New Format and A Couple of Other Notes

Yes, as you can see, I have a new format/design/visual theme here. I got very tired of looking at the same old colors and tried for a while to work out something else with the old WodPress theme, but it just wasn’t working, so I scrapped it. The present one is much simpler and provides a better background for watching clips, and I think the sidebar looks better. I hope that the writing in the posts will not be much more difficult on the eyes. I have mixed feelings about the layout and scroll setup, since you have to scroll down to get through a post. There is also the matter of the infinite scroll, but it seems to be working better now. (I am trying to remember if the problem was that I was working with an older computer when it first came out. But this computer is about five years old, so most current machines would be better equipped to handle this scroll. I think, actually, that WordPress improved the functioning in some way, or this theme handles it better.)

I have added some contact information at the bottom of the sidebar (in case anybody didn’t notice)… I also mentioned Facebook, where I have been spending all too much time, which has certainly detracted from time and energies available for this blog. I do post a lot of film and dance clips on Facebook, but those are in addition to a few other, very different things (e.g., pertaining to my far-left politics). If anybody on Facebook is reading this and knows me to some extent (e.g., has met me or has merely corresponded with me a few times), but has not yet “friended” me, I encourage you to get in touch with me via e-mail to do so. I hesitate to provide the actual Facebook address, just because it seems odd since it is a personal timeline. (I did set up a Facebook page for Dances on the Footpath, but I ended up never using it. I share links to new blog posts on my Facebook timeline.)

I actually avoided Facebook for a very long time, but my account was set up for me in the summer of 2012 by someone who thought I definitely should have one. (That person has since then disappeared on me, so she probably would not be able to offer a comment about it now.) I think it has become an enormous benefit to me, even if it is a bit of an addiction and has caused a slowdown in this blog. Anyway, I guess that I will continue devoting a lot of time to it…

It took me years simply to provide my e-mail address on the front of this blog, and I am not really sure why I hesitated. (I guess I could also have set up a separate e-mail account and used that for this blog, but I am very technologically lazy.) Anyway, if people want to contact me for other reasons, feel free to do so also – as long as you aren’t spamming! (I did receive one very nice letter from someone and am taking weeks to respond. Unfortunately, that may happen sometimes also. But I am sincerely committed to answering my e-mails!)

And hopefully, soon, I will be able to come back here with a real blog post. :)

Some Mystery Singers and Dancers in Khazanchi (1941)

I am very pleased to see that Khazanchi and its song and dance clips are now complete over at those Tommydan sites, thanks to the addition of English subtitles by Reeba. Now that the film and its songs have full English subtitles, I can appreciate them in a new way – though I have enjoyed this excellent soundtrack for, probably, about five years now, with its beautiful music by Ghulam Haider and irresistible singing by Shamshad Begum in what was her breakthrough film. I will watch the film in its entirety – though possibly in stages – and there is a chance I’ll review it (though no promises here – I’ve made that sort of mistake enough times before!). But right now, I am mainly focusing on those musical scenes.

There are a few such scenes that I am thinking about at the moment, partly because I really enjoyed them, but also because I have been wondering a lot about the identity of some of the participants. There are two dances that feature performers whom I cannot identify (but definitely would like to know more about) and there is one song for which the identity of some of the singers seems to be a subject of hot debate. So, for the first post devoted to Khazanchi (there will probably be more here), let’s delve into these…

The dance above is very charming. Although the dancing is not very frenetic or spectacular, it has grown on me. I particularly like the rhythm of the ghungroos, and at the times when the female dancer does get moving a little, she is quite good. The male performer is also good – very expressive, I think. But who are these performers? We don’t seem to have any information about that, and I’d love to find out.

By the way, the singers are great too here, but we know who they are – Ghulam Haider (who is also the composer) and Shamshad Begum. Shamshad Begum is a lot of fun in this song, and I love the part beginning at 1:06, where she gets into her rap. And that is rapping, by any of today’s standards; there’s no better word to describe it! (There have been a few old Indian film songs discussed on the blogging circuit that included parts that were called “rap” – but this is the most rap-like rap that I have encountered so far – from 1941!)

Speaking of mystery dancers, wow! And wah! This is quite a dance for 1941, and look, what a nice navel she has! (Something we don’t normally get to see in vintage or Golden Age Indian films, as some have already pointed out…) She does not look like a youngster to me (compared, say, to the young women starring in this film), and she is a westerner, so I was wondering if she was perhaps one of the western women who appeared in the very early talkies or even the silent films. I would love to find out.

And here we have the great, classic, bicycle song, which presents a mystery regarding the singers involved. The main singers are well known – once again, Shamshad Begum and Ghulam Haider. But who are the backup/chorus singers, especially in the female group? That is a particularly interesting question because…

About four years ago, I encountered a debate at the blog Indian Baja, which I revisited this week. It starts when the Indian Baja blogger says:

It is even said that the film introduced the then very young Baby Noor Jehan, as a playback singer in the song ‘Sawan Ke Nazare Hain’ as a chorus participant. It was the first film which was without actress Baby Noor Jehan on screen and with her song picturized on [an]other actress.

It was great to find out that in addition to being one of the best songs in Shamshad Begum’s breakthrough movie, this also was the first film song that included Noor Jehan as a playback singer. But then one commenter, Surjit Kholi, said:

As for the participation of Noorjehan in chorus singing is concerned, it is a myth like many other myths created in the past from the mythical times. The song “Sawan Ke Nazare Hain” opens up with Umraosia (or Umrao Zia, if you prefer to call) Begum leading the first stanza of the song. She (Umraosia) is there in all chorus singing, and it is not difficult to detect her voice without any difficulty [sic]…

Now this commenter is apparently a pretty contentious character, who also denies that Baby Noor Jehan sang in “Shala Jawaniyan Mane” – which I have seen attributed to her in numerous places and even in a few compilations. So I wonder if this guy is just an over-questioning kook. I am more inclined to believe his statement that Umrao Zia Begum sang in part of this song, since she sings elsewhere in the film and was Ghulam Haider’s wife. But couldn’t Baby Noor Jehan also have been in this?

I would just love to completely solve these mysteries regarding the identity of certain artists in three fine song clips from Khazanchi. But, of course, I will continue to thoroughly enjoy the songs regardless.