[Shuklas]

History of Indian music on record


NEW DELHI, JULY11. Ensconced in the narrow lanes of Meena Bazar near
Jama Masjid here is an innocuous shop, whose looks belie its worth.
Stacked in every nook and cranny of the shop are rare records of Hindi
films, which the three generations of the Syed Zafar Shah are
painstakingly preserving for posterity.

The Shahs need one LP record to enter the Guinness Book of World
Records, they have every other LP of film songs that was ever produced
in India. ``I am yet to lay my hands on the 1972 Feroz Khan-Mumtaz
starrer Apraadh,'' says Zafar. Another song they are frantically
looking for is `Dhalte Jaye Raat' from the Nirupa Roy-Jairam starrer
Raziya Sultan. ``The record accidentally fell down and broke,'' he
says.

The Shahs have all records (both filmi and non-filmi) of Md Rafi,
Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, G M Durrani, Lata
Mageshkar and Asha Bhonsle. Alongwith all the records of music
director O P Nayyar, they have some rare records of music by Madan
Mohan, Naushad and Usha Khanna. They have the records of first film of
Suraya (Natak), Naushad (Prem Nagar), Ravi (Vachan), Dilip Kumar
(Jawar Bhata) and Raj Kapoor and Madhubala starrer Neel Kamal.

The qawwali collection includes Habib Painter, Mumtaz Shabbir, Ismail
Azad, Kalwa Banne, Adbur Rahman, Kanchawala, Kallan Khan
Secunderabadi. Most of these records went out of circulation decades
ago, says Shah.

They have some rare collection of songs sung by Meena Kumari , Raj
Kapoor, Madhubala, Sunder and Master Madan. "We have all the eight
records of Master Madan, while most of us know only two exist,'' he
says.

Zafar is proud of his collection of unreleased songs. It includes one
Hindi song of a Bengali Film `Jalsaghar', two songs of `Mera Naam
Joker', Part-II, two songs by Mukesh from an unrelesed movie `Pukaar'
and another song, `Na Kajre Ki Dhaar', which was later used by Viju
Shah in the blockbuster `Mohra'.

He also has an unreleased song of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer `Asoka'.
``I also have the records of the song `Koi Ham Dam Naaha' in Jeeven
Naiyya from the film `Jeeven Naiyya' sung by Kishore Kumar in the
voice of Ashok Kumar and Md Rafi's `Na Aadmi Kaoi Bharosa' in the
voice of Mahendra Kapoor, he says. It began with Syed Ahmed Shah. ``He
was fond of qawwalis and lost no time to collect the records of Bibi
Dholki and Kalla Khan, when their qawwalis were transferred on to
vinyl in 1930,'' says the third generation Zafar Shah.

His interest grew for film music and he began buying records sung by
Noorjehan, Shamshad Begam, Malika Pukraj and K L Sehgal. ``He would
buy two records, one for his collection and one for listening. The
78rpm cost 12 anna, a princely sum at that time,'' he says.

He passed on a formidable collection of records to his son Syed Akbar
Shah. He carried forward the legacy by embarking on a collecting spree
to Teheran, Amsterdam, London, Lahore, Karachi, Barbados, Singapore
and Hong Kong.

He picked up records from private collectors, old curio shops and even
junk market. ``In a kabadi market in Hyderbad, he bumped into a rare
record of 1954 film Shaan-e-Hatham that contained Md Rafi's soulful
rendering of ``Sabak Raza Ka de Gaya Karbelawal``,'' says Zafar.

The Shahs through their network trace people with rare music records
and buy them. According to Zafar, the passion requires a lot of
investment of both money and time. However, he is proud of the
collection that includes the first song ever recorded of the film
`Madhuri' to the last film `Dil To Pagal Hai' that produced the songs
on LP records.

Four books stacked on over the other in a corner are encyclopedias of
film songs that date back to 1930. Zafar has tick marked the records
that are in his family collection. ``I have four godowns full of
records and a few collections at home,'' he says.

