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Gazal maestro Jagjit Singh enthralls
Daljit Singh Sra

OAKLAND: The sweet richness of the voice of Jagjit Singh is intact.  The depth of his voice enters the spiritual veins of the listeners who rejoice at his feat even at this ripe age.

The agony of separation from your beloved of Shivkumar Batalvi, the simple folktales of the Punjabi Folk lore, romance filled gazals and the tell-tale works of Gazal Samrat Mirza Ghalib are sung by Jagjit Singh in his own inimitable style winning the hearts of the audiences.

Last Saturday, Oakland arena saw an evening of gazals organized by the Mehta Entertainment Productions. Entitled, Jagjit Singh –A Farewell, the musical evening was one of his last public appearances.  He sung with the same ease as he used to sing in his hey days years ago. He sung, Badal Dekha, Phul vi Dekha, Titli and Jugnu and enthralled the audience for more than two hours.

Continuing the string of his gazals, from one gazal to another, he went on from Tera Chehra Kitana Suhana Lagta hai to explore a medley of his repertoire. The Chitti Na Koyee Sandesh definitely brought a tear to many eyes, particularly when many among the Diaspora regularly engage with the quest to be with their loved ones back home.

The eternal lovers of Punjabi language were transported into heavenly bliss when Jagjit Singh sang Shiv Batalvi’s Shikra. If Jhuki Jhuki Si Nazar brought alive the romance of cinema with dilemmas of real life, thanks to movies like Arth, while yeh Daulat Bhee Le Lo, Yeh Shauharat Bhee Le Lo definitely made many think if the pursuit of happiness was indeed connected with material wealth.

Close to 7,000 music lovers enjoyed the evening. Some did feel that when Jagjit Singh sang Mirza Ghalib after a break of some 30 minutes, perhaps he did not touch the heights that he had attained when he had sang the great maestro of Urdu ghazal for the TV serial by the same name. But then the master of Ghazal singing knew how to send the crowds into raptures. He turned towards Punjabi once again and came up with a lilting number Mainoo Tera Shabab Lai Baitha. He knew after such ecstasy, it was necessary to bring back the crowd once again to the finer nuances of poetry and music, so next was Tum ko dekha to yeh khayal aaya.

Jagjit was ably assisted by violinist Deepak Pandit, Paras Nath on flute and Uma Upadhaya on Tabla. Narinder Saleskar and Deepak Khazanchi on guitars and Heera Pandit on Dholak had one more musician who kept them all company: the audience. The cheers made for great music and the one man responsible for such a tapestry of an evening was Jagjit Singh. Mitti Da Bawa Nahiyon Bolda, he sang. All we can say isL Mitti Da Eh Bawa Kitna Achha Bolda! 

6 May 2009
 

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