Usha Mangeshkar remembers Raam Laxman: The diversity that one musician could introduce is commendable

Usha Mangeshkar (Photo/AFP)

Our first interaction was during the recording of his first Hindi song, and my first song with him. He was cautious about how he would teach me. But, the process was smooth-sailing. He liked the way I sang, and I liked the way he composed music. He had a peculiar habit - He would write down the entire song and in different colours. Red for the [male singer], blue for the [female singer]. He enjoyed that because he could chronicle things in detail. In fact, singers didn't have to [make notes] when it came to rendering his songs. I still have some of [those notes] with me.

Raam Laxman primarily worked in the Hindi and Marathi music industries. He began with Marathi music and then moved on to working in Hindi films. In Marathi cinema, he would include a mix of folk and lavni music. He never used only one style in every song. For instance, I recall that in one track that I had rendered, he used folk, and in another, 'Zalya Tinhisanja', it was [lavni]. When he began to make songs in Hindi, I worked with him on tracks for 'Sultana Sultana'. With didi [Lata Mangeshkar], he created 'Didi Tera Devar Deewana'. And all those songs were aligned with the music sensibilities of audiences consuming Hindi music. Lok sangeet was the crux of his music, regardless of which language he composed in. In his Marathi music, there was no hint of elements used in Hindi films, and similarly, you couldn't sense elements of Hindi music in his Marathi compositions. It is commendable that one man could introduce such variety.

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When he worked with didi, he never had to rehearse too much, because she was so good anyway. He'd simply tell her what the song was, and take it from there. Because I had worked with him so often, I had a sense of how he worked. We'd do two to three takes, and avoid multiple retakes because we'd have to start recording the entire song from scratch.

There was a time when each film had his songs. He has done a lot of work in the industry, and there was a time when he delivered multiple consecutive musical hits. In London, I could see how people would cue up to buy tickets to consume his music.

- As told to Sonia Lulla

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