Category: Music
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BollySwar: 2011 – 2020 is now available
As you may be aware, four volumes of the BollySwar e-book have been released so far – BollySwar: 1971 – 1980 (Volume 5), BollySwar: 1981 – 1990 (Volume 6), BollySwar: 1991 – 2000 (Volume 7), and BollySwar: 2001 – 2010 (Volume 8). I am happy to inform you that the new volume – BollySwar: 2011…
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Film Music’s Shift from Melody to Sound Design
Music composer Kaushal Inamdar recently posted an insightful Twitter thread about how film music had changed in recent decades. The crux of the point he made was that technological advances in music production had shifted the focus of music directors from music composition to sound design. He argued that creating interesting sounds was becoming more important than…
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Change in MySwar domain – Again
About two years ago, we had had to shift the domain of MySwar from .com to .in due to ISP-level blocks on our website, which was most likely the result of a court order secured by an entity citing copyright infringement. We’re dismayed that our .in domain has also been blocked now and we have now shifted…
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The Pick Of Composer Nashad’s Songs
Shaukat Hussain Dehelvi, known commonly as Nashad, was a music director who composed music for 29 Hindi films from 1947 to 1963. He moved to Pakistan in 1964 and continued to make music for Pakistani films till the 1970s. He passed away in 1981. For his work in India, Nashad is best remembered for his…
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C. Ramchandra’s 10 Most Memorable Songs
Ramchandra was one of the most talented composers to make music for Hindi films, equally comfortable with raag-based songs and the Western music idiom. While O.P. Nayyar is commonly known as the Rhythm King, C. Ramchandra was instrumental in giving rhythm an important role in Hindi film music. The composer is best remembered for his…
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The Best Of The Naushad – Rafi Partnership
This post commemorates the birth anniversaries of two stalwarts – Mohammed Rafi (December 24) and Naushad (December 25) – each a great artist in his own right while being an important part of the other’s career. Mohammed Rafi dominated the music charts in the 1950s and 1960s, singing for all the leading music directors and actors…
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The Best of Shailendra
Shailendra is regarded as one of the best lyricists Hindi films have produced. While many of his peers were regarded as poets who also wrote lyrics for Hindi film songs, Shailendra set himself apart with his commitment to the medium. His ability to connect with film audiences with simple but impactful words was unparalleled. Considering…
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The Charming Voice Of Sudha Malhotra
Sudha Malhotra was one of the female singers who showed a lot of promise in the 1950s and 1960s but couldn’t quite take their careers to the next level. Like some of her peers, she was unable to get the leading music directors of the time to look beyond the Mangeshkar sisters. Between 1949 and…
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The Best Of Geeta Dutt In 10 Songs
Geeta Dutt is among the few Bollywood artists we love to root for. She stood her own against formidable competition, lived through a turbulent marriage, drowned her sorrows in alcohol and passed away when she was only 42, leaving behind songs that continue to enthrall people to this day. To commemorate her birth anniversary on…
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Remembering Chitragupta
Chitragupta Shrivastava may have been lesser known than some of his contemporaries but produced some memorable tunes over his long career in Hindi films. It might surprise some that Chitragupt’s career lasted more than forty years – from 1946 to 1988 – during which he composed for 144 films. One of things that set him…