Category: Music

Engelbert Humperdinck: How a shy Madras boy became a pop singer and a heart-throb.

Early Days

Arnold George Dorsey was born in Madras, British India (now Chennai, India), in 1936. He was one of ten children to British Army NCO Mervyn Dorsey, who was of Welsh descent, and his wife, Olive. She was of German descent. Like Sir Cliff Richard, some sources say he has an Anglo-Indian heritage. He was christened Arnold George Dorsey but became known professionally as Engelbert Humperdinck.

He dropped out of school at 15 to pursue his dreams alone and described himself as a dreamer. He and his family emigrated to Leicester, England, in 1946. He took up the saxophone out of a desire for music. For nearly a decade, he performed under the stage name “Gerry Dorsey,” a nickname he earned thanks to his ability to do impressions of Jerry Lewis. As a saxophonist in nightclubs by the early 1950s, he was already in the music scene. However, it is thought that he didn’t begin singing until he was well into his late teens.

Tuberculosis strikes

When the British Army requisitioned Humperdinck to serve in the Royal Corps of Signals in the ’50s, it ended his music career. His post took him to Germany. He was discharged from the Army in 1958, after which he recorded his song with the label Decca Records, his debut single, “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,”

Unfortunately, this bombed with the listeners. He resorted to singing in bars catering to eke a livelihood. In 1961, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, worsening his already difficult situation. It was nine months before he felt normal again. After getting better, he returned to singing in nightclubs. His life was challenging, and he had yet to achieve success.

Engelbert Humperdinck: the reason behind the name

After relocating from South Wales to the United States in the early 1960s, Sir Tom Jones’ career took off. Gordon Mills, who managed artists including Engelbert Humperdinck, helped him out. In 1963, promoter Gordon Mills signed the singer Thomas Woodward, who changed his name to Tom Jones so that he could cash in on the success of the Oscar-winning film of the same name. With Gordon’s help, Sir Tom signed a Decca recording contract. He quickly became a multimillionaire and international sensation after releasing the James Bond theme song for the film Thunderball.

Gordon then signed another promising young performer, Arnold “Gerry” Dorsey, whose stage name was changed to that of the legendary singer Engelbert Humperdinck. Tom Jones biographer Colin Macfarlane explained the reasoning behind the name change in an interview with Express.co.uk.

Arnold Massey asked Gordon, “Gordon, can you make me like Tom?”

Gordon said, “You’ve been around too much, so I can’t. I’m powerless to make you like Tom.”

But Gordon discovered one night that he had an album by the classical composer Engelbert Humperdinck sitting next to his record player. He instinctively decided to rename Arnold “Gerry” Dorsey Engelbert Humperdinck.

Although Englebert and Sir Tom Jones had the same manager, you would have thought this would bring them closer, but it didn’t. Vying for the top position on the charts might have caused a rivalry.

The singing ‘Paki’

Tom Jones referred to Engelbert Humperdinck as the Singing Paki. Paki was a universal epithet the British would use to tag anyone from the Indian sub-continent. You could be an Indian or a Sri Lankan, but you would still be called a ‘Paki’. 

His management always treated Engelbert as being something of a low priority. The song Release Me, which brought him success and launched his career, was earlier turned down by Tom Jones. Engelbert bitterly resented the step-brotherly treatment. He cannot have been pleased by Jones’s name either. Here he was, with the sonority of an opera singer. He could easily traverse a three-and-a-half octave range, a gift he got from his mother, an operatic singer, and still being given second-class treatment.

His rise to the top of the charts

In the 1960s, three of his singles were among the best-selling in the UK. When he recorded the ballads “Release Me” and “The Last Waltz” in 1967, both songs were top of the UK Singles Chart and sold over a million copies. Then came a string of hits, including 1967’s “There Goes My Everything,” 1968’s “Am I That Easy to Forget,” and 1969’s “A Man Without Love” (1968). In doing so, he amassed a sizable fan base, with many followers taking the moniker “Humperdinckers.”

After marking over 50 years as a successful singer, Humperdinck continues to record and tour, having sold more than 140 million records worldwide. In the 1970s, Humperdinck had significant North American chart successes with “After the Lovin'” (1976) and “This Moment in Time” (1979). With these, he gained a reputation as a prolific concert performer.

Englebert received renewed attention during the 1990s with his recordings of “Lesbian Seagull” for the soundtrack of Beavis and Butt-head Do America (1996) and a dance album (1998).

The 2000s brought in a lot of recording gigs for Englebert. The Grammy-nominated gospel album Always Hear The Harmony: The Gospel Sessions (2003) and a double album of duets, Engelbert Calling (2014). Humperdinck represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku in 2012 with the song “Love Will Set You Free.”

Humperdinck’s concerts were a more profitable enterprise than his recordings, so his manager went slow on recordings and encouraged him to do more concerts and fewer recordings. As a result, he did not figure in the rankings of the music charts. This affected his ratings quite considerably. In 1976, he signed a new deal with Epic Records, which returned him to the American Top Ten with “After the Lovin‘.” This album made it to the Top 20 and became his biggest-selling LP since 1970.
Humperdinck also topped the charts with 1979’s “This Moment in Time” in 1983, with “Till You and Your Lover Are Lovers Again.”

Engelbert attempted a recording comeback with the 1987 album Remember I Love You, which featured a duet with Gloria Gaynor and earned him a Golden Globe Entertainer of the Year award. The album Winding Road featured songs by Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Christine McVie, and others. This fetched Engelbert Humperdinck his second Grammy nomination.

Some stats:

  • Sold more than 140 million records, including 64 gold albums and 23 platinum,
  • Received four Grammy nominations, a Golden Globe, and stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Las Vegas Walk of Fame.
  • Recorded everything from the most romantic ballads to movie theme songs, disco, rock, and gospel.
  • Performed for the Queen and many heads of state.

After appearing on MTV several times, Engelbert struck a chord with the younger generation.

The sideboard trademark was copied by Elvis!

Even Elvis owed a debt to Engelbert. His sideboards, first introduced by Engelbert, were copied by Elvis.

Engelbert and Elvis were good friends and sang each other’s songs. Engelbert sang Love Me Tender. Elvis sang Release Me, and There Goes My Everything.

The Las Vegas concert circuit saw Engelbert earn the friendship and respect of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. The now famous Jimi Hendrix began his career as the first half of Engelbert’s show.

Engelbert Humperdinck was made an MBE in April 2022 during an investiture service at Windsor Castle. The British pop star, 85, was among a host of high-achievers to receive royal honors by Princess Royal on Tuesday. Others collecting awards included rocker Rick Wakeman, actor Sir Jonathan Pryce and former rugby player Rob Burrow.

