NoorJehan and Shamshad Begum were two of the oldest singers who command a lot of respect and popularity with music lovers. I make it a point to educate my children on all the old singers since my mother introduced me to Shamshad begum and others of that generation, and now of course I know about all the old singers and composers and hope this interest gets passed on to the future generations as well..

You are right. Its the responsibility of the elders to pass on the glorious past to the next generation. Else, it may disappear in to oblivion.

Many youngsters are not just surprised but also are critical when other youngsters listen to old songs.My son likes some old songs of Rafi,Asha and Mannadey and also Shamshad Begum and I sent him some of those songs and when he listens to these songs ,some of his friends tease him about it ! I find this attitude very childish and immature ! We have to appreciate what is good no matter when and where it came from...

This does happen a lot with youngsters. In fact, there are many who do appreciate old songs and like to hear them but are afraid to admit it in case they are ridiculed by their peers. Basically peer pressure is the reason why most youngsters do not do things they really like for fear of being called old-fashioned and not-cool etc. I too make it a point to play such old songs when my son is around so that he can hear good music.

I feel that once they are exposed to all kinds of music they will be able to choose what is good......
I remember an incident when a relative visited our house and we were playing some old songs , in fact Saiyan dil mein aana re sung by Shamshad Begum, he sat fidgeting and after a while asked whether we had any nice songs, meaning new songs like sheila ki jawani and munni badnami huyi !!!.He is nearly 50 years old and if his taste falls under that category , hat would his children want to listen to?

Yikes!!! Well, I can imagine what his children might be listening, something probably worse that even Munni and Sheila! :blink:

One can only imagine, this trend of raunchy item songs has spread to the regional films as well and some of them are hilarious because they are neither here nor there.I wonder what the old legendary singers would have to say to this ? :dry:

They must be moving restlessly in their graves.

Recently Mubarak Begum was speaking about her own plight and about todays music which she felt was simply not worth mentioning.In fact I had seen Shamshad Begum herself talking about this in an interview saddened by the pathetic state of affairs now...

Those days money did not play that important a part as now...talent and dedication took over unlike now where money is everything ! I am giving a link to an article written about Shamshad begum, a tribute to her ..
http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2013/04/24/shamshad-begum-a-tribute-to-a-voice-long-gone/

Those days money did not play that important a part as now...talent and dedication took over unlike now where money is everything ! I am giving a link to an article written about Shamshad begum, a tribute to her ..
http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2013/04/24/shamshad-begum-a-tribute-to-a-voice-long-gone/

Thanks for the link. The link mentions about that great qawali Of Mughal- e- Azam, 'Teri Mehfil mein Kismat', which incidentally happens to be my favourite number.

Those days money did not play that important a part as now...talent and dedication took over unlike now where money is everything ! I am giving a link to an article written about Shamshad begum, a tribute to her ..
http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2013/04/24/shamshad-begum-a-tribute-to-a-voice-long-gone/

Thanks for the link. The link mentions about that great qawali Of Mughal- e- Azam, 'Teri Mehfil mein Kismat', which incidentally happens to be my favourite number.

Shamshad Begum has sung many songs for Madhubala for the film Rail Ka dibba ,NeelKaamal and other earlier movies....In fact almost all the previous leading ladies like Meena Kumari, Nargis and Vyjayantimala have had Shamshad Begum play back for them...