स्वरानंद - दत्ताराम वाडकर

 

Born in Goa in 1929, Dattaram moved to Bombay along with his mother in 1942. In his earlier days, he worked as a loader in the Bombay docks. He learned to play tabla from Pandhari Nageshwar and later from Yashwant Kerkar. On the recommendation of Kerkar, he worked with composer Sajjad Hussain for three months. Dattaram was fond of body building and was a regular visitor to a gym. 'Shankar' of 'Shankar Jaikishan' fame used to visit the same gym. Once, Shankar saw a pair of Tabla and was tempted to play. When Dattaram heard Shankar playing he was overwhelmed and made him his Guru.

Many composers had remained unsung in the history of Bollywood music. They never lacked creativity. They were as competent as the composers they assisted. Ghulam Mohammad, N. Datta and Jaidev were a few such assistants to be mentioned. Dattaram had a similar story. – who assisted Shankar Jaikishan for more than four decades.

Shankar and Jaikishan were working with the Prithvi Theatres, where they used to play tabla and harmonium respectively. Shankar invited Dattaram to come to Prithvi Theatre. Later, Dattaram learnt to play the sitar and shehnai during the intervals of the plays. 

 

When Shankar Jaikishan became independent composers with Raj Kapoor's 'बरसात', Dattaram also joined the RK camp. Raj Kapoor was impressed by Dattaram's tabla performances. Dattaram started playing tabla and dholak in Shankar Jaikishan's orchestra and started assisting them. He shared the credit with them as an assistant.

Dattaram was a master of thekka (Beat) and it was known as 'Dattu's thekka'. Dattaram also played Duff in the songs.

'दिल का हाल सुने दिलवाला' in श्री 420 and 'मेरा नाम राजू घराना अनाम' in जिस देश में गंगा बहती हैं.

One could enjoy Dattaram's tabla performances in the songs of  -

श्री 420 - 'मुड मुड के ना देख मुड मुड के' and 'रमैय्या वस्तावैय्या',  and also in

चोरी चोरी - 'आजा सनम मधुर चांदनी में हम' and 'जहाँ मैं जाती हूं वही चले आते हो'    

 

Later on, he became the arranger for Shankar Jaikishan along with his other colleague Sebastian from Goa. Dattaram was in charge of the percussion-based songs. Sebastian used to arrange for tune based songs on western instruments. After the grand success of बरसात, आवारा, and श्री 420, Raj Kapoor decided to make अब दिल्ली दूर नहीं (1957). He entrusted the music to Dattaram as an independent composer. Although the film didn't do well at the box office, Raj Kapoor liked the music. Some compositions became very popular: 

ये चमन हमारा अपना हैं (Asha/Chorus), जियो लाल मेरे लाखो बरस (Lata/Chorus), माता ओ माता जो तू आज होती (Sudha Malhotra). But the most popular song was चुन चुन करती आये चिडिया (Rafi).

 

According to many connoisseurs of film music, आंसू भरी हैं was Dattaram's best creation. But Dattaram proved them wrong. Next year he came with a unique number of Lata in Qaidi No. 911 (1959): मिठी मिठी बातोंसे बचना जरा. There was another romantic duet प्यार भरी ये घटाऐं (Manna Dey/Lata) that became very popular.

In 1960, Dattaram did another film with Raj Kapoor – श्रीमान सत्यवादी . He composed pleasing songs in Mukesh's voice. In काला आदमी (1960), Mukesh sang another unforgettable number for Dattaram, दिल ढुंढता है सहारे सहारे.

Another film of Dattaram which needs special mention was Meena Kumari and Rajendra Kumar starter, जिंदगी और ख्वाब (1961). A duet ना जाने कहाँ तुम थे ना जाने कहाँ हम थे (Suman/Manna Dey) was a very popular number.

Dattaram was a percussionist par excellence. He played the dholak in सारी सारी रात तेरी याद सताये (Lata) for अजी बस शुक्रिया (1958). In मधुमती (1958), he played the tabla in आजा रे परदेसी, घडी घडी मेरा दिल धडके, and सुहाना सफर और ये मौसम हंसी.

 

The music scenario was undergoing a sea change. Laxmikant- Pyarelal and Kalyanji-Anandji came as a forerunner. After Jaikishan's death in 1973, Shankar didn't record for quite some time. Even Shankar couldn't create the same magic they did as a duo. Dattaram was disappointed, and he left for his native place Goa. He eventually passed away on October 8, 2007, at the age of 78.

 

There were many musicians responsible in making the 1950’s and 1960’s the Golden Era of Indian Film music, but Dattaram, a prominet and immensely talented music composer, donned many hats – as a tabla player, as an arranger, an assistant music director and also as an independent music composer .My pranams and tribute to this great composer..

Song मस्ती भरा है समा by Shirish Purohit  Please click the link.

Shirish Purohit