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Pic credit: “After the Lovin’” by elvissa is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Engelbert Humperdinck (singer) – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engelbert_Humperdinck_(singer)

Engelbert Humperdinck – The Last Waltz, Pop Vocal cover by iggylee …. https://www.coverium.com/music-video/engelbert-humperdinck-cantante-the-last-waltz-vocal-cover-by-iggylee/TM7O7_MnM8c

Engelbert Humperdinck: How a shy Madras boy became pop heart-throb – dailyO. https://www.dailyo.in/arts/engelbert-humperdinck-british-pop-singer-golden-globe-elvis-presley-frank-sinatra-32995

Engelbert Humperdinck Biography, Songs, & Albums | AllMusic. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/engelbert-humperdinck-mn0000098081/biography

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK LYRICS – SongLyrics.com. https://www.songlyrics.com/engelbert-humperdinck-lyrics/

Handel Manuel – the pianist who put Madras on the world map

If you prefer the audio version

Who was Handel Manuel?

Handel Manuel was a pianist, organist, composer, chorus director, music teacher, and producer of children’s radio programs. He was station director for the Western music program at All India Radio, Madras. He worked on contract for All India Radio, serving as the Director of Western music programs. Handel Manuel was Music Director of Madras Musical Society for about 40 years; the founder and Musical Director of the Madras Philharmonic and Choral Society, and a life member of the Royal School of Church Music, England.

His birth and background

Handel Manuel was born in Tuticorin on April 26, 1918. He was the oldest of four children. His father, Dr. G. Manuel, had a hobby repairing musical instruments. So the house had many musical instruments lying around. Surender Schaffter, his brother, learned to play the cello, piano, pipe organ with pedals, clarinet, flute, cello, recorder, and double bass. In contrast, Handel learned to play the piano and the pipe organ. Dr. Manuel named his eldest son Handel after the German composer George Fredric Handel. The name was not wasted on him, and Handel Manuel became one of the best Western classical musicians that Madras has seen.

He studied at the Madras Christian College, Tambaram in Madras (Chennai)

Madras Musical Association

The founding of the MMA in 1893 was in an attempt to capitalize on an existing Western musical tradition in Madras. By the middle of the nineteenth century, regular Western music performances were taking place in major cities across India, expanding from churches, military, and home settings to public performances at theaters and opera houses, like the Museum Theatre in Madras. Later, MMA drew more and more upon Indian members and audiences to continue promoting and performing Western music.

While Western music became increasingly popular amongst wealthy minority communities in Indian cities, the Madras Musical Association remained exclusively a European organization until the Second World War outbreak. The British and Anglo-Indian communities, which had also left India in increasing numbers following 1947, led to the decline of Western music audiences and the membership of organizations like the Madras Music Association. In Madras, for instance, Western choir music was performed from 1715 onwards by the Charity School of St. Mary’s choir. Governor Thomas Rumbold founded the garrison band in 1779.

At age 23, Manuel became the first Indian conductor of the Madras Music Society. With the Second World War outbreak, MMA accepted its first Indian member, Handel Manuel, who joined the chorus in 1939, subsequently becoming its director in 1945, leading the chorus for forty years. Handel served as the church’s organist and choirs director for 53 years; and the MMAs choirs conductor for almost four decades, having been thrust into this role almost by a pitchfork in his early 20s.

Uncle Handel – All India Radio, Madras

While at the All India Radio, he named himself Uncle Handel. He would play the piano, and children from different schools would sing. This program became so popular that he would recreate the show outside of the radio too. The name tag Uncle Handel became so popular that everyone in his family would call him Uncle Handel, including his wife, Alice! 

How he met his wife

Handel was introduced to Alice by Sharadha, who married Handel’s younger brother Surender Shaffer. Alice was a good pianist, but she would consistently underplay her talent. On occasion, she had the opportunity to play the piano. When Handel watched her sight read and play, he was astounded. “His jaw dropped,” she remarked!

Handel’s amazing talents

A student of his, Arul, observed that Handel had extraordinary skill in sight read music. He would take the melody of a simple nursery rhyme like “Twinkle, twinkle little star” and interpret it as how Bach or Beethoven would arrange it. His ability to improvise on the spot made him a genius.

Handel notated the national anthem of India, Jana Gana Mana, with all the semi-tones necessary. The English hymn that M. S. Subbalakshmi sang at the United Nations was composed and arranged by him.

In 1984, he visited the United Kingdom and the continent of Europe, performing brilliantly at several renowned centers and cathedrals, wowing audiences across the continent. Inspired by the positive response, he continued his musical tour. He flew to the United States, touring many major cities such as Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. While in San Francisco, Mr. Handel played brilliantly on a brand-new, massive six-manual organ commissioned just the previous month. In 1993, he returned to the United Kingdom and Europe to perform another time.

Accompanists don’t come much better than Handel Manuel. He was in high demand by some of the best musicians in the world, including Melli Mehta, the father of the famous musician Zubin Mehta; American violinist Jack Gladzer; Argentinian violinist Alberto Lysy [Protege of the great Yehudi Menuhin], Australian violinist Michael Grube, Dutch cellist Francois Vetter, and others. 

Many of the world’s best singers, including those from the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and elsewhere, had Handel as their pianist or orchestral conductor. 

The pianist Michael Grube publicly praised Handel Manuel after hearing a recital of his work in Madras, saying, “I have played with many Pianists in the world, but none like Handel Manuel.” 

Mr. Handel Manuel has performed as a Guest Pianist with many well-known jazz ensembles over the years, including the Barrel House Jazz Group from Germany, Bob Barnard’s Jazz Group from Australia, Clark Terry and his Jolly Giants from the United States, and many more.

Awards and recognitions

Handel Manuel was awarded the Padma Shree, India’s prestigious national recognition, in 1983. He was also elected as an Honorary Life Member of the Royal School of Church Music, UK. He also received the Sake of Honor from the Rotary Club. He was also invited to the International Tchaikovsky Competition as a guest of honor.

Handel Manuel playing ‘Money money money’ by ABBA

His passage to eternity

Handel’s end came about on October 1994. He was jolly and pleasant and remained that way till the very end of his life.

His Legacy

After Handel passed away on October 1994, following requests from former students of Manuel’s, Sharada and Surender Schaffter established the Handel Manuel Chorus in 2003. The choir has 30 members and performs primarily Baroque and Classical choral music. Among the places of worship they have played are in churches in Bangalore and Chennai; the Egmore Wesley Church, St. George’s Cathedral, Emmanuel Methodist Church, and St. Andrew’s Church. 

Courtesy: thomascherickal.com

His son, Viju Manuel, is regarded as India’s pre-eminent pianist and bassist. He has spent the better part of the last four decades accompanying celebrated Indian composer Ilayaraaja. Viji was a talented, self-taught musician who used to focus on bass guitar and drums but shifted his attention to the keyboard. In 1971, he won the top prize for drumming at an all-Indian competition. Oscar-winning composer A R Rahman admired Viji’s musical skills.

Viji Manuel with A R Rahman – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063591856477

Viji passed away in August 2015.

