I love Reshmi salwar kurta (more OPN-Shamshad goodness) and of course, Bachpan ke din bhula na dena is such a lovely song. I guess the different singing styles that emerged with the rise of Lata-Asha kind of side-lined her, which is a pity. Nayyar used her voice to best effect!ĭustedoff, she certainly is very underrated. Your favorite Shamshad songs just confirm my hypothesis that O. And I LOVE that her voice never gets shrill in the high notes. Sharmi, I somehow always think of her as better suited to folk songs because her voice suits their rustic simplicity, but she is simply amazing as a classical singer, too. Shweta, Shamshad at night is just what the doctor ordered for a good night's sleep! :D When the "sour grapes" come in the shape of Shakeela and sound like Shamshad, can one blame the said suitor for promising rashly that she is his Arabic date in whose shade he will spend his life?īanno, that's a very interesting tag! I'll have a lot of fun doing it. This time it’s Rafi against whom Shamshad Begum plays off her humorous antics, while Arabic dates (the edible kind) and sour grapes play a very prominent role in the lyrics! A feisty Shakeela tries to hold off an ardent suitor (Mahipal, if I recall correctly) by telling him that she is "a bunch of sour grapes" that he will "not be able to reach". Dekho dekho huzoor ( Alibaba And Forty Thieves, 1954) with Mohammed Rafi. Just listen to her "O Mister" – it makes Kishore sound positively sober in comparison! The lyrics of the song are hilarious enough – a couple (can’t find the video so I can’t say who they are) are celebrating their wedding night and anticipating the divorce about to happen soon – but Shamshad’s buffoonery makes them even funnier.Ħ. 1, but here he is clearly out-buffooned by Shamshad. So I am always surprised at how well matched they are, even in their humorous antics. Kishore-Shamshad always struck me as a rather unusual singing duo, more so because I (wrongly) think of them as belonging to different decades. Do se ho gaye ek hum (Ashiana, 1952) with Kishore Kumar. Her unusual earnestness apart, I just enjoy this song for her voice that flows like a steady stream of melted chocolate – sweet, thick and so very rich!ĥ. Most of her songs that I had heard before, usually had her in a playful and bouncy mood, with the occasional sad song thrown in. When I first heard this song, I was struck by the earnestness in Shamshad Begum’s voice. It is at once an earnest appeal for compassion and a passionate avowal to improve their lot, by a group of orphans. Hum dard ka afsana ( Dard, 1947) Music director: Naushad And here is my list, in all its freshly edited glory (the songs are included in this youtube playlist):ġ. But even limiting myself to her 50s songs, I still had lots of great songs to choose from! The only way I could limit myself to “ten favorites” was by listing the first ten songs that came to mind – though even then it was a tough job since I did want to include some of her 40s songs and some of her lesser known numbers. Her biggest hits were from the 40s, most of which I’m not very familiar with. I love her folksy songs best, but there is no denying that she shone at every genre she handled – from the "Western" Meri jaan sunday ke sunday, to the haunting Dharti ko aakash pukare and the numerous peppy numbers that have been remixed ad infinitum in more recent times. And she is perhaps the only female singers to have provided playback for leading men – she sang for Shammi Kapoor ( Bluffmaster) and Biswajit ( Kismat)!įor a singer without any formal musical training, she had an amazing vocal range and command over her voice. She recorded her first film-song for music director Ghulam Haider in the Punjabi film Yamla Jatt (1940), and her career as a popular playback singer was launched! She went on to give us hundreds of popular songs in her lovely earthy voice with its distinctive nasal twang. From there to singing for movies was but a short step.
She started her career singing for radio Lahore in 1937. Shamshad Begum The name conjures up images of golden classics, old-fashioned fun songs, and a nasal voice that may be out of fashion now, but never seems dated.
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