In our search for the new, we often loose track of stuff that is often deemed old and outdated, regardless of its worth. The same is true with the melodies of Hindi Films of the Black and White Era. Belgaum has its own share of those that have chosen to stay with the creations of the great maestroes of the yester years. Today in an attempt to draw focus on the great compositions and people in town dedicated to reviving the glory of the same, we present a simple tale of one such individual, more so, a tale of his collections.
For Sameer Majli, a Placement & Training Officer at KLE Society, Belgaum, it has been over 5 years since he began his tryst with Old Hindi Film Songs, courtesy the inspiration and initial support from record collector Mr. Vijay Nafre. Since then, it has been a tale of reaching out to people who are willing to share information and songs from the yester years. It has been a self revealing experience in terms of getting passionate about the old melodious treasures. What started off with a few video and audio songs shared by Mr. Vijay Nafre and hours spent in discussion with him, has today blossomed into a self satisfying collection with an ever present urge to encourage others to partake the rich treasure of creations of the music directors from the golden past.
The song collection is largely courtesy the internet which is full of generous collectors. The videos of films have been sometimes purchased and sometimes shared by those in the same domain of work. Facebook has been a great support and Sameer is now friends with children of the great music directors, be it Mr. Sanjeev Kohli ( Of Yash Raj Films) and Sangeeta Gupta, both children of my favourite music director Madan Mohan; Shikha Vohra, the daughter of legendary music director Anil Biswas and Mrinal Dev Burman with distant links to the SD Burman family.
Mr. Majli has presented several programs for Rasik Ranjan at Ritz theatre Belgaum and they have been well received in terms of both, the visual appeal and the selection of melodies. The compilations have included life and works of Madan Mohan, O P Nayyar, S D Burman and R D Burman and the cherry on the cake has been the program on Lata Mangeshkar.
In an attempt to ensure that the melodies reach beyond the social domain in which he has been active, he seeks to offer the pleasures of specially scripted program to other social and family groups that would like to invite him over on an incidental or regular basis.
Sameer presently is proud of a collection which includes over 2500 videos of black and white movie songs and an audio collection of over 5000 songs, all from the Black and White era.
He in a sense has just begun the journey to make space for himself in the task of reaching out to the masses in context of his melodious passion. The focus is on the joy profound without any hint of monetary aspirations. The programs are conducted on invitation and with prior discussions to finalize the theme. One pre-requisite however, is an audience that is able to stay in focus for the duration of the program without any disturbance and distractions of the sort that are characteristic of parties.
On behalf of a self formed brand which he calls Soulful Melodies, he wishes to welcome all to loads of melody in life. The songs were made for us and Soulful Melodies just seeks to make sure that the songs reach out and touch to bring some comfort to the soul in the midst of the dreary and demanding routine and the cacophony of human progress.
For details contact:
Sameer Majli
09611313919
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/soulfulmelodies/