HMV has re-recorded 80 film songs of 1940s, which it didn't have in
its library, with the help of the Shahs. ``FM, All India Radio,
Sunrise Radio (England), ABC (Australia) have recorded songs from our
collection,'' he says. - PTI
__._,_.___

Source : Tha Hindu

[Milind]

Thanks for this article,Shuklajee.

[Harjinder]

Hi
I have two questions related to the article and the record collectors in this article. Firstly will they help a private collector get copies of some songs from their collection? Secondly if they will help in getting copies made what is the best way to contact them: mailing address, email address, phone number or any other way,like a personal visit? Any information in this regard would be of great help.Harjinder

[Shuklas]

O P Nayyar, Noorjahan still sing in old collector's record

Ensconced in the narrow lanes of Meena Bazar near Jama Masjid here is an innocuous shop, whose looks belie its worth. Stacked in every nook and cranny of the shop are rare records of Hindi films, which the three generations of the Syed Zafar Shah are painstakingly preserving for posterity.

The Shahs need one LP record to enter the Guinness Book of World Records, they have every other LP of film songs that was ever produced in India. "I am yet to lay my hands on the 1972 Feroz Khan-Mumtaz starrer Apraadh," says Zafar. Another song they are frantically looking for is 'Dhalte Jaye Raat' from the Nirupa Roy-Jairam starrer Raziya Sultan. "The record accidentally fell down and broke," he says.

The Shahs have all records (both filmi and non-filmi) of Md Rafi, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, G M Durrani, Lata Mageshkar and Asha Bhonsle. Alongwith all the records of music director O P Nayyar, they have some rare records of music by Madan Mohan, Naushad and Usha Khanna. They have the records of first film of Suraiya (Natak), Naushad (Prem Nagar), Ravi (Vachan), Dilip Kumar (Jwar Bhata) and Raj Kapoor and Madhubala starrer Neel Kamal.

The qawwali collection includes Habib Painter, Mumtaz Shabbir, Ismail Azad, Kalwa Banne, Adbur Rahman, Kanchawala, Kallan Khan Secunderabadi. Most of these records went out of circulation decades ago, says Shah.

They have some rare collection of songs sung by Meena Kumari , Raj Kapoor, Madhubala, Sunder and Master Madan. " We have all the eight records of Master Madan, while most of us know only two exist," he says.

Zafar is proud of his collection of unreleased songs. It includes one Hindi song of a Bengali Film Jalsaghar, two songs of Mera Naam Joker, Part-II, two songs by Mukesh from an unreleased movie Pukaar and another song, 'Na Kajre Ki Dhaar', which was later used by Viju Shah in the blockbuster Mohra.

He also has an unreleased song of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Asoka. "I also have the records of the song Koi dam dam naa raha in Jeevan Naiyya sung by Kishore Kumar in the voice of Ashok Kumar and Md Rafi's 'Na Aadmi Kaoi Bharosa' in the voice of Mahendra Kapoor, he says.

It began with Syed Ahmed Shah. "He was fond of qawwalis and lost no time to collect the records of Bibi Dholki and Kalla Khan, when their qawwalis were transferred on to vinyl in 1930," says the third generation Zafar Shah.

His interest grew for film music and he began buying records sung by Noorjehan, Shamshad Begam, Malika Pukraj and K L Sehgal. "He would buy two records, one for his collection and one for listening. The 78rpm cost 12 anna, a princely sum at that time," he says.

He passed on a formidable collection of records to his son Syed Akbar Shah. He carried forward the legacy by embarking on a collecting spree to Teheran, Amsterdam, London, Lahore, Karachi, Barbados, Singapore and Hong Kong.

He picked up records from private collectors, old curio shops and even junk market. "In a kabadi market in Hyderbad, he bumped into a rare record of 1954 film Shaan-e-Hatham that contained Md Rafi's soulful rendering of 'Sabak Raza Ka de Gaya Karbelawal'," says Zafar.

The Shahs through their network trace people with rare music records and buy them. According to Zafar, the passion requires a lot of investment of both money and time. However, he is proud of the collection that includes the first song ever recorded of the film Madhuri to the last film Dil To Pagal Hai that produced the songs on LP records.