Saturday, 09 July 2022 | PNS
Voices From a Golden Era by Lalit Nigam is a biography like few others. Traditional approaches emphasise life stories but, in this biography, together with a conventional pattern, data is presented in tabular form, which can become a reference manual. Vibrant photos of singers abound along with trivia and the singer’s views on various topics related to the movie industry.
The Golden Era voices found shelf space in the repository of Bombay cinema’s musical archives 1950 to 1980 saw enchanting hours on Radio Ceylon when Binaca Geet Mala captured the hearts of post-independence India in Hindi film music. Following it were Vividh Bharti and Doordarshan, affiliates of All India Radio, whose airwaves strummed the magical melodies of Bombay film music.
The book captures this exciting period, from infancy to maturity. No artist from this era was willing to accept mediocrity. The result was a tapestry of highly competent crooners. Lata Mangeshkar is her best in semi-classical songs. Her mastery of Sargam notes made such renditions possible. Asha Bhosle, her sister, specialised in risqué, saucy songs, and Geeta Dutt’s velvety voice did justice to any genera. Not to be outdone, the male singers filled the airwaves as Mohammed Rafi’s resonant deliveries, Mukesh Mathur’s honest minimalist voice touched hearts, and Kishore Kumar, whose style was off-beat, quirky, and scintillatingly original, doled out major hits in succession. Several other singers like Talat Mehmood, Manna Dey, and Hemant Kumar flanked in with their contributions. All received accolades from a stunning public who marveled at the capacity of these singers to deliver rapturous melodies.
Represented by The Book Bakers and published by Vishwakarma Publications, this book is a trip down memory lane, capturing a wealth of emotions from touching sorrow to joyous scenes penned by lyricists who wrote songs as poems and composers with finesse. Nigam’s idea to write began as a way to utilise his time. Being an ardent fan of Bombay cinema music since his engineering days at the university, he felt he could write mini-biographies of these singers and compile an anthology.
