The Unsung Heroes, a new coffee-table book pays tribute to the background musicians of some of Bollywood's iconic songs. THE flute prelude by Manohari Singh in the Vijay Anand directed Teesri Manzil's iconic song Aaja aaja main hoon pyar tera, Hazara Singh's steel guitar notes in the Geeta Dutt song Mera naam chin chin chu from the film Howrah Bridge, directed by Shakti Samanta, and the percussion pieces before Dum maro dum by Burjor Lord in Hare Rama Hare Krishna, have never received the acknowledgement they deserved. In fact, not even the best of music connoisseurs are aware of these musicians and their body of work.

“Everyone remembers the names of the vocalists behind these songs and they associate the success of the music with them. But what brought these songs to life were some excellent saxophone pieces, guitar solos, percussion pieces, without which the songs would have been a lot less charming,” says Mumbai-based musician Dinesh Ghate, who co wrote the book with businessman Kushal Gopalka, corporate executive Arun Puranik and banker Shankar Iyer.

The book is more like a fan’s remembrance of the golden oldies which opens with forewards by Pyarelal (of Laxmikant Pyarelal), singer Shubha Mudgal and Ameen Sayani and goes on to an interview section that features eight musicians. They include lyricist Naksh Lyallpuri, music director Usha Khanna, Burjor Lord, Manohari Singh and Blasco Monsorate. There is a separate feature on Anthony Gonsalves— an eminent violinist and Pyarelal’s teacher. The book also includes some rare photographs, interviews with Shamshad Begum and an obituary for legendary music director O P Nayyar, who passed away in 2007.

Book Contents

1. Interviews

Burjor Lord, Naqsh Lyallpuri, Manohari Singh, Yogesh, Usha Khanna, Dr Jayant Karandikar (in Hindi), Shamshad Begum, Blasco Monsorate.

2. Articles

Anthony Gonsalves, My best friend Geeta, Mehboob Khan, Chintoo Singh, Vasant Samant (in Hindi), 75 years of "Sangeet" (in Hindi), S. Hazara Singh

3. Tributes

Dattaram, O P Nayyar

4. Events

Aalap Ki Lehrein 2006 (Manohari Singh, Kersi Lord, Ustad Rais Khan), Aalap Ki Lehrein 2007 (Homi Mullan, Ranjit Gazmer), Aalap Ki Lehrein 2008 (Cawas Lord), Aalap Ki Lehrein 2009 (Jairam Acharya, Burjor Lord)

5. Gratitude

6. The SUNG Heroes

The book is available at suggested retail price of Rs. 1,200 at below mentioned outlets.

• • Rhythm House, Kaala Ghoda (Mumbai)
• • Strand Book Stall, Fort (Mumbai)