrossing journey through a kaleidoscope of essays on musical trends, genres, milestones and the glorious history of Hindi Film Music. The book explores the notes that made the difference, the innovations that sparked trends, the composers and lyricists who thought out of the box and broke the barriers bringing the classes and the masses together, the musicians who arranged and played all that heavenly music without receiving due recognition and the singers who matched the actors on screen note by note and expression by expression with their god-gifted voices. Hitting the Right Notes: Hindi Cinema\u2019s Golden Music <\/em>, published by Manipal University Press (and available on Amazon.in<\/span><\/strong><\/a> and Flipkart<\/strong><\/span><\/a>) \u00a0has insights, perspectives, anecdotes and an exhaustive chronicling of Hindi film music through its Golden Era, with almost all the essays listing a number of songs that bear evidence or influences of the subject under discussion.<\/p>\n

The Overview in Hitting the Right Notes<\/em> is a concise yet highly enlightening sum up of the many rivers and streams of influences, people and genres that flowed towards Hindi film music, enriching its myriad forms. As a collective art form that emerged with strength in the early 1930s and transcended every barrier of language, provinces, cultures and countries, Hindi film music gave a robust and popular platform to many talents to flourish and shine. For a music lover who would like to know the genesis, growth and maturing of Hindi film music in a quick yet wholesome snapshot, the Overview is a must-read.<\/p>\n

\"Shiv

Shiv Kumar Sharma: The Man and His Music is available on Amazon<\/a><\/span> and Niyogi Books<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Manek Premchand\u2019s brush with books on Hindi film music began with Yesterday\u2019s Melodies, Today\u2019s Memories <\/em>in 2003. It was followed by Musical Moments from Hindi Films <\/em>(2006)\u00a0and the encyclopedic Romancing the Song <\/em>(2012).<\/p>\n

With Shiv Kumar Sharma: The Man and His Music<\/em>, the biographical sketch of Santoor maestro Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Manek Premchand ventured into biographies, writing a third of the book exploring the classical music exponent’s experiences as an instrumentalist and composer in film music. He delved into the maestro’s long innings as a music composer in the Hindi film historian, exploring Shiv Kumar Sharma’s stint as a musician, when he was associated with the legendary music directors of the day such as S.D. Burman and Naushad. The other two parts of the book were written by Pandit Vijya Kichlu who explored his classical music association and Ina Puri who touched upon his life and music through conversations.<\/p>\n

Premchand next came out with his first\u00a0full-fledged\u00a0biography Talat Mahmood: The Velvet Voice<\/em>,\u00a0published in 2015. In a candid conversation with Antara<\/a>, Editor of Learning and Creativity<\/em><\/a>\u00a0& Consulting Editor, Silhouette Magazine<\/em><\/a>, Manek Premchand talks about\u00a0\u00a0Hitting the Right Notes,<\/em> released in December 2016 and his other books that have expressed his passion and love for the music of the Golden Era.<\/p>\n

\"Hitting<\/a>

Hitting the Right Notes: Hindi Cinema\u2019s Golden Music is available on Amazon.in<\/span><\/strong><\/a> and Flipkart<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Antara:<\/strong> With a repertoire of several books on music, based on in-depth research, your expertise in chronicling the growth, development, expansion and roots of Hindi film music is well-established. I am curious to know how did the first book Yesterday\u2019s Melodies, Today\u2019s Memories happen? What made you think of putting down your research into a book? How was the response?<\/em><\/p>\n

Manek Premchand: <\/strong>When I returned from living abroad for many years, I came into close contact with many film music people, principally composer OP Nayyar, through whom I met several music aficionados. Among them was the music-obsessed Sultan Arshad Khan, the head of Pakistan International Airlines in Bombay, who was also a sort of cultural ambassador from his country.<\/p>\n

\"yesterdays

Yesterday\u2019s Melodies, Today\u2019s Memories<\/p><\/div>\n

Arshad Saab stayed on for nine years here, and he impacted me deeply with his awesome love for, and knowledge of music from Hindi cinema. For many years, before he left the Indian shores in October 1996, I appealed to him to write a book on what all he knew, to share trivia, and curate the wonderful music that was made in the golden years. He was always, \u201cOkay, will try\u201d etc. But book he didn\u2019t start.<\/p>\n

It was then that I thought of writing one myself, equipped as I was with a Diploma in Journalism, which I had done nothing serious about till then. My new year\u2019s resolution on January 1, 1997 was to write a book, which took me nearly seven years to write. It was called Yesterday\u2019s Melodies, Today\u2019s Memories.<\/em> The response was humbling. It still is.<\/p>\n

Compared with that book, Musical Moments from Hindi Films <\/em>was a kind of rush job, finished within an year. That is because we were celebrating the platinum jubilee of \u201ctalking films\u201d (and so music too), in 2006, with time being of the essence. That book had snatches of my interviews with film musicians, and songs as well, on CDs. But choosing 435 landmark songs over 75 years was difficult! So I took the help of 8 music lovers, whose opinions were collated to help things become a lot more broad-based. Interestingly, our job was made somewhat easier by the non-availability of stills from moments of those 435 songs, because each song needed a photographic moment from it, as outlined in my introduction to the book!<\/p>\n

Antara:<\/strong> Choosing a focused subject and building a book around it is one thing. But when one is compiling an encyclopedia of sorts, chronicling the journey of something as expansive and varied as the Hindi film song, one is often in a quandary about what to keep and what to leave out. How do you make this distinction from the mounds of material, research and insights you have.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"musical

Musical Moments from Hindi Films: Memorable Songs Down the Years<\/p><\/div>\n

Manek Premchand: <\/strong>It\u2019s a daunting task, expansive and varied as you said! But then when one decides on a subject, then at each step ideas and clarity come more-or-less together. So one just decides about relevance as one goes along, bearing well that the book should not become a telephone directory :). In fact, do they even make such directories anymore?<\/p>\n

