Madan Gopal Singh (b 1950, Amritsar) is an Indian composer, singer, lyricist, actor, screenwriter, film theorist, editor and polyglot. He is currently Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi while on leave from Satyawati College (Evening Classes), where he taught English literature. Son of well-known Punjabi poet Harbhajan Singh, [1] Madan Gopal Singh has written and lectured extensively on cinema, art and cultural history besides performing the world over as a singer with his ensemble Chaar yaar.
Madan Gopal Singh wrote dialogues and lyrics for critically acclaimed Punjabi film Qissa by Anup Singh. [2] Singh is a scriptwriter, having written films like Rasayatra on the well-known Hindustani classical vocalist Mallikarjun Mansur – a film that won the National Award for the best short film in 1995. The film was directed by Nandan Kudhyadi. He wrote the screenplay (jointly with the director of the film, Anup Singh), dialogues and lyrics for a feature-length film, Ekti Nadir Naam (English: The Name of a River), based on the life of the late Ritwik Kumar Ghatak. The film won the G. Aravindan Award, and the Silver Dhow at the Zanzibar International Film Festival 2002.
He also wrote the Toona adaptation from Baba Bulle Shah which was rendered by Shubha Mudgal for Mira Nair's Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love , and he wrote dialogues for Kaya Taran , a film based on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The film was directed by Sashi Kumar and won the G Arvindan Award 2004.
He wrote lyrics for the Aman Ali Ayan Ali album of lounge music, Truth, produced by Times Music, 2007 and for Ustad Amjad Ali Khan's compositions sung by Pankaj Udhaas, Yaara produced by Music Today October 2007.
Madan Gopal Singh has composed and sung the poetry of Rumi, Shah Husain, Sultan Bahu and Bulle Shah and has also translated contemporary poets such as Bertolt Brecht, Federico García Lorca and even John Lennon especially his Imagine which he translated into Hindustani – and sung them extensively. [3] He has sung for films like Kumar Shahani's Kasba and Khayal Gatha and Mani Kaul's Idiot . As a singer, he travelled with the legendary Kurdo-Persian singer Shahram Nazeri to ancient Sufi towns such as Isfahan, Hamadan and Kermanshah. He also performed at the 2nd Sufi Soul World Music Festival held in Lahore, Pakistan in 2001.
Singh was invited to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2002, Washington as a presenter-performer. In all, he gave/made/conducted 28 concerts, presentations and workshops. He composed music for the documentary film on Kashmir- Paradise on a River of Hell directed by Meenu Gaur and Abir Bazaz. [4]
He also composed music for Sabiha Sumar's celebrated Khamosh Pani – a French-German-Pakistan coproduction that won the Best Film award at the Locarno Film Festival, 2003. [5]
A CD of live recording of his music titled Concert for Noor was produced in 2012 by the Noor Inayat Memorial Trust (UK).
He composed music for Fana'a – Ranjha Revisited – a musical by Navtej Johar showcased at various places world over. [6]
He composed music for Beyond Partition – a film by Lalit Joshi, South Asian Cinema Foundation, London.
Among other places he has performed at the Town Hall Festival, Bari, Italy; Experimenta 2005, Alberobello, Italy; World Sufi Spirit Festival in the Ahhichatragarh Fort Nagaur, in February 2013; the Bonn Biennale, 2006 where he appeared as the main chorus in two performances of Agra Bazaar directed by Habib Tanvir; the Other Festival held in Chennai in December 2006 and the Festival of India, Brussels in 2007. [7]
Sayyid Abdullāh Shāh Qādrī, known popularly as Baba Bulleh Shah and vocatively as Bulleya, was a Punjabi revolutionary philosopher, reformer and Sufi poet, universally regarded as the 'Father of Punjabi Enlightenment'; and one of the greatest poets in the Punjabi language. He criticised powerful religious, political, and social institutions; and is revered as the 'Poet of the People' amongst Punjabis.
Bengali music comprises a long tradition of religious and secular song-writing over a period of almost a millennium. Composed with lyrics in the Bengali language, Bengali music spans a wide variety of styles.