Cited Sources

How Madras A and Madras B went on AIR

The Madras Station of All India Radio

My love affair with the radio

As the youngest child growing up alone, the next sibling being ten years older and living abroad, the radio was my constant companion. The radio was my first music guru, and you will be surprised, it still is my favorite media device.

Cyclones were constant visitors to the east coast of India. The coast of Madras would get a direct blow sometimes, but most time, we would escape the direct effects as the ‘eye’ had a mind of its own. Andhra Pradesh, the unified version, would get the most out of it. Again, I’m vacillating here. The topic is All India Radio. I was beginning to say that weather bulletins would often be issued over the radio during the cyclone threat. So between bulletins, Madras A would intersperse the bulletins with fantastic programming. So, I would get up red-eyed, glued to the radio all night. Hey, those are some great opening lines for a song!

Early days

It is believed that in 1920, the first regular broadcasting station in the world went on air in Pittsburgh, United States. On February 23, 1920, the Marconi Company transmitted a program from Chelmsford, England. The BBC began broadcasting regularly in November 1922, with John Reith at the helm.

The genesis of the Madras AIR

In Chennai, The Madras Presidency Radio Club was formed less than two years later, on May 16, 1924, by a group of dedicated amateurs led by C.V. Krishnaswamy Chetty. It broadcasted nightly music and talk show that lasted for two and a half hours (and a morning transmission on Sundays and holidays). Beginning on July 31, 1924, it transmitted daily with a 40-watt transmitter. A 200-watt one eventually took its place. The club met in Holloway’s Garden, Egmore.

When financial difficulties forced its closure in October 1927, it donated its transmitter to the Madras Corporation, which began broadcasting regularly from Ripon Building on April 1, 1930.

The Marina, Robinson Park, People’s Park, and the High Court Beach each had six loudspeakers tuned to the sunset broadcasts. Fourteen Corporation schools also received small indoor receiving sets.

The official launch of AIR

This continued until All India Radio’s official launch on June 16, 1938, when the station was taken over by AIR. Lord Erskine was the Governor of Madras Province when he inaugurated the AIR station on Marshall’s Road in Egmore. An inaugural naadaswaram concert was performed by the great Tiruvengadu Subramania Pillai. On that same day, Smt. D.K. Pattamal, the doyen of Carnatic music, performed too. On the second day, Vidwan S. Rajam performed with Madras A. Kannan on mridangam and Govindasami Naicker on the violin.

On AIR’s 50th anniversary, S. Rajam performed a concert accompanied by the same musicians and, per the wishes of AIR, he sang the same songs he had sung fifty years ago at the inauguration!

AIR was lucky to have Victor Paranjoti as its first director when it opened its Madras station. Legendary Indian Conductor Victor Paranjothi was the first Indian accompanist of the MMA’s choir. He knew a lot about Western music. He included Western music—performed mainly by Anglo-Indians—in the show. Back then, Handel Manuel hadn’t yet joined AIR.

Paranjoti cared deeply about music and about keeping standards high. In the past, he would travel to listeners’ homes to collect first-hand comments. Mylapore beach, T’Nagar Park, and the Marina across from the Fort were once bustling with listeners tuning in to AIR broadcasts at kiosks. Overall, the high standards of broadcasting can be totally attributed to Paranjoti.

As early as the 1940s, AIR had its in-house auditioning system. Music supervisors were hired to assist the station directors in auditions, rehearsals, and training of artists. Vidwan S. Rajam was the music supervisor for AIR Madras from 1944 until his retirement in 1977.

The move to AIR’s present location

On July 11, 1954, AIR relocated to its brand-new building on South Beach Road (now Kamarajar Salai) in the San Thomé neighborhood. The new studios’ first broadcast began at 6:55 a.m. with T.N. Rajaratnam Pillai playing a brief alapana (exposition) in the Todi raagam.

In 1961, at AIR’s silver jubilee celebration, Krishnaswamy Chetty, one of the founders of the Madras Presidency Radio Club, was honored for his groundbreaking contributions to broadcasting in Madras with a commemoration award.

The programming of All India Radio, Madras A, July 4, 1970. Look out for Uncle Handel and Vaanoli Anna (Radio Brother) in my subsequent blogs.

The language controversy

The Trichy and Madras broadcasting station used to announce themselves as Vaanoli Nilayam (Tamizh for a radio station). On April 25, 1942, the D.G. of AIR ordered all stations to stop translating ‘All India Radio’ into any of the Indian languages. No one knows what prompted that order from the Ministry. In 1946, G.T. Sastri, the director of Trichy’s radio station, wrote to the Director General, asking for permission to refer to his facility as ‘Vanoli Nilayam,’ and that’s where the discussion ended. However, In December 1957, the D.G. communicated the Ministry’s decision to change all Hindi and other Indian language announcements to “Akashvani,” while keeping “All India Radio” for use in English.

The director of the Trichy station reported to the D.G. that the order had been carried out. Still, he also mentioned that there had been violent protests and even hunger strikes in Madras Province against using Akashvani. The director of the Trichy station was informed that the name Akashvani was in the Kannada language and not in Hindi; the original name of the Mysore station was Akashvani. However, the agitators were not appeased.

Govind Vallabh Pant, the then Minister of Home Affairs for India, discussed the issue with K. Kamaraj, chief minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Ministry of Communication eventually confirmed that the term ‘Vaanoli” could be used interchangeably with “radio” without any qualms.

In May 1982, the Hindi Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting brought up the contentious issue again by suggesting that All India Radio change its name to Akashvani for all its programming, including its Hindi and English offerings. The Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Vasant Sathe, unaware of the tumultuous past, agreed with the suggestion. Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran raised the issue with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was abroad at the time because he expected serious trouble in Tamil Nadu. And she immediately called Sathe to cancel his directives and return things to the way they were.

Sources:

https://madrasmusings.com/Vol%2022%20No%206/when-madras-went-on-the-air.html
https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/madras-musical-association-125-years-of-music/article23291527.ece

https://books.google.com/books?id=B3DmDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=handel+manuel+of+madras+b&source=bl&ots=oAQMMimEr_&sig=ACfU3U354OgRU6Bh9ZbH0Jtms_CG4HWZ6A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwia_t60goX6AhXOjYkEHf_PBf04ChDoAXoECAIQAw#v=onepage&q=handel%20manuel%20of%20madras%20b&f=false

Phillips – the guitarist who played for M.S. Viswanathan, K.V. Mahadevan, Hemanth Kumar, Madan Mohan, Ravi, and others

Imagine picking up the guitar at twelve and teaching yourself how to play without assistance from a teacher or an online source; the internet was virtually unknown then. Even with all the modern aids and teachers who are available, many students find it difficult and drop out before realizing their dream.

This musical prodigy, Phillips, was introduced to the guitar by his older brothers, who then served in the Indian Army. Hearing the guitar playing of Italian POWs at the Civil Internment camp in Deolali, 160 kilometers northeast of Bombay, inspired the brothers to learn the instrument themselves. They returned to base after their furlough but left behind their instrument for Phillips to noodle around. And boy, did he?

