Ashwin Panemangalore pays tribute to Sebastian D’Souza, who brought our favourite Hindi film songs to life, but remains unsung.

Sebastian D’Souza is easily the most prolific arranger in Indian film music. Spanning a career from 1952 to 1974, much of it with the famed duo of Shankar-Jaikishen, D’Souza arranged or created scores for different instruments to back over 1,000 songs in more than 125 films. No musical arranger of popular American music, let alone Hollywood films, of that period can match his output.

For sheer imagination and variety of orchestrated music D’Souza stands head and shoulders above them all. His development of harmonic concepts extended to a wide range of Indian, Latin and Western instruments to create a unique effect. While Anthony Gonsalves started that trend, D’Souza took it forward. He is largely responsible for changing the harmonic structure of the Hindi film song to create an eminently listenable full body of sound backing the singer’s voice.

If you thrill in the songs of that period from Awara, Boot Polish, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, Sangam and Mera Naam Joker—all from the Raj Kapoor banner,  it is invariably because D’Souza was the hidden hand in their creation. It is said that Mukesh, who playbacked  Raj Kapoor, had D’Souza select the instruments and, along with his partner Dattaram, provide the counterpoint in Shankar-Jaikishen’s melodies. Kapoor, they say, was present at each of his recordings.

Brought up on a staple diet of   Mozart, Schubert, Haydn and Tchaikovsky, D’Souza employed harmonic variation to telling effect. He was a big band leader in hotels from Mussoorie to Lahore before coming to Bombay. OP Nayyar gave him a break as an arranger with CH Atma’s Pritam Aan milo. He had a great relationship with OP Nayyar, and the songs from Aar Paar (Sun sun sun sun zalima), Mr & Mrs 55 (Udhar tum haseen ho idhar dil jawan hai), Howrah Bridge (Mera naam Chin Chin Choo) and many more are classics not equalled 50 years later.

D’Souza translated what was going in his head into written scores in the studio for orchestral sections and soloists, usually doing one song a day. But it is said that once D’Souza created five songs in a day. And just look at his song list in the box above. In Talat Mehmood’s Ashkon ne jo paya hai, he has the violins play in three sections with a vibraphone and cellos, in one of the most poignant solos in Hindi film music.

The advent of  Bappi Lahiri and his ilk did not call for D’Souza’s skills, and he quietly retired to Goa. D’Souza has left behind a rich musical legacy that will nourish many generations after him.