Antara:<\/strong> Lets take Romancing the Song for example. You have traced the history, the original roots of the music, the genres and styles, the ragas and their complexities, personalities and their contributions \u2013 in short, a massive ready reckoner on the most remarkable turning points and milestones we\u2019ve seen. What made you decide you wanted to put this journey down in a book?<\/em><\/p>\n

Manek Premchand: <\/strong>Antara, many years ago, when Dilip Kumar was accepting the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, he was asked the main difference between then and now. He said, to the effect, \u201cMany things are better now, but literature has plummeted. Poetry especially\u201d. That struck me as so right.<\/p>\n

Later, on reading what Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai had to say about the denigration of language in our society\u2014as also reflected in our films\u2014that point cemented itself in my thoughts. Later, I read many people who expressed similar concerns. I then looked around and found that poetry seemed irrelevant to many people I met. These were not Dhrupad singers, to whom words mean almost nothing. These were Radio Jockeys and sites like Wikipedia, even music companies like Saregama, where I was a Consultant, would sometimes not name the songwriter on CD sleeves.<\/p>\n

\"romancing<\/a>

Romancing the Song: Hindi Cinema’s Lyrical Journey is available on Amazon<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Everyday folks like you and I gave lyricists a miss. This seemed very odd, and even unfair to me. Many many songs from the golden era\u00a0have great lyrics as their blueprint, so that hurt. I wanted to do something about it, with no idea if anyone would even read what I had to say. The result was Romancing The Song.<\/p>\n

Antara:<\/strong> In Romancing the Song, you had raised a very valid point about the lack of spotlight on lyricists. We credit songs to music directors, singers, films and even actors but forget lyricists. Do you think the same trend continues today or has social media and Facebook groups on lyricists and other online interactive platforms have brought about a better awareness about their role?<\/em><\/p>\n

Manek Premchand: <\/strong>I think the nadir of lyrics was in the last decades of the 20th<\/sup> century. Things have looked up since then, but only marginally, and infrequently. The greater improvements have happened in other areas, like recording techniques, and the fact that we seem to have taken a stronger stand against re-mixes and those atrocious Jhankar Beats, which made mockery of songs!<\/p>\n

Till society begins to value writers, like management gurus, doctors and IT people, we cannot imagine throwing up great poets. Meantime there does seem to be a small shift in giving writers their due now.<\/p>\n

\"Manek

Manek Premchand with Santoor maestro Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma<\/p><\/div>\n

Antara:<\/strong> Tell us about your fellowship The Changing Face of Lyrics in Hindi Cinema. Any plans to put your research in a book format?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Talat<\/a>

Talat Mahmood: The Velvet Voice is available on Amazon<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Manek Premchand: <\/strong>Romancing The Song<\/em> is just about the same thing as the fellowship study I made for the Ministry of Culture. In fact, the book is more elaborate.<\/p>\n

Antara:<\/strong> When penning a biography, it is always a tightrope walking. The subject is a real person, a legend for that matter. Your focus has to be objective and factual even if you are a fan yourself of the personality. Also there are ethical issues about how much of what is to be revealed and what is to be skipped without making it look incomplete. How do you tread that balance or what would you say are the biggest challenges and at the same time the most satisfying aspects of writing a biography? (in context of Talat Mahmood: The Velvet Voice)<\/em><\/p>\n

Manek Premchand: <\/strong>You are so right, it is so very hard to write objectively about a man you so admire, for himself and his music! But then again, music itself is subjective, is it not? A lot of our genes and conditioning make it so.<\/p>\n

Happily though, I had no issues like what to reveal and what not to, because Talat Mahmood\u2019s life had always been an open book, except no one had bothered to package that book well. Everyone who knew the man called him the perfect gentleman. He had no gossip around him. Which is not to say he was a dull person, not at all! He was fun, cultured, loving, and much more. I cannot even begin to tell you how he was there in my life, very strongly indeed, for some 5 years. I owed him a strong debt of gratitude for that.<\/p>\n

\"Manek

Manek Premchand being honoured at Manipal University with a citation for Romancing The Song<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

So the day the book came out, I went for an hour\u2019s walk, shedding tears of joy. That was a huge moment for me to say thank you to the singing-actor, to my mom who passed on her musical genes to me, and to Him upstairs.<\/p>\n

Antara:<\/strong> There was a time when rare music was indeed rare. Thanks to YouTube and Facebook, some of the rarest of the rare can now be found in public domain for free. There was a time when books were said to be on the way out thanks to digitization.\u00a0 The plethora of books in the market shows the demand is very much there. How do you relate the two? In other words, when so much is available for free (one has to factor in informed bloggers, Wikipedia etc), how does the market for priced books on film music witness an upswing? And where do you see it headed?<\/em><\/p>\n

Manek Premchand: <\/strong>YouTub<\/em>e<\/em> and Facebook<\/em> are just wonderful, with everyone so connected, uploading and downloading music, sharing thoughts, having fun and learning as they have fun. Internet has opened up a new world of songs and ideas for us. As for books, the irony of our times is that more of them are being sold than ever before, even as they are being read less than ever before. The Japanese even have a word for it: Tsundoku, meaning when you buy books but don\u2019t read them. They stay piled up in your In Tray, or go into your bookshelf, for a read someday. That certainly adds a cultural dimension to your living room.<\/p>\n

Bookshops are a visible manifestation of book sales, so with many stores shutting down, people think book sales are down. But never mind ebooks, physical books are doing just fine too, thanks to ecommerce.<\/p>\n

Book release of Manek Premchand’s book Talat Mahmood: the Velvet Voice<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n