Bombay Meri Hai (Original) - Usha Uthup

Usha was born in Mumbai in a Tamil Brahmin family that hailed from Tamil Nadu, in Madras (now Chennai) in 1947. Her father Sami Iyer, later became the police commissioner of Bombay. She has three sisters Uma Pocha, Indira Srinivasan and Maya Sami, all of whom are singers and two brothers, one of whom is named Shyam. She was the fifth of six children. As a child, she lived in the police quarters at Lovelane in Byculla in Bombay and attended a local school.

When she was in school she was thrown out of music class because she didn't fit in with a voice like hers. But her music teacher recognized that she had some music in her and would give her clappers or triangles to play. Even though she was not formally trained in music, she grew up in an atmosphere of music. Her parents used to listen to a wide range from Western classical to Hindustani and Carnatic including Kishori Amonkar and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan on radio and she used to join them. She used to enjoy listening to Radio Ceylon.

Her first public singing occurred when she was nine. Her sisters who were already exploring a music career, took her to a musician called Ameen Sayani who gave her an opportunity to sing on the Ovaltine Music Hour in Radio Ceylon. She sang a number called "Mockingbird Hill". After that, several appearances followed through her teenage years.

Usha started singing in a small nightclub in Chennai called as Nine Gems in the basement of the erstwhile Safire theater complex on Mount Road, when she was 20, wearing a saree and leg callipers. Her performance was so well received that the owner of the nightclub asked her to stay on for a week. After her first night club gig, she began singing in Calcutta at night clubs such as "Talk of the Town" and "Trincas". She met her future husband Uthup in Trincas. After Trincas, her next engagement took her to Delhi where she sang at the Oberoi hotels. In 1968, she recorded covers of two pop songs in English, "Jambalaya" and The Kingston Trio's "Greenback Dollar", on an EP, Love Story, and "Scotch and Soda", another Kingston Trio song, which sold very well in the Indian market. She also spent some time in London during this early period. She was a frequent visitor to Vernon Corea's BBC office at the Langham in London and was interviewed on "London Sounds Eastern" on BBC Radio London.

Radio Ceylon popularised the English songs of many Indian popular musicians who went on to score huge hits, among them wasUma Pocha( Bombay Meri Hai -- a massive hit on Radio Ceylon ), Usha Uthup who has the rare distinction of singing Sri Lankan baila songs with ease.

Bombay Meri Hai was first recorded in 1969 by Usha's elder sister Uma Pocha and Chorus, with Mina Kava and his Music Makers.
Music: Mina Kava
Lyrics: Naju Kava


Source: Wikipedia, Wordpress.com & Google

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Bombay
• Meri
• Hai
• Usha
• Uthup
• Radio
• Ceylon
• Sri
• Lanka
• Broadcasting
• Corporation
• SLBC
• Sinhala
• Music
• Songs
• Baila
• goonewj
• Vernon
• Corea
• Bollywood
• Hindi
• Madras
• Uma
• Pocha

[nelumvila]

goonwej - do you know mignonne and the jets? they did mangala mohotha.. (btw Happy new year!! and thank you for all the songs you upload that have given me so much joy).

[goonewj]

@nelumvila

Yes, Mangala mohotha original is on my list. Happy new year to you too!

[dulipss]

Still on top of my list . . . .:)

[goonewj]

@dulipss

Great !

[dayawansa59]

it was my favorite when I was a school boy.It was a song must at weddings and parties in srilanka.

[goonewj]

@dayawansa59

Thank you!

[claudees]

Appreciate if you can upload better quality. Usha Didi rocks!

[wryguy444]

bombay bombay bomay

[ashwindaniel1]

@ goonewj

I didn't have a clue as to who sang the original. Thanks to you, now I know. Great song. Thank you!