Har Mandir Singh 'Hamraaz'

Born and brought up at Kanpur [India], he inherited the quality of love for music from his mother and mother's mother who herself used to be very good singers of Punjabi Shabad and folk songs. His earliest memories go back to 1958-59 when 78 rpm gramophone discs were played on during marriages and heard over the loud speakers. 'Do sitaaron ka zameen par hai milan aaj ki raat...' (Kohinoor), 'Dil ki kahaani rang laayi hai...' (Chaudhvin Ka Chand), etc. film songs are vivid in his mind which are tied with his earliest memories. During his matriculation [1966-67], he started listing the songs of his choice but he was not satisfied because it always remained incomplete. He used to become restless for months together and continued spending hours to ascertain the name of film or singer or music director or lyricist of a particular song heard...