Salil Chowdhury Choirs - Birth Centenary Chaupaal - IPTA - Kuldip Singh ji

Salil Chowdhury Choirs - Birth Centenary Chaupaal - IPTA - Kuldip Singh ji

Songs :
Tu Zinda Hai - Salil - Shailendra
Puraane Din, Puraane Pal - Salil - Yogesh
Tumhe Watan Pukaarata - Salil - Yogesh
Chalo Bhor ke Raahi - Salil - Yogesh

Performers :
Mentor & Conductor : Kuldip Singh ji
Singers : Yogesh Arya, Aniruddha Trivedi, Mohit Sharma, Mehrin Saba, Tejaswini Ingle, Monika Sharma, Sneha Paul, Pratik Maheshwari, Mohan Sidddarth, Ashutosh Singh

At Salil Smriti Chaupaal, 16.11.2025, Bhawans, Mumbai to mark the Birth Centenary of Salil Chowdhury.

WWhen Sharmishtha and I began designing & shaping this tribute event, we were clear from the start that it should not centered only around Salil Chowdhury’s well-known Hindi film melodies. We wanted the programme to reflect his wider presence as a social and political thinker, and to bring forward his multilingual work, which shows how far his creative world reached beyond regions and language lines.

We invited a young group of students trained by Kuldip Singh ji of IPTA to prepare a medley of choir pieces. For several of them, it was their first time on stage, and they rose to the occasion with genuine spirit. Moments like these stay with me. These are the days & memories we live for...

So much nostalgia, gathered inside fifteen minutes.

History :
The original versions of these songs go back to the mid-forties, when Salilda travelled through villages and gathered ideas from the people he met. At that time nothing was formally recorded, and the pieces existed mainly in Bengali.

Shaielndra's Tu Zinda Hai survived in oral history with IPTA & Youth Choir groups, but remaining ones, years later, Salilda asked Yogesh ji to translate them into Hindi so they could be revived in the eighties. He did so with care, and the songs were then broadcast on AIR and Doordarshan. That is how they remain a strong memory for an entire generation.

IPTA Choir Songs :

Salil Chowdhury’s work for IPTA remains one of the true remarkable movements of Modern Indian music. These songs were never built around the heroics of a single voice. They represented the collective mind and strength of ordinary people. The harmony-driven style may have drawn from English choral traditions, yet the core stayed rooted in Indian folk, the rhythms of working communities, and the sound of many voices standing together for a more equal world.

सभी का जब है ये वतन / तो फ़र्क क्यूं रहे दिलों के दर्मियां

They also carry a clear appeal to the youth of the nation. The energy of group singing becomes a call to step forward, take responsibility, and work for harmony, fairness, and equal rights. The music invites young listeners to see themselves as part of a larger effort, where change is created through collective resolve rather than isolated achievement.

In these pieces, Salil approached music as a social act. The songs speak of common struggle, fresh confidence, and a steady belief that youth force singing together can imagine and build a better world through their own effort.

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Songs Source : Salilda.com
Video Credits : Ashok Bindal / Chaupaal