Jagjit Singh

Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh has passed away. I, for one have been a fan for about 30 years now, give or take a few. He appealed with his super-smooth voice and touching lyrics (not his, but acquiring a new voice). He had a way with words, playing with them as if they were music.

Whether it was nostalgia for a lost, carefree, golden childhood, or the pining for a beloved, he had amazing grace and a dard in his rendering of the situation, with feeling. At one level, his voice reminded one of Talat Mehmood, another silky voice in filmdom. Though he also sang for films, his best work is non-filmy, and rightly too, because film songs are typically hemmed in by a lot of boundaries- story, and the need to cater to a certain audience- which is limiting. The non-filmy world is much larger and the choices are plenty, from which to pick the ghazals.

I particularly remember a ghazal that was sung by both Jagjit Singh and Ghulam Ali. Both were fantastic. The words are "Kal Chaudhvin ki raat thi, shab bhar raha charcha tera..kuch ne kaha yeh chand hai, kuch ne kaha chehra tera.."

Hamara pyaarbhara salaam to the departed soul.