Would you believe it if I told you that Rita Hayworth was responsible for Phillips taking up playing the guitar?

So, Phillips was utterly captivated by the guitar after watching Blood and Sand, a lavish 1941 technicolor film starring Rita Hayworth as a seductive guitar-strumming siren. In the movie, she brings about the downfall of a matador with her sultry looks and the guitar strains. Phillips was so enamored that he dropped out of school and taught himself to play the guitar.

Now, that’s a true musician right there. While Rita Hayward would have naturally snared all the attention for many, Phillips was enamored by the guitar.

After two years of self-training on a hollow acoustic guitar, Philips headed to Gemini Studios, where he started playing in the movies. S. Rajeswara Rao, a film music director, was so impressed by his abilities that he adopted him. Rajeswara Rao was unmoved by the staunch opposition he faced for bringing in a young guitarist. Rao paved the way for Philips’s long and fruitful career as a guitarist and later as a composer.

In the film Apoorva Sagodarargal (1949) by M.K. Radha, Philips made his debut as a guitarist. The film’s music was composed by his mentor Rajeswara Rao and two others.

K.V. Mahadevan, the duo of Viswanathan – Ramamurthy, Sathyam, and V. Kumar quickly extended offers to work with Philips. He was allowed to play guitar solos while the rest of the band waited for their cues at an early age due to his obvious talent in the field.

For the first few years of his career, he primarily utilized a hollow body acoustic guitar to produce his remarkable works of art. However, Phillips used to listen to several American and British bands on the radio. The guitars of these bands sounded so good that he wanted to improve the sound of his guitar. So, he went to Moore Market in Madras, a majestic red-colored building next to the Madras Central station, searching for parts to build his own electric guitar. Moore Market had many shops selling used electronic equipment spares. A sort of a permanent flea market. The Moore Market burnt down one midnight, and everything literally all the merchandise of the 800 odd small-time merchants went up in smoke. I remember buying a WW2 headphone from there for about Rs. 2, intact with the standard khaki cable and all, but we are shifting tracks here. This is about Phillips and not me or Moore Market!

So, Phillips finds the necessary spares and makes himself an electric guitar. In an interview, he said that the first sounds that came out from the speakers gave him a thrill of excitement. “By moving the plectrum around the strings, I was able to create new tones with the instrument,” he remarked.

Philips composed the scores for about ten films shown at Salem Modern Theatres before moving back to Madras and taking solo gigs for the city’s music directors. His best friend in M.S. Viswanathan’s band was the phenomenal drummer Noel Grant. Noel improvised over Philips’s suggested rhythm patterns, creating the timeless tunes we know and love today. 

Music directors in Bombay, like Hemanth Kumar, Madan Mohan, Chithra Gupta, and Ravi, encouraged Philips to relocate to Mumbai. After hearing him play for Miss Mary (1957), Hemant Kumar insisted on holding on to Phillips as his permanent musical companion. Phillips wanted to remain in the south of India.

It’s worth noting that Philips was an early proponent of the musician’s union, which enacted stringent regulations like immediate payment upon the completion of a recording and mandatory time off for holidays and Sundays. Philips fondly remembers the hard work and professionalism of the MSV musicians he’s worked with in the past, including Noel Grant (drums), Mangalamurthy (accordion), Nanjappa (flute), Fobes (violin), Henry Daniel, and Joseph Krishna.

You can hear all of these talented performers on the track Avalukenna in the movie Server Sundaram. You can hear how beautifully Phillip’s guitar stands up to the soaring brass section without losing intensity!

Phillips and MSV’s core musicians playing.

In his prime, MSV was a strict disciplinarian who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. One recording session began at 7 a.m. and continued until 7 a.m. the following day. Philips begged MSV to release him, but MSV would not let him go. Finally, when it was time to leave, Philips had to make a beeline to the church for his wedding. I am not sure if MSV knew that he was getting married!

Phillips played the guitar piece, the opening, and the interludes in the song Varavu Etanna, in Bama Vijayam, a movie directed by K. Balachander. The strumming is so spot on. Today’s producers rely on quantization or other such technics, but in an analog recording of those days, you had to get it right, or else you had to play it all over again.  These ‘bits,’ as they are called, literally set the tone of the song and are as immortal as the guitar pieces in, say, a song like Hotel California by the Eagles.

https://youtu.be/SdvJMrsKd2E

His end came about on Friday, January 21st, at the age of 88, bringing an end to the era of Tamil film songs that began in the early 1960s. 

There was a focus on the orchestral depth of songs to complement their mood, melody, and meaning during this renaissance. Phillips and other instrumentalists contributed significantly to creating some of the songs from Tamil films that are now considered classics.

Phillips ayya, (reverent sir in Tamizh), you will always live eternally in the music you created.

Harry Web, who came became famous for ‘Bachelor Boy!’

The Anglo-Indians

When the British took up un-invited residency in India, they not only helped unburden India’s wealth but also sowed their seeds giving rise to a whole new race of people. The Anglo-Indians

They were misfits, the poor lot. Neither were they accepted by the British as one of them nor were they willing to identify themselves as Indian. I had a few Anglo-Indian friends, very hospitable, good people. Their houses had curtains, carpets, and crockery. In contrast, most Indian households had stainless steel utensils and bare floors.

They had their own vocabulary; for example, idlis ( the famous South Indian breakfast dish) used to be called steamed rice cakes. The strangest one for me was ‘ollock’! Azhaku ( a unit of measure in Tamil) became ‘ollock,’ chutney (a spicy ground coconut concoction) was the side to idlis, and dosas became spiced coconut sauce!

Now that I have set the stage, let’s dive straight into the topic of this blog.

Early days

Harry Webb was born on October 14, 1940, at the King George Hospital, Victoria Street. This hospital was in Lucknow, India! And if you thought this was in London, I don’t blame you. Old-timers in the Maqbara housing colony in Hazratganj, Lucknow, remember Harry Webb as a good-natured kid who spent his summer holidays with his grandfather.

Was he Anglo-Indian?

Harry Webb spent the first eight years of his life in India. Some think that Harry was an Anglo-Indian, a tag that he hasn’t been able to shake off primarily because of his swarthy complexion and that his family has ties to India that go back several generations; his ‘dark’ skin tone has led to persistent rumors that he has “Indian blood.” One probable reason is that he likely descended partly from a maternal great-grandmother who was half Spanish and looked decidedly Mediterranean, giving him a dark complexion that he shares with his mother.

His parents and ancestry

Harry Web was born to Indian Railways catering manager Rodger Oscar Webb and his wife, Dorothy Marie Webb. Dorothy’s stepfather held a high position in the railways, and it was here at the railway institute that Harry Web’s parents first met and fell in love. After spending most of her childhood at a boarding school in Sanawar, close to Simla, Cliff’s mother and sister relocated to Asansol to be closer to their grandmother in 1934.

