Yaad Aa Rahee Hai, Teree Yaad Aa Rahee Hai ...

Today is the 12th death anniversary of great Rahul Dev
Burman, also known as Panchamda. It is twelve years
ago that R.D. Burman left us on January 4, 1994 in the early
morning hours. Panchamda has left more than thousand of
songs composed for about three hundred movies, and
hundreds of unfinished melodies. For me not a single day
pass without listening to wonderful and magical
compositions of R.D. Burman. The songs composed by
Panchamda are timeless. Just listening to them
is sheer pleasure. He was ahead of his time.
He gave new dimension to Hindi film songs. His
compositions have perfect balance of rhythm
and melody. One could not find a rough edge
in his composition.

Panchamda was the only son of equally famous
Sachin Dev Burman. The contribution of both of them to
the popularity of Hindi film songs is just immense.

It is indeed sad that Panchamda has become more
famous after his death. From 1987 till his death in 1994,
Panchamda composed music for few films. By the time
1942 - A Love Story's music was released in 1994
and was appreciated and applauded and was also
awarded with various awards, it was too late. Panchamda
got only three filmfare awards -- for Sanam Teri Kasam,
for Masoom and for 1942 -- A Love Story (posthumously).
He should have got more
and more such awards. At the national awards he was
completely ignored. It is sad very sad. Now his tunes are
being remixed. For me it is painful to hear those remixes.

We Pancham Bakhts have Yahoo Music Group, which
has 1176 members, to share memories and discuss
music of Panchamda. It has thousands of postings. It was
started by Vinay P. Jain, who is one of the Param Bakht of
Panchamda. Vinay also has an excellent
webpage about Panchamda. The fans
of Panchamda are scattered all over the world. In Pune
every year on 4th January and on 27th June (birth
anniversary of Panchamda), a programme is held at
Tilak Smarak Mandir. The persons who were fortunate to
have been closely associated with Panchamda participate
and share their experiences, and also to re-create the
magic of Panchamda.

Thank you Panchamda for the music ....

An excellent tribute to R.D. Burman has appeared
in today's Hinudstan Times. The link to the article
is here