In Search Of Lata Mangeshkar

Biography of Latā Maṅgeśakara, b. 1929, Hindi and Marathi playback singer.

Lata Mangeshkar is one of the best singers of the Hindi film industry. She is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in the world. It is estimated that she has more than 30,000 solo, duet and chorus backed songs in 20 different languages from 1948 to 1987. Now, it must way over 40,000! Lata Mangeshkar was born on 28th September, 1929 in a place called Indore. Her father Dinanath Mangeshkar was a renowned classical singer himself. Lata was introduced to music at a very young age. The life history of Lata Mangeshkar is truly fascinating. Read this short biography of Lata Mungeshkar.

INTRODUCTION BY LATA MANGESHKAR Lata Mangeshkar's life and career are widely known, and yet there is an aspect that remains largely unrecorded: her life on the international stage. Beyond the confines of a recording booth, or as the voice of generations of actresses, she was an accomplished and magnetic performer on stage. She attracted vast audiences of Indian origin who have made their home in many countries, including the US and Canada. Mangeshkar transformed how the Indian film music concert was perceived in the West by refusing to be part of the low-key song-and-dance performances that were held earlier in community halls, schools and colleges. She insisted that she and her colleagues would sing only in mainstream auditoriums - this was an unheard-of demand because Indian film artistes had never performed on those stages at that time. In ON STAGE WITH LATA, Mohan Deora - co-promoter and co-organizer of Lata Mangeshkar's international tours from 1975 to 1998 - allows us to journey with her and the top male playback singers, including Mukesh (who tragically died during a Detroit tour), Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar. Deora and Shah write about the participation of big-name stars including Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman and Farida Jalal. Mangeshkar is described here in her interactions with musicians, colleagues and friends as she meticulously prepared to sing on stage. The tours led to planning and glitches, camaraderie and tension, and anecdotes galore. They also provided the authors with a unique opportunity to observe the clarity of thought with which Lata Mangeshkar approached her work, and to see a great artiste at the height of her powers. A fine eye for detail makes the book a delight to read as Mohan Deora and Rachana Shah record an important slice of India's cinematic and cultural history.

The definitive saga, at once riveting and revelatory – studded with rare nuggets of information and fascinating anecdotes – that sparkingly brings out the life and times of an internationally acclaimed incredibly versatile singer. Asha Bhosle – a Guinness world record holder plus recipient of the Padma Vibhushan and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award – has held one and all spellbound for six decades now. Her voice, both fluid and flexible, has infused neo life into a variety of genres – from the melancholy melody to the rollicking rock-’n’-roll; from the soulful creation to the vibrant disco; from the romantic rhapsody to the rambunctious folk song; from the dainty ghazal to the boisterous qawwali; and from the pathos-filled rendition to the naughty-naugthy seductive number. The author – on the strength of his vast and varied exposure and experience – turns the focus on enthralling behind-the-scenes happenings that shaped the advance of this artiste with a remarkable range and a noteworthy body of work. ‘The world has no time for losers’ has remained Asha’s performing credo. This volume captures Asha Bhosle in her numberless shades. It is about how – in her silken rivalry with elder sister Lata Mangeshkar – she moved with panache from O. P. Nayyar to S. D. Burman to R. D. Burman. It is about how she served a galaxy of composers; about how, in the end, she reached the pinnacle all by herself. Against odds that would have driven any other woman into quitting. No quitter ever, Asha Bhosle, as the supernova supreme, just went on to underline the adage: ‘No power like woman power’. No more can you stay away from this marvel of a musical biography than you can stay away from the matchless musicality of Asha Bhosle. If she is one of a kind, so is this musical masterpiece capturing all the resonances and nuances going with her piquant persona. Here is a long-awaited career study shedding light on the twists and turns marking the starry-eyed world of Hindustani film music.

Look behind the scenes of fifty celebrated songs, from an estimated repository of over one lakh!'De de khuda ke naam pe': when Wazir Mohammed Khan sang these words in India's first talkie, Alam Ara, he gave birth to a whole new industry of composers, lyricists and singers, as well as an entirely new genre of film-making that is quintessentially Indian: the song-and-dance film. In the eight decades and more since then, Hindi film songs have enraptured listeners all over the world. From 'Babul mora, naihar chhooto jaye' (Street Singer, 1938) to 'Dil hai chhota sa' (Roja, 1992); from the classical strains of 'Ketaki gulab' (Basant Bahar, 1956) featuring Bhimsen Joshi to the disco beats of Nazia Hassan's 'Aap jaisa koi' (Qurbani, 1981); from the pathos of 'Waqt ne kiya' (Kaagaz Ke Phool, 1959) to the exuberance of the back-to-back numbers in Hum Kisise Kum Naheen (1977), here is an extraordinary compilation, peppered with trivia, anecdotes and, of course, the sheer joy of music. Find out answers to questions like:With which unreleased film did Kishore Kumar turn composer?In which song picturization was dry ice first used?Which all-time classic musical was initially titled Full Boots?Where was the title song of An Evening in Paris shot?The idea for which song originated when the film-maker visited Tiffany's in London?Which major musical partnership resulted from the celebrations around an award function for a commercial jingle for Leo Coffee? How many of your favourites find mention here? Make your own list!