Kya Hua Ek Baat Par

 Kya Hua Ek Baat Par
I rediscovered this song from Teri Kasam (1982) sung by Amit Kumar, lyrics by Anand Bakshi and music by RD Burman. Before I delve into the song, here’s some trivia as shared by Amit Kumar himself. The situation in the film is that the hero is heatbroken. RD had prepared the tune and Anand Bakshi was about to pen the lyrics. The producer of Teri Kasam told RD that he liked Manna De’s song “Kaun Aaya Mere Man Ke Dwaare” from “Dekh Kabira Roya, and that RD’s song should be based on that song! RD modified his tune such that the words “Kya Hua ...” have the tune similar to “Kaun Aaya …” !

The song is a soft melody. Amit Kumar has been blamed by the “music pandits” as being off tune, but here he does full justice to the song. He is one of those few singers who has a good bass in his voice. His “Aaaa” never sounds as “Aaee”. He is never nasal. Many of his contemporaries in their attempt to ape Kishore Kumar usually tend to sound nasal when they go for high pitch. Released in 1982, this song and the music remains fresh even after 39 years in 2021! 

Orchestration: Violins, Saxophone (Manohari Singh), Bass guitar, 12 string guitar (Sunil Kaushik), Tabla (Maruti Rao), Drums, Bongo, Congo, Resso Resso, Flute. Here the twelve-string guitar is as liberally used as one would use an acoustic guitar.

 The recording by Universal (then it was known as Polydor) is top class with clear stereo effects.
Another trivia – In another song of this movie – Dil Ki Baat Kahi Lab Pe Na- Laxmikant Kudalkar (of the Laxmi-Pyare jodi) appears on screen as music director for a song recording scene!

It may come a s a surprise to many but this song has the rhyme scheme of a Ghazal! Most people have some prejudice about RD regarding classical music or what is called as  Hindustani sangeet. The so called music pandits of the 70’s labelled him as a western musician and the illiterate janta blindly followed. This song has the rhyme scheme like-

क्या हुआ, एक बात पर बरसों का याराना गया  ……………A
इस बहाने दोस्तों का प्यार पहचाना गया  …………………A

क्या सुनाएँ हम किसी को, प्यार की ये दास्तां  ……………..B
जान जाने को है बाकी, दिल तो दीवाना गया  …………….A
क्या हुआ, एक बात पर...

उनका, उनके ग़म का ऐ दिल, अब करें अफ़सोस क्या  ….B
जिसको आना था वो आया, जिसको था जाना गया  ………A
क्या हुआ, एक बात पर...

उनसे मिलने की इजाज़त, एक बस हमको नहीं  ………….C
उनसे मिलने उनके घर, हर अपना बेगाना गया  …………..A
क्या हुआ, एक बात पर...

So the rhyme scheme is of a ghazal but this is not a ghazal.

MANDATORY NOTICE - Put on your headphones and read on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWqC87O_vG4 or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvMsRrttWjc

 

The song opens (called M0 in music terms) rather abruptly on Violins ans bass guitars followed by 12 string Guitar continuously moving back and forth from left to right channel and off course Resso and keyboards.

Pickup is on Tabla in the left channel at “… ik baat par”. Madal, Resso continue on left and right channels. The rhythm on Tabla is non regular… like four beats on the Tabla and four on the Dagga. Maruti Rao had mastered this rhythm. The same rhythm pattern can also be heard in “Mera Kuchh Saaman” by Asha Bhosle in “Ijaazat or “Mausam Pyar Ka” (on a different scale) from “Sitamgar”. Maruti Rao was such a versatile artist, he set the very different & most difficult 17 beat taal (or as Taufiq Qureshi says 8.5 matra’s played twice!) for “Juthe Tere Nain” by Asha in “Dil Padosi Hai”.
Hear Taufiq speak about this in Panchammagic’s Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m4qY7_xPj0

Sorry for the digression. Now coming back to the main topic…

The first interlude music (M1) starts with a sombre flute, Resso, Bass guitar, Violins and drums set. The music for the first antara has Madal playing in the right channel and Tabla in the left.
The second interlude music is different as it starts with Violins, Drums, Resso, the ubiquitous twelve string guitar and bongos. 

Unlike some other music directors who repeat the first interlude music for the third, RD usually had unique music pieces for all the interludes. Here too the third interlude music is different from the first and second. The change is initiated by a twang (or like some say tonnng! Just a case of tomato and tomatoe) on the bass guitar and Manohari Singh’s Saxophone takes over the changed scale with a flowing piece!

This third Antara has the classic lines
उनसे मिलने की इजाज़त, एक बस हमको नहीं
Then a cute piece on flute followed by
उनसे मिलने उनके घर, हर अपना बेगाना गया  
Emotional stuff!

RD’s music apart from being enjoyable is a learning and education for all of us who are less gifted in understanding the nuances of of music. Like in this song the use of Saxophone for changing scale, the use of twelve string guitar playing throughout like one would play the acoustic guitar. With my limited knowledge, I wonder how many music directors have used Bass and twelve string guitar like this?

Hope this write up helps to know the song better and make this song a little more special for all of ya!