Madan Mohan Kohli, better known as Madan Mohan, was an Indian music director of the 1950s, 1960s and the 1970s. He is considered one of the most melodious and skilled music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is particularly remembered for the immortal ghazals he composed for Hindi films. Some of his best works are with singers Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi and Talat Mahmood.
Khamosh Pani is a 2003 Indo-Pakistani film about a widowed mother and her young son living in a Punjabi village as it undergoes radical changes during the late 1970s.
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Shah Hussain, also known as Madhoo Lal Hussain, was a Punjabi Sufi poet who is regarded as a pioneer of the Kafi form of Punjabi poetry. He lived during the ruling periods of Mughal emperors Akbar and his son Jahangir in the 16th century.
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Gulzar is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this era. He started his career with music director S.D. Burman as a lyricist in the 1963 film Bandini and worked with many music directors including R. D. Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Vishal Bhardwaj and A. R. Rahman. Gulzar also writes poetry, dialogues and scripts. He directed films such as Aandhi and Mausam during the 1970s and the TV series Mirza Ghalib in the 1980s. He also directed Kirdaar in 1993.
Jaspinder Narula is an Indian singer of playback, classical and Sufi music. She is known for her work in Hindi and Punjabi cinema. She shot to fame after the duet "Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha" with Remo Fernandes from the 1998 film Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha for which she won the 1999 Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer. The other notable films she has sung in include Mission Kashmir, Mohabbatein, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani and Bunty Aur Babli. She is also a singer of Sufi music, as well as Gurbani and other Sikh religious music. She has sung a latest Hindi Music video "Maula Ali Ali" with Mudasir Ali. In 2021 she was selected by BJ Sam the Nigerian international singer and producer to represent India on the first universal Christmas music project with other global music icons including American Actor Paul Raci, Swiss actress Christina Zurbrügg, Ghanaian singer Diana Hopeson. In 2008, she won the title of India's Best Live Performer in the NDTV Imagine singing reality series, Dhoom Macha De (2008).
Dama Dam Mast Qalandar is a spiritual Sufi qawwali written in the honour of the most revered Sufi saint of Sindh, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177–1274) of Sehwan Sharif. The origins of the poem is unknown, since no recordings or written documents exist mentioning it prior to the 1950s. However, legends around the Shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan suggest that the original poem was initially written by the 13th-century Sufi poet Amir Khusrow, then further modified by Bulleh Shah in the 18th century. The poem includes a reference to the town of Sehwan, and the word "Lal" can refer to Lal Shahbaz Qalandar as a young man, his legendary ruby glow, or his red dress. Bulleh Shah gave an entirely different color to the qawwali, adding verses in praises of Shahbaz Qalandar and giving it a large tint of Sindhi culture. It also venerates Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad.
Sajjad Hussain was an Indian film score composer. He was also an accomplished mandolinist, playing the mandolin as a "Top Grade" player for the Indian film industry in Mumbai for more than five decades, reputed to have played more than 22,000 songs, including title-songs and background music. Besides the music for movies, he was known to play Indian classical music (Hindustani), as well as Arabic music and Sufi music.
Tere Ishq Nachaya is a Punjabi Sufi song composed by 18th-century mystic-poet Baba Bulleh Shah. It is a popular song performed by Sufi and qawwali singers, including Abida Parveen and also featured in Sufi music album, Sufi –Ishq Bada Bedardi.
Vinod was a famous Indian film music director of the 1950s. In 1949, he composed a hit Punjabi film song Lara Lappa Lara Lappa Lai Rakhda sung by Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar, in the film Ek Thi Ladki (1949).
Kartar Singh is a 1959 Pakistani Punjabi-language film about the partition of India in 1947 and the widespread violence that accompanied it.
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Dhruv Sangari also known as Bilal Chishty is a Classical Indian vocalist, composer, lyricist and teacher. He is the son of scholar-author Kumkum Sangari and painter Mahendra 'Manu' Sangari.
Hari & Sukhmani is an Indian folktronic duo comprising Hari Singh Jaaj and Sukhmani Malik, who are known for fusing traditional folk music of Punjab with electronic music, and incorporating elements from Sufi poetry of Bulle Shah, Baba Farid, Kabir, and Shah Hussain, in their compositions.
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