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Published: 22 August 2017

Last Updated: 03 November 2017

Number 2 2017/08/17

Music in the 30s

One often hears that in the early days of the talkies the music was made using harmonium and tabla. How do we find out about this? We can ask people. Ardeshir Irani mentioned that they used harmonium, tabla and violin in the first talkie. You can also listen to hundreds of songs from the thirties available on my website. Try the songs of Laal-e-Yaman (1933) http://hindi-films-songs.com/main/1933_laal-e-yaman.html  You will find in song 13 a very familiar tune, which was used again a few times.

Also, we know that in the Parsi theater they used more than harmonium and tabla. Knowing that  a lot of early talkies were either filmed plays or based on the plays, we can guess that many instruments would have been used. Even in the era of the silent movies, the screenings were accompaniments by lots of instruments. So, if somebody tells you that only harmonium and tabla were used in the early times, don't believe them.

Now you know! 

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Published: 22 August 2017

Last Updated: 03 November 2017

Number 1 2017/08/16

Tanar Single-System Camera

Starting a new series of brief notes by me. Hoping to publish on a daily basis

One reads in various books and articles that Ardeshir Irani shot Alam Ara (1931) on a single-system Tanar camera. Single System means that the audio and video were recorded on the same film negative at the same time, solving the problem of sound synchronization. We see here Mr Irani recording the film and we see a big box.

(Photo from the book So Many Cinemas by B D Garga). That is all people knew for a long time. Thanks to modern science, we now have the Internet. Here is an ad of the Tanar System from the magazine American Cinematographer, January 1931. 

In the second photo the famous Douglas Fairbanks (not Jr, but Sr) with two boxes, endorsing it as a portable talkie making system to sound-film your vacation! The first one gives more info. According to Irani, they used to take the two boxes everywhere for outdoor shooting. The foreign expert Mr Wiford Demming charged Rs 100 per month for training Mr Irani and Mr Rustam Bharucha. They learnt how to assemble it and use it.

Now you know!

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Published: 14 October 2016

Last Updated: 14 October 2016

Note: These photos were taken by James Burke, Life Magazine photographer in 1951. There are many more of other actresses  from 1951 and 1964. Search Google.