Monday 5 July 2010

Bappi Lahiri: Zakhmee (1974)

Zakhmee

Three words: 'Nothing Is Impossible'. I'm almost tempted to leave this write-up at that; I reckon it's what Bappi Lahiri was thinking when scoring the centerpiece of 'Zakhmee'. Years before he became the king of cheesy disco, he took Burmanesque cabaret, garage rock and lounge, threw it all into a pot, mashed it up, turned everything inside out, and proceeded to record the resulting crazyness during a wild, drunken party. By the sound of it anyway. The loopiest Bollywood track I know of; it's fabulous!

And it might make it easy to overlook the rest of the album. Which would be a shame, as that means you'd miss out on (and I wouldn't get the chance to post the videos to) great songs like 'Abhi Abhi Thi Dushmani' and 'Jalta Hai Jiya Mera'. So don't.

Track listing:
1. Lata Mangeshkar: Abhi Abhi Thi Dushmani
2. Kishore Kumar, Mohd. Rafi, Bappi Lahiri & Chorus: Nothing Is Impossible
3. Kishore Kumar & Asha Bhosle: Jalta Hai Jiya Mera
4. Kishore Kumar & Chorus: Dil Men Holi Jal Rahi Hai
5. Lata Mangeshkar & Sushama Shreshta: Aao Tumhen Chand Pe Lejayen

27 comments:

  1. Ah, I know you're no fan of Bolly disco, but I recently discovered so much fun stuff while making a disco compilation - Bappi-da of course featuring heavily in it - that I kind of feel the need to defend it here. Super summer soundtrack stuff; I love it, to my surprise :-). And I even have to thank you for introducing me to him, via "Goron Ki Na Kalon Ki", my longtime favorite song, which I never knew was "disco". (I shouldn't have watched that youtube clip of it though...)

    Tnx for this one, am now listening to Jalta Hai Jiya Mera (wonderful).

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  2. ...And you might have wanted to prepare us for the seasonal dissonant that's in store with "Aao Tumhen Chand Pe Lejayen" :-) H00t! No summer in Norway?

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  3. Haha, yeah christmas came early this year...

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  4. Blago's above mentioned disco mix can by found here by the way; I'm downloading it now, partly because it has the most amazing looking cover art ever.

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  5. Hey PC!!!
    Thanx as always.. a killer score and very underrated one at that!! Bappi was God those days... check out Paapi (1977).. deadly score!!!!

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  6. So I've gathered Viz, that's why it's on my want list :)

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  7. I cannot find the link?

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  8. I don't see any link either. I'm sure I saw it yesterday, but today when I came to download the tracks, it has disapeeared.

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  9. I don't see it at all. on the main page it shows 11 comments, but all I can see here are 5 comments.

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  10. That's odd, I see them all. Some Blogger bug I suspect then, hopefully they'll fix it soon!

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  11. I can see the first comment with link now. But strangely, I see only 10 comments, as compared to 13 that is shown on the main page.

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  12. Don't know what to tell you really, other than grab the link as long as it's there. I've messaged Blogger and asked if it's a know issue on their part. Out of curiosity, does it happen both in the comment pop-up window and when you're on a specific post with the comments appearing underneath?

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  13. Thanks, PC :) I like pre-disco Bappi quite a lot...

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  14. Thanks PC. "Dil Mein Holi" is a lovely song sung in his inimitable style by Kishore.

    Regds / Babu

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  15. Thanks PC for ZAKHMEE...good rips..lovely songs..but i just wonder that where had all the talent of Bappi da gone in mid 80s..otherwise we would have got more melody from him...

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  16. Where had everybody's talent gone by the mid-80s?

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  17. very true...but as a huge fan of BL till mid 80s..i somehow feel bad that he could have made more great music..

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  18. hey PC, I love your blog, I've been catching up today from last year and have found it essential listening all the way through. It's often my buying guide for vinyl.

    I know you tend towards the 60s and 70s Hindi films (and I know why) but if you're wondering where the talent went in the 80's, look to the Tamil film soundtracks of Ilaiyaraaja. Maybe they're not for everyone but my many of my personal favorites and you can find pages and pages of them here:

    http://mytamilmp3blog.wordpress.com/category/ilayaraja/

    thanks for the hundreds of quality finds and curation.

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  19. Thanks so much for this soundtrack..
    As im sure you know, its even better to see the footage that goes with the song .. one of my all time favorite dance sequences -- and Jaya Bhaduri (Bachchan) just looks so hip in this film

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DgkAiJl1HU

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  20. Yup, it was already linked to in the write-up :)

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  21. I must admit I have always gone for the later Bappi Lahri albums as my tastes tend to be more towards the disco/dance end of his music but the 'Nothing Is Impossible' track had my jaw dropping and bouncing up to the ceiling and down again!...

    ....the video you linked to is just sublime as well...and the all-female hot-pants go-go boot wearing backing band were just a sheer delight!

    I read (or maybe misread) that the guy in the white turtle neck sweater and serious seventies bling singing his heart out in none other than Bappi Lahri himself?!? Do you know if he actually starred in Zackhmee?!

    Just discovered your blog and already I have got that "all my christmases come at once feeling",what an archive!

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  22. Not sure if that's him or not to be honest, I've seen a couple of pics of him from later years, and there's a slight resemblance I suppose... however the iMDM doesn't have him down as acting in it.

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