SALIL CHOWDHARY- A GENIUS

A legend remembered. Tomorrow is Salil da's birthday.

Salil Chowdhury was unique, in a class by himself. Had he been alive,
tomorrow Salilda, would have turned 85. What made his music distinct? How did he go about projects?

HE WAS DIFFERENT...
Veteran musician Manohari Singh says, “harmonization, use of ‘jumping’
notes were important elements in his music. He knew well the trick of
combining notes! And he had a sound understanding of Western classical
music, a mastery in scoring background music. When the likes of Raj
Kapoor and BR Chopra needed unusual background music, they approached
Salilda.”
Let’s now meet Sabita Chowdhury. “I didn’t know what a choir meant
before meeting him at Suman’s Hall in Dadar, Bombay, during a
rehearsal of the Bombay Youth Choir in 1952. I was surprised to hear
one or two members sing the basic melody and some were singing the
same thing at a higher note... He was different from contemporary
composers in many ways ~ he was a musician, poet, lyricist, story
writer, arranger, singer, producer, director... He formed an
association for musicians in Bombay...”
Well-known guitarist Ramesh Iyer says, “Creating music was a fun
activity for him. When Dada started working for Hindi films, composers
liked his work! Dada gave birth to a new style, one that puts stress
on creative harmony. He explained techniques to blend different types
of music ~ like Bangla folk with Western classical. That was his style.”

WORKING WITH HIM...
“Salilda took me to Mumbai and helped me join Bollywood. My first
project with him was Paasher Baari and then on Madhumati’s background
score. He had in-depth knowledge of Indian folk music as well as
Western classical,” says Manohari Singh. As for Ramesh Iyer, he says,
“I worked in Plot No 5 and Chemmeen as a musician before I joined
Panchamda’s team. Since 1976 I had worked for Salilda all the time he
was active in creating music. Playing his tunes is a challenge.”

FOR THE MASSES?
“I don’t agree that he was not a mass composer. On one hand people
remember Zindagi Kaisi Hain Paheli, Kahin Door Jab and some remember the
peppy Jan-e-Man, Jan-e-Man. Dada had his style and enjoyed several
commercial hits ~ Madhumati, Anand, Chhoti Si Baat, Half Ticket and
Maya,” says one of Salilda’s close associates, lyricist Yogesh.
Sabita Chowdhury also has kinds words to share. “I consider him a
composer with class. How many people can sing his songs correctly?
Without a sense of music, it’s difficult to perform his songs. He
always dealt with quality tunes..”
As for Manohari Singh, he feels Salil Chowdhury had class but didn’t
turn his eye away from the actual viewers of Hindi cinema ~ the masses.
Salil Chowdhury had received awards from Filmfare, Sangeet Natak
Academy, Allauddin Smriti Puraskar, Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar and so on.
Nobody can forget his contribution to the music world. To most
musicians he would be remembered as a genius.

When the song of Half ticket was getting recorded- Aake seedhi lagi., Salil da told Kishore Kumar that it is not possible to record the song as Lata ji is not able to turn up for the recording and hence they have cancelled the recording. Kishore da said so what he will also sing the female parts. Salil da recorded the song with kishore da singing the male as well as the female parts of the song. Salil Chowdhary's music had a very bengali touch to it.

The above post is with inputs from www.statesman.com