Harry Web’s great-grandfather, Thomas Benjamin Webb, came to British India in the 1870s to work as an engineer for the railways. Many young men from England came to India searching for work when the rail network rapidly expanded across the subcontinent. Thomas Webb’s son Frederick, then 12 years old, joined him in Perambur, Madras, a few years after his father’s posting to South India.

Quit India

Everything was hunky-dory. The Webs were prosperous and, like all Burra sahibs (big boss as the British ‘masters’ were termed), had a fleet of servants waiting on them, hand on foot with an attitude of thy wish is my command. Then came the freedom movement, and the British were considered public enemy number one.

During the ‘Direct Action’ called for by the Muslim League, Harry Web’s mother was the target of street harassment during heightened nationalist tensions. “Go back to your own country, white woman!” they shouted at her. To some of us migrants, this term is very familiar, right? The Webbs were in Calcutta during the terrible riots in 1947. It was disturbing to see so much blood and dead bodies lying around. In any case, they had to get moving.

And move they did. a three-week voyage on the P&O liner, SS Ranchi, took them back to the UK. The Webbs first settled in a home in Carshalton, North Surrey, before moving to Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, and, finally, to a council house in nearby Cheshunt.


Early days in the UK.

Harry Web attended the Kings Road Junior Mixed Infants School, the Stanley Park Juniors, and the Cheshunt Secondary Modern. After dropping out of school, Harry Web got a job as a file clerk at Atlas Lamps, but he was already deeply interested in music.

The story gets interesting from here on. Harry Web was around sixteen when his dad bought him a guitar. That single act resulted in him becoming one of Britain’s foremost singers, Cliff Richards!

A Star is born

Why the name Cliff Richards? Using a terrible pun on the word ‘rock,’ businessman Harry Greatorex dubbed him Cliff. Ian Samwell and appended the “Richard” as a tribute to Little Richard. Thus, the persona Cliff Richard was born.

Cliff Richard couldn’t have timed his entry into the music scene better. He burst into the scene when Elvis was fading, and the Beatles had not become famous yet.

Cliff Richard was later knighted. He was awarded the knighthood primarily for charity rather than his influence on mainstream music.

Some of Cliff Richards’s songs that I used to play the guitar and sing were:
Bachelor Boy
Summer Holiday
Young Ones
A Voice in the Wilderness – was my mother’s favorite, incidentally.

We used to tune into Radio Ceylon and listen to these songs on a shortwave radio my dad built. The songs used to ebb and flow in volume, with signal strength, which strangely added to the allure of the songs played.

As I said earlier, Sir Cliff was probably unable to shake off his Indian roots nor the rumor that he was perhaps Anglo-Indian. He once said in an interview that his parents were as British as roast beef.

In another interview, he once said, “I’ve always maintained I’m the most radical rock ‘n’ roll singer Britain has ever seen. I was the only one who didn’t spit or swear or sleep around. I didn’t do drugs. I didn’t get drunk. I didn’t indulge in soulless sex.”

All said and done, he did have his share of scandals, and what if he did seem uncomfortable with his ‘Indianness’? His music was good, and I have some good memories by association.

Boycott Culture

In the days of boycotts, boycotting Bollywood, boycotting this or that artist, and the prevailing cancel culture, are we throwing the baby along with bathwater?

So, separate the artist from the art, and enjoy! End of story.

Ranganayaki Ammal – the woman who broke the gender barrier to become a percussionist par excellence!

Photo courtesy: Pon Dhanasekharan. Ranganayaki Ammal on the left

Playing the mridangam remains largely a male vocation, but Thirukokarnam T S Ranganayaki Ammal gained fame as an acclaimed mridangam artiste even as early as the 1940s. 

Some facts

  • Thirukokarnam Ranganayaki Ammal was the second of seven children, born on May 28, 1910. 
  • Her father, Thirukokarnam Sivaraman, was a well-known nattuvangam and Avadhana Pallavi performer. (Click on the link to learn what Avadhana Pallavi is)
  • When Ranganayaki wanted to learn how to play the mridangam, he sought out the legendary Pudukottai Dakshinamurthi Pillai. 
  • Her Bharatanatyam training was also extensive. 
  • She shared the stage with famous performers from the 1940s 
  • She began her teaching career in 1966 at India’s Padmavati College and taught at Madurai’s Sadguru Sangita Samajam.
  • Ranganayaki Ammal’s brother, Ulaganathan Pillai, was a violinist
  • Pioneering physician and social worker Dr. Muthu Lakshmi Reddy was a close relative
  • Her elder sister Siva Brinda Devi became the first-ever female Adheenam – head of a Saivite mutt

Even as the controversy over the entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple is raging, it may be worth recalling that some 35 years ago, a woman became an Adheenam – the head of a Saivite mutt – in Tamil Nadu. No eyebrows were raised, and no questions were asked. 

In 1926, at 17, she accompanied Lakshmana Pillai at the music conference conducted as part of the All-India Congress session in Madras, now Chennai. She played for the Ustad Abdul Karim Khan concert that followed Lakshmana Pillai’s performance.

When M S Subbalakshmi performed on the stage, replacing her mother Madurai Shanmugavadivu at the Mysore palace for the first time, Ranganayaki accompanied her on the mridangam. Ranganayaki has played with stalwarts, including Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, T R Mahalingam, Mysore Chowdiah, and Veena Dhanammal.

It is well known that many senior and accomplished mridangam players refuse to play for women artists.  Although the reasons are not precisely expressed, some women artists guess it is because the mridangam has to be tuned to a higher pitch to align to the higher scale of the female singer. So, to align the mridangam to the higher pitch, the skin of the mridangam must be tightened, causing a lesser ‘give,’ which, in turn, makes it harder to play.   There is also a very misogynistic rumor that women generally had a poor sense of rhythm.  It is said that Palghat Mani Iyer, the legendary mridangam player, was averse to accompanying women musicians, but he made an exception for D. K. Pattamal, a famous singer. 

Here was Ranganayaki Ammal, a virtuoso, disproving this awful misogynic generalization. Weaving complex rhythm patterns during the Tani avartanams (solo performance during a concert) and highly complex jathis (beat patterns) and theermanams (usually an ending pattern played three times over), she used to leave her audience spellbound.

Guru Ranganayaki Ammal,  at an early age, performed in concerts across India, Singapore, and Malaysia. 

Ranganayaki Ammal began her teaching career in 1966 at Sri Padmavathy College in Tirupati. She worked as a part-time mridangam teacher at Sri Sadhguru Sangita Sabha in Madurai after a seven-year stint there. She participated in the artist selection process while working in Trichy for All India Radio.

She accompanied many leading artists during her time, including Veena Dhanammal, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, the Brinda-Mukta duo, and the genius Flute Mali (Mahalingam).  Accompanying a mercurial genius like Mali was no walk in the park.  He was a temperamental genius whom nobody could predict what he would do next in a concert.

