They play on a loop on the radio, they are kept alive through remixes or personal playlists: R.D. Burman’s myriad musical styles will never cease to scintillate.
But at a recent event organised by Mumbai-based music group REWIND in Thane, where Burman’s journey as a composer took centrestage, the spotlight was nearly stolen by a musician once part of his core team.
Midway through the programme, as the group was sharing nuggets about Western influences on Burman’s music, and how he refitted his own Bengali tunes (‘Bandha Dwarer Andhakare’ , Rajkumari ) to Hindi film music (‘Aap Ke Kamre Mein’ , Yaadon KiBaaraat ), the audience was introduced to a hunched gentleman in a cobalt blue kurta, Ranjit Gazmer.
Gazmer, played the madal (Nepali hand drum) in a number of lilting Burman tunes such as ‘Lekar Hum Deewana Dil’ ( Yaadon Ki Baaraat ), ‘Hum Dono Do Premi’ ( Ajnabee ) and ‘Hoga Tumse Pyara Kaun’ ( Zamaane Ko Dikhana Hai ). He was an inescapable reminder of how electronic instruments have replaced his ilk in contemporary music. “Who has the time to nurture a team?” he said, reminiscing an era when music composers teamed up with trusted musicians to produce unique sounds in their scores.
Prolific beginnings
Along with instrumentalist Homi Mullan, Gazmer was part of Burman’s core team. Mullan, who passed away in 2015, was the subject of a documentary made by Kushal Gopalka, Homi Mullan — The Unsung Hero , a luxury that has evaded Gazmer. Gopalka said it could be because unlike Mullan, who played a variety of instruments including the madal, the African harp kalimba, the Japanese wood piece kokiriko, and the Brazilian maraca, Gazmer was known only for his expertise in madal, although he was equally proficient on the harmonium and a few other instruments. “Few composers other than Burman used the madal, which made Gazmer a Burman loyalist,” said Gopalka.
In the 1980s, when Burman was losing out to new composers like Bappi Lahiri, his musicians began to disperse. Gazmer played for Lahiri, Khayyam, Ravindra Jain, and Raamlaxman, but his association with the Burmans (Rahul and Sachin Dev) gave him the experience and fortitude to chart a new course — as a music director in Nepali films. Since 1981, the 76-year-old Gazmer has composed the soundtrack for over a dozen Nepali films, giving playback singer Udit Narayan an early breakthrough duet with Asha Bhosle in ‘Mirmire Sanjh Ma’ for Bansuri .
He recounted how he played the madal for Nepal Radio in the early 1970s. Dev Anand was shooting Hare Rama Hare Krishna in Nepal when he heard the instrument. “He wanted the sound of the madal in one of the songs, ‘Ghungroo Ka Bole’, and that is how I played it for Burman and became part of his sitting team of musicians,” said Gazmer. The film’s song ‘Kancha re kancha re’ is said to have got him his nickname, Kancha (Nepali for boy), from Burman.
Burman was a stickler for the perfect sound, returning to his tracks on a hand-held transistor to catch the faintest musical notes, but he was also a bit of a procrastinator. “One time, Shakti Samanta came over to Pancham da’s house for a music sitting but since Pancham da had not prepared any tune, he made biryani and treated everyone, including his driver and the watchman,” said Gazmer.
During a dinner break, Gazmer held out a white paper box and asked that it be placed in his car. When Gazmer was asked why he was not eating his dinner in the lobby where people had gathered, he laughed: “I forgot my dentures.” The hunched man in cobalt blue not only gave a new insight into Burman’s music, he nearly upstaged his mentor at the event.
The writer is distracted by music when he is writing about it, so he rewinds/ replays the tunes in his head in silent mode.
