Salil Choudhury extracted the best out of Lata in Bengali modern songs.

Salil Choudhury extracted the best out of Lata in Bengali modern songs.

Salil Choudhury extracted the best music out of Lata Mangeshkar and their combination had created evergreen gems which are cherished over the years. In 1959, Salil Choudhury’s composition for Lata “jare jare ure jare pakhi” created sensation in Bengal.

Lata’s melodious voice enchanted the viewers and the east –west blend of Salil Choudhury as usual created new dimension in Bengali modern songs. The other 1959 creation included “na jeona. In 1960, Salil Choudhury composed “o banshi hai” and “ogo aar kichu to nai”. Those songs captured the romantic andaz of Lata.

In 1961, Salil Choudhury came out with Sri Lankan folk song in his creation for Lata titled “saat bhai chompa jagore”. The other song in that year “ki je kori, dure jete hai” was another creation in a somber mood. In 1963, Salil Choudhury’s creations “keno kichu kotha bolona”, “o tui nayano pakhi” were everlasting hits and had not lost their appeal even today.

In 1967, Salil Choudhury created “ke jabi aye” and “nishidin nishidin baje” in a unique style. Till this period Salil Choudhury’s orchestration used to include light orchestration. The song “Jodi baron koro” had such a brilliant interlude where Salil Choudhury showed his excellence in the part “birohini udashi” where Lata was matchless. “o jhar jhar jharna” was a fast number composed in the same year.

In 1969 only, Salil Choudhury created two gems “na mono lagena” and “ore o mon moyna”. The early 70s brought out Salil Choudhury’s experiments with the notations of piano, like “pa ma garesa’ sung by Lata. Lata also sang “o projapoti projapoti pakhna melo”. Another Salil Choudhury’s masterpiece included “antabiheen katena ar jeno” and “kichu to chahini aami” in 1972.

Salil Choudhury’ s “o mor moyna go” in 1975 for Lata, showed his jugglery with the guitar. The other song “jhilik jhilik jhinuk khuje pelam” was innovative too.

Some of the other masterpieces included “aaj noi gungun gunjon preme” and “aaj tobe eituku thak”. Salil Choudhury was solely responsible for Lata’s dominance in Bengali modern songs, although media had brought other names whose contributions are negligible in comparison to Salil Choudhury. In fact the Indian audience was not matured enough to appreciate Salil Choudhury’s experiments including calypso, Hungarian folk, etc. Otherwise he would have been ranked as one of legend of legends like Shankar Jaikishan. The songs of Lata and Salil Choudhury should be restored.