Ae dard zara dam le
Posted on: March 24, 2013
This article is written by Sadanand Kamath, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog.
Rajkumari and Amirbai Karnataki were among the leading female playback singers of 1930s and 40s. Both of them started their filmy careers around 1934-35 and also acted and sang songs in the films on themselves. Curiosity led me to check as to who had sung more Hindi film songs among them. So I checked the number of Hindi film songs sung by Amirbai Karnataki and Rajkumari during their careers from http://www.myswar.com. Since this website gives the details of songs only from the year 1941 onward, it was not possible to get the total number of songs sung by them in their entire filmy careers. Nonetheless, I felt that within this limitation, one should get a fair assessment of their contributions to Hindi film songs. As per these data, Amirbai Karnataki sang a total (solo, duets etc) number of 302 songs while Rajkumari sang a total of 387 songs during 1941 and onward. On this basis, I would guess that Rajkumari may have sung more Hindi film songs then Amirbai Karnataki.
Dr Ashok Ranade, in his book ‘Hindi Film Songs – Music Beyond Boundaries’ quoting A Rajmannar from Gulbarga, a keen documenter of Indian films, has estimated that during 1940-50, Amirbai Karnataki sang about 250 songs. This estimate compared well with the figure of 302 mentioned above as it also includes her songs beyond 1950. But the moot point is how many of these songs are available on the internet. I have done a sample check of a few obscure films of 1941-50 in which she had her songs listed. But I could hardly locate a song or two from the samples. So, on a rough estimate, I guess, as of now, nearly 50 percent of her 300 odd songs may not be available for listening on the internet. Same may be true of songs sung by Rajkumari. One can only hope that some of the songs not available on the internet may be available in the personal collections of individuals which may find a place on the internet some day.
During the sample check of Amirbai Karnataki’s songs on the internet, I came across one of her rare songs ‘ae dard zaraa dam le karwat to badalne de’ from the film ZAMAANAA (1938). The song was written by D N Madhok and set to music by Sunder Das Bhatia. One song from this film has already been discussed in the blog from where I got the details of the film from the comments given by Arunkumar Deshmukh :
ZAMAANAA(1938), a Krishin Movietone film,directed by Ram Daryani, had music by Sunderdas (Dekha Jayega, Master Man, Saaqi, Idd Ka Chand, Rajkumari, Shokh Dilruba etc) and the lyrics were by D N Madhok. The cast was Jeevan (known that time only as O.K.Dhar or Dhar Kashmiri) and Padmadevi in the lead, supported by Nazir, Gope, Gulab, Majeed, Bansi, Karnataki, Amina, Vasant, Hansa Wadkar (Marathi Heroine-on whose life, a full length feature film ‘Sangatey Aika’ was produced in the 70s, Jayashri Gadkar doing her role) etc. Like one song, ‘aye dard jaraa dum le’ was used in ‘Ghar Ki Izzat’ (1948) later. Similarly, this film-Zamana had used one song ‘sotey mein hamse mila hai’, sung by Pratimadevi, originally from the film Dukhiyari(1937).
As mentioned in the comment, this song which was later used as a background song in the film ‘Ghar Ki Izzat’ (1948) is here. This song is a bit faster in tempo than the one under discussion.
Song-Ae dard zara dam le (Zamaana)(1938) Singer-Amirbai Karnataki, Lyrics-D N Madhok, MD-Sundar Das Bhatia
Lyrics
ae dard zaraa dam le
karwat to badalne de
ae dard zaraa dam le
karwat to badalne de
armaan bhare dil ko
armaan bhare dil ko
pahloo mein sambhalne de
ae dard zaraa dam le
karwat to badalne de
dam le ke mere armaan
aankhon mein utar aaye
dam le ke mere armaan
aankhon mein utar aaye
ro kar hi mere dil ke
ro kar hi mere dil ke armaan nikalne de
ae dard zaraa dam le
karwat to badalne de
parwaane ke jalne se
jalti hai tu kyun shamaa
parwaane ke jalne se
jalti hai tu kyun shamaa
likhaa hai agarche hi
likhaa hai agarche hi jaltaa hai to jalne de
ae dard zaraa dam le
karwat to badalne de
ae dard
5 Responses to "Ae dard zara dam le"
March 24, 2013 at 8:47 pm
“Kannada Kokila” Amirbai was one the finest singers with some very popular songs. However in spite of being a contemporary of Mukesh, Talat and Rafi, there are very few duets of hers with these singers. It will be interesting to come out with these duets. I doubt any with Mukesh. “Jay Jay Bharat Desh Hamara” with Talat in Matlabi Duniya and “Ansu thi meri zindagi” with Rafi saab in Bikare Moti are all I can recollect. Any takers PLEASE.
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March 24, 2013 at 10:30 pm
With Rafi:
Topiwaale Baabu Ne Dil Chhina Re (Kul Kalank)
Man Ki Sooni Nagariya Suhaani Bani (Sona Chandi)
Main Kaise Keh Doon (Jeevan Saathi)
Saanwariya Bansiwaala Nand Laala Matwaala (Janmashtami)
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March 24, 2013 at 11:16 pm
@bluefire. Thanks for the quick response. Yes, on digging further in Myswar , I could trace these numbers with Rafi. However there was only one with Talat and one with Hemantda: none with Mukesh. The Lata storm affected Amirbhai too and also she took up acting as character roles more seriously later on. However the less number of duets is something to ponder about.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
March 24, 2013 at 12:13 pm
A Nice short ghazal.
Last sha’ir Is :
parwaane ke jalne se jalti hai tu kyun shamaa
likhaa hai ‘ azal se ‘ hi jaltaa hai to jalne de
‘azal se’ – since the beginning of time.
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