One of the first female playback singers of the Hindi film industry and the woman whose golden voice inspired melody geniuses like O.P. While the remixed tunes are a rage at the clubs, few youngsters would be able to name the person behind the groovy voice they love so much: Musical legend Shamshad Begum. 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.'Mere piya gaye rangoon', 'Leke pehla pehla pyar', 'Kabhi aar khabhi paar' - these retro Hindi numbers are part of every popular DJ's play list these days.
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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