M Karunanidhi, the then-chief minister of Tamil Nadu, bestowed the Kalaimamani, a prestigious State award, on her in 1971-72.

“T.S. Ranganayaki Ammal award,” named after her, is a prestigious honor given to mridangam artists. 

Ranganayaki Ammal also taught Bharatanatyam to many of her students, including Soudamini Rao.  Guru Soudamini Rao, now 88, remembers her guru Ranganayaki Ammal fondly. 

Ranganayaki Ammal was highly attached to her mridangam and rarely let anyone else come close to it. Usha Vijayakumar, an exponent of Gottuvadyam and a Bharatanatyam student at Padmavati College, recalls how Ranganayaki Ammal, despite her diminutive stature, commanded the stage. She could effortlessly recite elaborate laya calculations. She preferred an academic career to be a performer. She instructed students in not only mridangam but also Bharatanatyam. Some of her students, like Caroline, came from other countries to participate in the arangetram she orchestrated.

Ranganayaki Ammal passed away on August 15, 1998.

According to mridangam artist Charu Hariharan, the current gender gap makes it difficult for a female musician to thrive in this stifling environment. Hariharan believes women must carve a place for themselves in an unfair and competitive art world. It may be mentioned here that Thirukokarnam Ranganayaki Ammal, seventeen years old at the time, was the first woman to make a name for herself in the predominantly male domain of Carnatic Percussion.

All glories to her!

Korla Pandit, the mysterious musician who hid his identity

korlapandit.com

Korla Pandit was born in New Delhi, India, in 1921, the son of a French opera singer and an Indian ‘upper-caste’ government official. He was raised in an upper-class family and moved to England as a child to study music. He immigrated to the United States at the age of twelve, where he studied at the University of Chicago. 

He was quickly recognized for his talent in playing the keyboard, and when combined with his exotic Indian background, which Americans knew little about at the time, he was soon in high demand. By the late 1940s, he regularly appeared on radio shows such as Chandu the Magician and Hollywood Holiday. By 1949, he had his television show, Korla Pandit’s Adventures in Music. 

As his career progressed, his concerts became known for incorporating his music and spiritual ideology, about which he frequently spoke, much to the delight of many fans. For Pandit Korla, fame and fortune had come his way. Among his friends were actors Errol Flynn and Bob Hope, as well as Paramahansa Yogananda, the Indian spiritual leader of the Self Realization Fellowship. 

On the nightclub circuit, he frequently performed with another up-and-coming pianist known as Liberace. Pandit helped Liberace become the consummate performer in some ways. Liberace took nuances from Pandit’s performance and worked them into his own, such as occasionally gazing up from the piano to engage the audience. By the 1970s, however, Pandit’s television work had dried up, so he supplemented his income with personal appearances and concerts. Fortunately, in the 1990s, his oriental allure attracted a new generation of fans and resurrected his career.

Korla Pandit died in October 1998 in California. His wife and two sons survived him. 

If you’re probably thinking, “All very interesting, but not an exceptional story,” you’d be right. Wait till you hear the truly fascinating part of this story which was only discovered after Pandit’s death. 

Korla Pandit’s ancestry claims were blown out of the water by R.J. Smith, editor of Los Angeles magazine, in 2001. While he was born on September 16, 1921, his real name was John Roland Redd, and he was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States, rather than India. Ernest Redd, his father, was an African-American Baptist pastor, and his mother was of Anglo-African ancestry. As a result, John had fair skin and straight hair, making it relatively easy for him to pass himself off as of Indian descent. 

But why the trickery? 

His opportunities as an African-American in the early twentieth century United States were severely limited. At the time, there was a color bar, making it nearly impossible for African-American artists to perform. He could not have joined the Musicians Union, and most venues refused to hire African-American musicians. To get around this bar, John first went by the name Juan Rolando and pretended to be Mexican. By the 1940s, however, he and his wife, Beryl, had come up with the idea of creating the entirely new and exotic persona of Korla Pandit. Beryl made the make-up and clothing, which included a turban. Unlike many performers who choose to use a stage name for professional reasons, Redd had to always maintain the persona of Korla Pandit in public and private life, as revealing his true identity to anyone would have jeopardized his entire career and livelihood. Even after the color line was abolished in the United States, Redd refused to reveal his ethnicity. Even in those more enlightened times, he may have felt that doing so would have harmed his career. 

Redd maintained contact with his extended family, even though he always wore his turban and did not bring his own family with him when he visited. “Among the family, we knew what he was doing, and very little was said about it,” Ernest Redd, his nephew, said. Sometimes, he would drop by, almost like a surprise visit. He might come in the middle of the night and leave before we wake up. He had to distance himself from his family to some extent. They’d go to see him play but never say anything to him. They would attend his performance, then leave, and the family would meet him later.” His deception was so successful that even his sons were unaware of his and their African-American heritage. 

Korla, a documentary about the life of John Roland Redd, was released in 2014 and was marketed as a classic American story of self-invention. All right, but it’s an abomination that he was forced to live a lie simply because of his ethnicity in the ostensibly free country of the United States.

The Connecticut Yankee who came to be known as Higgins Bhagavathar!

My last blog was about how some Indian musicians were influenced by the music of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin, among many others, and became rock stars.  

Jon Higgins and his attraction to music

This is about an American, Jon B. Higgins. South Indian music, known as Carnatic Music, fascinated him. He moved to South India to study Carnatic music and the compositions of Thyagaraja Swami, Muthusamy Dikshitar, and Shyma Shastri. For this, he had to overcome language, culture, and a race barrier that existed (it probably still exists as a form of subtle racism). He overcame all this and sang at the Thyagaraja Aradhana, a festival where the best of the best performed. Not only was he accepted as a front-ranking Carnatic musician, but he was also given the honorific title of Bhagavathar or maestro. 

How I heard about Jon Higgins

Carnatic music, to me, was primitive and boring. Despite this, I do remember the name Jon Higgins. During my first listen, I think his exposition of the Raga Bhairavi (Bhairavi varnam) made me slightly curious about Carnatic music. It was probably the tinge of the American accent, the lack of rusticism or guttural vocalization that the average Carnatic musicians had in those days, and the revelation that this art form was not cloistered strictly for the Brahmanical community. In my later years, I began to learn and devour Carnatic music furiously. I had some fantastic gurus who were very kind and patient with me.

Early Days

On September 18, 1939, Jon was born in the Massachusetts village of Andover. Philips Academy provided his early education, where his father taught English, and his mother taught piano. Jon later earned three degrees from Wesleyan University. A B.A. in History and Music, an M.A. in Musicology, and a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology. John Higgins is a prominent Wesleyan, and the most famous American interpreter of Indian classical music. In 1973, the distinguished musician earned his Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology. He founded the Indian Music Studies Program at York University, Toronto. He probably was the first Westerner to carve out a niche for himself in South Indian classical vocal music.

