His deep, baritone, calm, golden, and clear voice had a tinge of restlessness of a vagabond gypsy and the calmness of a philosophic Lama. Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh, 70, passed away at Lilawati Hospital, Mumbai due to brain haemorrhage on Monday, October 10, 2011. He brought ghazal to millions of middle class drawing rooms beyond the gentle soirees of music aficionados. The singer –composer contemporized the genre boldly using western instruments-the 12 string guitar and the bass guitar. He made ghazal refined, trendier and market friendly. In 1976 when he cut his first album of 10 ghazals sung along with his wife Chitra Singh, HMV, the Company which launched Jagjit Singh took a calculated risk. After that there was no turning back for Singh. The couple became a roaring success.
His Sarakti jaye hai……,Meri zindagi kisi aur ki, Badi haseen rath thi,Tum ko dekha to yeh khayaal aaya,Jhuki Jhuki si nazar and that immortal mujhe pyar na karo mein nashe mein hoon are all gems which I can never forget. I don’t get tired listening to them any number of times.
Jagat Singh had personal tragedies like the death of his son in a road accident and the death of his step daughter. But he lived through them stoically bearing them and keeping the sadness to himself. His wife Chitra stopped singing after their son died.
As the silence and calmness of the night is engulfing me, as the rain batters the world outside relentlessly(it is rainy season in Chennai now), as the solitary sodium lamp on the street eats non-stop the darkness outside, I keep listening to his mujhe ithna pyar na karo…..and I travel in a different world. Those of you who have enjoyed his ghazals will know what I am telling.
Cheers.
Source for info:Times of India
His Sarakti jaye hai……,Meri zindagi kisi aur ki, Badi haseen rath thi,Tum ko dekha to yeh khayaal aaya,Jhuki Jhuki si nazar and that immortal mujhe pyar na karo mein nashe mein hoon are all gems which I can never forget. I don’t get tired listening to them any number of times.
Jagat Singh had personal tragedies like the death of his son in a road accident and the death of his step daughter. But he lived through them stoically bearing them and keeping the sadness to himself. His wife Chitra stopped singing after their son died.
As the silence and calmness of the night is engulfing me, as the rain batters the world outside relentlessly(it is rainy season in Chennai now), as the solitary sodium lamp on the street eats non-stop the darkness outside, I keep listening to his mujhe ithna pyar na karo…..and I travel in a different world. Those of you who have enjoyed his ghazals will know what I am telling.
Cheers.
Source for info:Times of India
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