Remembering Asha Bhosle - Dum maaro dum and other timeless classics
Most recorded artist in history, and the peppy song queen who ruled Bollywood for a better part of 50+ years. Rest in power.
How does one begin to talk about Ashaji’s life and career? Her songs were prevalent in my household and on the public airwaves, and I am confident my brain heard her songs before I could form words. Any poetic faculties I possess as a musician and a writer, then, must be attributed to bards like Ashaji, whose music, meaning, & prosody I’ve deeply imbibed in my soul.
My mother, much like women of her time, adored Lataji for her virtuosity and always had a soft corner for Ashaji for reasons I’m not qualified to talk about, but you know. Following in her family's legacy was hard enough, but making a unique name for herself in that company, phew.
Then there’s Dum Maaro Dum, a song which introduced and contextualized the hippie movement of the time. Ashaji, by extension, becomes the Janis Joplin of India. I can assure you 😃 that 100 years from now, Dum Maaro Dum will still be part of popular culture, perhaps in the same context.
Please listen to this Podcast from 1982 from AIR about her music, philosophy. Fittingly, it ends with one of my favorites - Mana anand anand chaayo in Raag Ahir Bhairav, and it’s just her singing with a Tanpura. It cannot get more intimate than that with a vocal artist, no?
