Bappi Lahiri was at home in melody too

He used the gifted voices of Kishore Kumar, Yesudas to great effect

Bappi Lahiri was certainly the king of disco. No Indian song made the 1980s dances the way Vijay Benedict’s “ I am a disco dancer” did. He may indeed be better known as the man who composed hugely successful albums like Di sco Dancer, but it would be wrong — and unfair — to reduce his legacy to foot-tapping music, though he was a master at it. He was also quite at home in melody, the soul of popular Indian music.

With his death, India lost one of the last composers from that age of Hindi film music when melodious tunes mattered — tunes that would be hummed by the music fan long after the film was forgotten.

When we think of Bappi’s finest melodies, probably the first song that would come to mind is “ Chalte chalte mere ye geet yaad rakhna” (remember this song of mine, as you leave; never say goodbye) from the 1976 film C halte Chalte. Sung brilliantly by Kishore Kumar, the song remains just as popular. Perhaps it’s India’s most popular farewell song, thanks also to the lyrics by Amit Khanna.