His first forays into Carnatic music

Higgins began studying Carnatic music at Wesleyan University under the tutelage of Robert Brown and T. Ranganathan on a Fulbright scholarship. He began studying music with Dr. T. Viswanathan in Chennai. Higgins was so enthusiastic about Carnatic music that he was ready to sing at the Thyagaraja Aradhana held at Thyagarajaswami’s Samadhi. He received much praise from stalwarts and scholars. Not many people seem to be aware that this distinguished musician had also studied Bharatanatyam music under the famous danseuse T. Balasaraswati, sister of T. Viswanathan, his guru, and had even written a thesis on dance music. Later in his career, he worked as a senior research fellow at the American Institute of Indian Studies. 

While most non-Dravidians find microtonal modulation in Carnatic difficult, this outstanding musician overcame this cultural barrier through sheer dedication. He continued to perform Carnatic music and recorded a few albums. 

His return to the USA

He returned to Wesleyan University to teach music and later became the University’s Center for the Arts Director. Wesleyan University still teaches Carnatic music.

Jon had put in countless hours of practice. He had mastered all aspects of a concert presentation, including appreciating accompanying artists such as the violinist’s ‘shabhash’ (bravo) and the mridangist’s (drummer) ‘bhale.’ (wow). 

Stage performances

When he was on stage, he wore a crisp white suit. During one of his concerts, when Justice K. S. Venkataraman acknowledged his musical knowledge and called it the “merit of a previous life,” Jon, ever smiling, humble, and passive, called it the “merit of this life” and attributed it to his knowledgeable guru. Here are some recordings of Higgins Bhagavathar.

Dinamani Vamsha – Raga Harikamboji – Thyagaraja Kriti

The end of a musician

Dr. Jon B. Higgins tragically died on December 07th, 1984, at the age of 45. While walking his dog, he was hit by a drunk hit-and-run driver near his home in Middletown, Conn.

He planned to do a protest concert against apartheid in South Africa but was snatched away too soon. Connecticut state police arrested Thomas Knight of Middlefield, Conn., and charged him with second-degree manslaughter by intoxicated driving.

He is survived by his wife, the former Rhea Padis. His two sons, Luke and Niko, and a brother, Hayden, a jazz pianist known professionally as Eddie Higgins, survive him.

Cultural ambassador

Jon Higgins will be remembered for his role as the cultural ambassador. A person who demonstrated to the world that music has no boundaries. To achieve the highest levels, one must have immense devotion, persistence, passion, and engagement. He was planning a South African concert to protest against the apartheid regime, but it never came about.

Namaskarams, Jon Higgins Bhagavathar, my namaskarams to you.

The man behind the growth of Radio Ceylon

Most of you who lived in India from the 60s until the late 70s must have tuned into Radio Ceylon to listen to film songs. Some of you must have been die-hard fans of that silken voice of Ameen Sayani, presenting the Binaca Geet Mala, a countdown of the top songs from Hindi films. 

Then there was B.H. Abdul Hameed of the Tamizh Sevai, with Tamil film songs. Radio Ceylon even reached remote points in Assam’s tea estates! For the budding rock stars of India, Radio Ceylon was the go-to source for their favorite music. 

Advertisers in the sub-continent flocked to Radio Ceylon. Their top salesman (back handed compliment) was an Indian minister, Balakrishna Vishwanath Keskar, also known as B. V. Keskar.

Keskar was the Minister for Information and Broadcasting from 1952 to 1962 who, amongst other things, banned filmed music from All India Radio, saying that it was morally corrupting.  

Keskar also prohibited the harmonium, saying that it was a Western instrument. Until 1972, the harmonium was banned entirely from the Radio. 

To Keskar’s credit, the man in charge of the Radio pre-independence, Lionel Fielden, a senior BBC producer and then Controller General of Radio, had a similar opinion.

The ban on the harmonium came about after John Foulds, an expert on Western music, said that the instrument was ill-suited to reproducing microtones, an essential aspect of Indian music. So, the harmonium was banned from All India Radio until about 1970.

Keskar hated cricket and predicted the game would die out soon since the British had quit India. He thought cricket was a British legacy and tried to ban cricket commentaries on AIR. Due to intense pressure and backlash, he relented.  

Keskar also tried to ban film music. He then relented a little bit and allowed 10% of airtime. He tried negotiating with the Motion Picture Producers Guild of India, who opposed this quota, which talks broke down, resulting in AIR stopping broadcasting film music for several years. 

BV Keskar also claimed that All India Radio was not likely to air musicians such as Kesarbai Kerkar or Omkarnath Thakur due to their high fees. As a minister, B.V. Keskar also banned the playing of folk films on Radio as he felt they did not have respect for higher culture. 

Film music had an increasing audience in India, and Keskar’s decision to prohibit it over All India Radio allowed Radio Ceylon to take advantage of this opportunity. 

Keskar would be outraged if he heard the music the film industry makes today. Still, it is ironic that some of the most iconic and memorable songs in newly independent India, made during the golden era of Hindi cinema, were once considered objectionable and would have been perhaps stifled by a draconian policy of a single man had a radio channel from a neighboring country not intervened. Filmfare magazine has described Keskar as a cunning person whose decisions were as much calculated shots to damage the movie industry’s image as they were to drive movie music from the market (August 1952 edition). Keskar believed that Indian music had become stale during the Muslim and British rule. B. V. Keskar wanted AIR to work towards the cultural growth of a young nation.

B.V. Keskar also discontinued the practice of advertising film titles along with the songs, as he felt that was marketing. Keskar was also responsible for establishing the Vadya Vrinda as a national orchestra and creating a new genre of lighter music, commissioning the Sitarist Ravi Shankar to lead Vadya Vrinda and to provide light musical alternatives to the broadcasting of classical music. Keskar was the third person to head India’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and had a ten-year stint at the helm, making him the longest-serving Minister in the Ministry.

The worst was in 1959, the Minister of information and broadcasting, B. V. Keskar, who is said to have had the barbaric opinion that Indian Christians should not be composing Indian music, refused to allow Anthony Gonsalves to write a piece of music for an animated movie. You can listen to Anthony in a rather painful conversation with Rajan Parrikar, a musicologist born and raised in Goa who moved to the USA in 1988 for graduate study and obtained a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder and currently lives in Iceland.

Rajan Parrikar in conversation with Anthony Gonsalves

.  I hate to end a blog this way but let this sting. 

Cited Sources

The Indian Rock stars of the 70’s – Simla Beat Contest.

“Beat, man, beat.”

Origins

Imperial Tobacco Company (I.T.C.) hosted the annual Simla Beat Contest, named after Simla Cigarettes, from the mid-’60s to the ’72 (exact years unknown), which featured a competition between several Indian beat groups from across India. The company also released a Shimla Beat compilation album every year, which included songs from some of the 1960s’ most talented bands.

The bands

Savage was the first Indian band to release a full-length album of Western rock music.

