Celebrating the birthday of a musical genius – SD Burman

Sachin Da was born in the family of the then Raja of Tripura, and after his BA did extensive training in music.  Here is what Wikipedia has to say about his training:

He started his formal music education by training under the famous musician K. C. Dey from 1925 to 1930; thereafter in 1932 he came under the tutelage of Bhismadev Chattopadhaya, who was only three years his senior. This was followed by training from Kahifa Badal Khan, Sarangi player, and Ustad Allauddin Khan [2]. Eventually he got K.C. Dey, Ustad Badal Khan and Allauddi Khan into Agartala, noted Bengal poet laureate, Kazi Nazrul Islam also spent time in their family home, Comilla House, in Agartala.

This makes his facility with composition no surprise, but what is astonishing is the amount of talent, the versatility and the fact that he fathered a son called Rahul Dev Burman!  Very rarely does one find a father son duo where you are hard-pressed to pick who was better.
Any attempt to pick the best of SD Burman would soon get bogged down in sheer length an the difficulty of having to make choices.  So I thought I would get started with the songs that Sachin Da sang – these were invariably uniquely poignant and soulful:



In Sujata – this song says everything that is in her heart that she cannot speak.

This one song in Bandini encapsulated the mental turmoil in a woman’s mind as she veers between what is duty and what her heart wants to do.

The song of a wandering traveler, this particular one who strayed, was betrayed by love and life..

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