walking upstream…
Kishore Kumar
sourcesWikipedia
Kishore Kumar, born Abhas Kumar Ganguly in Khandwa, was a largely self-taught singer, actor and film-maker who became one of the most versatile voices in Hindi cinema. Beginning in the late 1940s in the shadow of his actor-brother Ashok Kumar, he moved from imitating the reigning star K. L. Saigal to forging a personal style that ranged from tender romantic ballads to breakneck comic turns and a distinctive yodel. From his career-defining run on the film Aradhana onward, he was the preferred playback voice for a generation of leading men and a defining sound of 1970s Bollywood.
the sound in question
1969
Mere Sapno Ki RaniKishore Kumar
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Jimmie Rodgers1920s · Country / Old-time
Kishore's signature yodel, an unexpected whoop that punctuates many of his up-tempo hits, is widely traced to records by the American 'Blue Yodeler' Jimmie Rodgers and the Australian singer Tex Morton that he heard as a young man. He folded that country-and-western trick into Hindi film music until it became a personal trademark.
listen: upstream & here
1927
Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)Jimmie Rodgers
1971
Zindagi Ek Safar Hai SuhanaKishore Kumar
listen forPlay Rodgers' 'Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)' and then Kishore's 'Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana' — the same sudden leap into a bright, breaking falsetto yodel, lifted out of the American original and dropped into a Bollywood road song.
K. L. Saigal1930s · Filmi / Ghazal / Hindustani classical
By several accounts Kishore began his singing life imitating K. L. Saigal, the reigning voice of his youth, and only later shed that skin for a style of his own. The inheritance survives in his slow, plaintive numbers, where a classically shaded, quavering melancholy recalls the older singer's grief-tinged intimacy.
listen: upstream & here
1946
Jab Dil Hi Toot GayaK. L. Saigal
1961
Koi Humdam Na RahaKishore Kumar
listen forAfter Saigal's mournful 'Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya,' cue Kishore's 'Koi Humdam Na Raha' — listen for the same raga-rooted, downcast phrasing, the voice bending each note downward as though weighed by the lyric.
Danny Kaye1940s · Traditional pop / Novelty / Show tunes
By his biographers' account Kishore was an ardent admirer of the Hollywood actor-singer Danny Kaye, and the kinship is clearest in his comic songs, where singing tips over into antic, rubber-voiced clowning. Like Kaye, he treats the voice as a comedian's instrument, speeding up, cartooning tone and chasing a punchline.
listen: upstream & here
1952
The Ugly DucklingDanny Kaye
1968
Ek Chatur NaarKishore Kumar
listen forSet Kaye's tongue-twisting 'The Ugly Duckling' beside the comic duel of 'Ek Chatur Naar' — hear the shared delight in vocal slapstick, the singer mugging and sputtering and racing the tune for laughs.