Human Bondage is a Bangalore-based rock and roll band formed in the 1970s. They were widely regarded as India’s best and tightest rock band. It was one of the most popular bands and is also considered a forerunner of the raga rock movement. The band split up in 1976.

The Combustibles rose to prominence on the Bombay rock scene due to their participation in the famed Shimla Beat Battle of Bands competitions and a nationwide tour from 1968 to 1969. The Combustibles performed well in the Shimla Beat Contests of 1968 and 1969. However, that didn’t result in an L.P. recording as in the 1970s and 1971 competitions.

The Black Beats was one of the Shillong, India, bands that competed in the Shimla Beat Contest in 1971.

Madras-based Frustration Amalgamated was the winner of the fifth All India Simla Beat Contest, held in 1972 in the Shanmukhananda hall, Bombay. After they disbanded, I remember watching their frontman Shyam Sundar sing at a restaurant called the Bamboo Hut, off Mount Road (now called Anna Salai) in Madras (Chennai) in probably late 60’s to mid 70’s. One of the often-requested songs was “I Married a Female Wrestler,” sung initially by Earnest Ignatius, an Anglo-Indian Goan. Apparently, the song was written by George Fegrado. Click here to see the video of George’s wife’s interview.

Says Shyam Sundar, the frontman of the band, “I was the lead singer from the Frustrations Amalgamated from Madras, which won the All India Shimla Beat Contest Award in 1972 at Shanmukhananda Hall, Bombay. That year, we won the Best Group Award, the Best Singer Award, and the Best Own Composition Award! Jaya Bhaduri gave us the awards to us. On winning the Shimla Beat Contest, we did a recording at the Royal Gems studio, but nothing came out of it.
Manu (Manohar Roberts, our lead guitarist) is in Chennai and still plays a mean lead guitar and is still in music. Ramji, our drummer, was with the Abhaswaram and is in Chennai, still very much into music. Dumbu, our bass guitarist, is in the U.S.A., and we are trying to get into contact again. Lawrence, our rhythm guitarist, is in Singapore and, I believe, still in music.”

Shyam relocated to Bangalore, had a group called the West Wind, and sang with his keyboard accompaniments and MIDIs, along with a good guitarist, Dominic. He passed away in Bengaluru on November 12th, 2021. Before relocating to Bangalore, he played at the Casino Bar in Cochin while working for a fertilizer company, F.A.C.T. I remember his wife, Hema, who used to be there for every one of his performances, used to help since Shyam had some difficulty walking.

The Mustangs were a Madras (now Chennai) rock band formed in 1965 and broke up four years later. They were one of India’s most popular groups from 1965 to 1968. They began with mostly instrumental surf songs before gradually incorporating vocals. They drew fans from all over the country with their aggressive brand of music, which included surf, blues, and rock. They all performed at Madras colleges in front of mostly Madras school and college students. They even released the first Western L.P. in India in collaboration with H.M.V.


In 1968, they released two 45 R.P.M. records for H.M.V. The first album featured ‘Escape’ and ‘Theme from the movie – Gonks Go Beat,’ while the second was an extended play with ‘Love Is Blue & Lies,’ ‘Nina’s Theme,’ and ‘Summer Wine.’

Derek, George, Kittu, Paddy, and Haroon reunited for a 45-year reunion jam session in Madras (Chennai) and Bangalore in January 2010. Their average age then was around 65! Moral of the story: it’s never too late to jam!

Voodoos
It was Sukumar Nambiar’s idea to form the band. Madhukar was to play lead guitar and harmony vocals and had a musical ear for picking up basic chords and simple lead solos, so he was self-taught.The idea of forming a band happened while listening to records at Suku’s father’s house. Suku’s father, M.N. Nambiar, was a successful and well-known actor with the funds and could cover the expenses.

Mohan Nambiar, Sukumar’s younger brother, played the drums. They were always having difficulty finding a dedicated bass player. The band even had a guy from Singapore who was so desperate to be in the Voodoos that he lied and said he was importing the latest Vox amps and other gear, similar to what The Beatles used. Patrice Dedeyn was the bassist who stayed with them the most extended (son of the then French consular in India.) Rajan Joshua, a ‘dummy-rhythm’ guitarist, was probably the first in a band. Initially, he also sort of forced his way into the band. He’d play even if his guitar wasn’t plugged in. It happened at a Loyola College annual event when there was no outlet for his amp to plug into.

Move to Bombay – Atomic Forest
After finishing high school and college, he relocated to Bombay and began working as an Art Director for advertising firms such as Interpub and Lintas, India.
While continuing to work in advertising, Madhukar led Atomic Forest, one of India’s premier Rock and Roll bands, as their male vocalist in 1972, alongside Neel Chattodpadyaya on lead guitar, Keith Kanga on bass guitar, and Valentine Lobo on drums.
Atomic Forest appeared at The Sneha Yatra Festival, also known as ‘The Indian Woodstock’) and were regulars at prominent Mumbai clubs and discos such as Slip Disc,[8] Blow Up at The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, and Hell at Hotel Hilltop.

Says Madhukar
“I joined the original Atomic Forest in 1971. I did attempt to put a few bands before that. “Burning Ice” was one of them. One gig with “Burning Ice” was hilarious, looking back. We were picked by J.S. magazine (Junior Statesman) to perform at their promotional event. Our part was to sit in the back of an open pick-up truck and sing all the way from Nariman Point to Juhu beach. There were no amps or mikes, just acoustic guitars. Man! And I sang like people were listening to me all along the busy roads of Bombay city. Eventually, we reached Juhu beach and were welcomed by the producer at a thatched-roof shack; the fireplace was dying out, and there were no throngs of fans like we were promised, for which he apologized. These initial efforts to hold bands together were unsuccessful because we had no way of sustaining ourselves. He had to get jobs to survive, which were very low-paying too.“

Following his departure from Atomic Forest, he began performing solo as a spot singer at 5-star hotels in India, as well as overseas at Oberoi Lanka and then hotels in South East Asia en route to the United States. Madhukar performed in front of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Mumbai. He also sang jingles for commercials, including one for Close-Up toothpaste, which was shown in all Indian movie theaters for eight years.

Remember this ad?

Rockers from India that became superstars
Some of the other rockers at the time became well-known and successful. Farrokh Bulsara, a Panchgani schoolboy who formed The Hectics with his classmates, was the most successful. Later, he would be known as Freddie Mercury, and his voice would be regarded as one of the greatest in rock and roll.

There was Biddu (Appaiah), a Bangalore native who founded the band Trojans and eventually made his way to London. He established himself as a notable songwriter and producer when his composition Kung Fu Fighting was performed by Jamaican singer Carl Douglas and became one of the best-selling singles of all time in 1974. Regrettably, he is better known as an Indipop producer for his song Aap Jaisa Koi Mere.

Then there was Ramesh Shotham, drummer of the 1971 band Human Bondage, who went on to learn the thavil, a Tamil Nadu temple music drum, and become a sought-after World Music percussionist.

Those were the days, my friend!

Cited Sources