RELIVING THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES WOULD APPEAR LIKE BEING PART OF PIONEERS GANG! WHO WILL NOT REMEMBER USHA UTHUP WHEN IT COMES TO COUNTING THE PIONEERS? Those of us who were students in the 1960s and 1970s would have seen a lot of firsts happen in India. I am certainly not referring to the arrival of JEANS but much more that is purely Indian by all standards. Among the firsts we may remember if our memory serves us right was the advent of the first magazine launched purely for the youth. Junior Statesman, which later converted itself to JS was launched in the sixties by Desmond Doig. Jug Suraiya (JS too!), MJ Akbar started their careers with JS to reach where they are. Imagine a magazine in the sixties/seventies and devoting a whole section to fashion and pop music! But that was the beginning. No wonder JS was called the Magazine that Thinks Young! JS was soon to be followed by Youth times and Sunday which both concentrated on youth issues. But JS by far was the real stuff youth of that time was looking for. At the same time POP music and Spanish guitar were finding acceptance in India with Jam Sessions and crooner sessions gaining popularity. Discos were just about opening their doors to the young what with the Cellar in Connaught Place and the Maidens Hotel at Shamnath Marg in Delhi taking the lead. Rajdoot, Lido and Vikram followed later but mostly with their version of cabaret. All this did not survive, neither the Youth Magazines nor the discos and cabaret joints. However, a legend that caught the public eye during those times still reigns in the Indian pop world! Though many tend to give credit to the two Pakistani singers (Hassan and Zohaib) for popularising pop music in india, the real foundation was laid by Usha Iyer (Usha Uthup now). From singing at the night club Nine Gems in Madras (now Chennai) to the Trincas in Calcutta (Kolkata) to the Talk of the Town in Bombay (Mumbai) to the Oberoi in Delhi, she made it big in the Indian film industry too. Who wont remember the evergreen hit Ramba Ho or Jeete hain shaan se or Hari om hari? Usha has sung in 13 Indian languages and 7 foreign languages. Today on her birthday, I would want you to hear this number of hers: https://youtube/watch?v=55VTvHghlZA
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 17:31:40 +0000
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