Voice of Emotions- Jagjit Singh
Millions of music connoisseurs and Jagjit Singh fans have been longing to learn more personally and intimately about the man who revolutionized Ghazal (romantic Urdu poetry) composition and singing. What is the story of his rise? What are the trials and tribulations he faced? What is the secret of his longevity at the summit of the Ghazal rendition genre for more than 40 years? How do his peers rate him? What kind of musical and human qualities have made him a household name and such a revered figure all over the Asian subcontinent?
Roots
Jagjit was born on 8th February 1941 to simple parents in Sriganganagar, Rajasthan. Jagjit's early years were spent in Bikaner, where his father was posted as a public works department employee, who were a lower middle class family, not at all well off ... buying kites was a luxury ... radios too were a luxury ... he used to study by the light of lanterns because there was no electricity in the house ... they had no running water.
Young Jagjit
At college in Sriganganagar, he sang one night in front of 4,000 people. Suddenly, the electricity went off and the entire arena was plunged into darkness. The sound system was battery-operated and remained live. But he went on singing, nobody moved, nothing stirred ... such incidents and the response from audiences convinced him that he should concentrate on music.
Musical Training
Jagjit listened intently to classical singers of that time on radio - Talat Mehmood, Abdul Karim Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan and many. Being fond of Urdu poetry, Jagjit developed a preference for bol-pradaan (Word based or poetic expressions) music, where emphasis is on words and expression rather than the instruments.
Jagjit Singh and Ghazals
Jagjit increasingly veered toward the Ghazal. Bollywood's loss was the Ghazal's gain, for those were the times when Ghazal music was turning into a forgotten and dying art. The Urdu language itself was in decline in India. Jagjit made the Ghazal his beloved and changed its destiny. Jagjit Singh was successful because he developed his own style and didn't try to be like film singers. He was different from them, several notches above.
Ascent
In 1975, HMV asked Jagjit to compose his first ever LP (Long-Play) album, a signal that he had finally arrived on the scene. "The Unforgettables" featured Jagjit-Chitra Ghazals that sounded totally different from orthodox Ghazals. Modern instruments rubbed shoulders with traditional sarangi and tabla. Jagjit's trademark belief that Ghazal must not be imprisoned in one rigid style raised critics' eyebrows, but as the album grew into a hit beyond expectations, the self-same critics hailed Jagjit for this foresight and innovation. "Unforgettables" brought Jagjit and Chitra Singh to national attention and helped finance the purchase of their modest flat in Bombay.
The next album Jagjit recorded was the Punjabi "Birha Da Sultan", poems of Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Jagjit's interpretation and mellifluous rendering of Batalvi's sad verses haunted listeners for decades. A quarter of a century after the album was released, hit numbers like "Shikra" (where the beloved is compared to the falcon who won't eat what is offered and "so, I fed it the flesh of my heart") are requested at Jagjit's live concerts. After "Birha Da Sultan", Jagjit and Chitra composed and sang the first-ever double album, "Come Alive", sparking a Ghazal hunger that was unprecedented in South Asia. "Live at Wembley" and "Live at Royal Albert Hall", two more double albums recorded in concert, came out after Jagjit toured England in 1979 and 1982. On the latter trip, two performances in London were scheduled for two consecutive nights in venues with seating capacity of 6,000. Tickets sold out in three hours.
In 1980, Jagjit agreed to sing Javed Akhtar's poetry for a low-budget film, "Saath Saath", without bothering for financial rewards. Raman Kumar, the director, could not spend much at the recording studio, but Jagjit footed the bills. A similar movie venture, "Arth", in the same year saw Jagjit and Chitra Singh's popularity climb higher and higher. Even now, "Arth" and "Saath Saath" are one of HMV's highest selling combination cassettes ever.
In 1987, Jagjit crossed another milestone by recording the first purely digital CD album by an Indian musician, "Beyond Time". It was a memorable moment not just for Chitra and him, but for Ghazals as a whole. The year after, Jagjit sealed his name in history by composing the music for Gulzar's epic TV serial, "Mirza Ghalib". Jagjit's soft and serenading voice paid befitting tribute to the greatest 19th century poet of undivided India.
Despair
In 1990, against the run of professional success, Jagjit and Chitra lost their 18-year-old only son, Vivek, in a motor accident. It was a moment of pure desperation and the biggest tragedy in their lives. Chitra lost her voice and never returned to the stage or to the recording studio. Jagjit groped in darkness and depression for a while, but such were his steely character and dedication to music that he decided "not to let what has happened become a weakness to crush me, instead I should turn it into a strength". He began picking up the scrambled pieces by playing the tanpura as a form of meditation. "After Baboo's death, my focus sharpened and I concentrated entirely on singing and composing."
Work did not stop even after the devastating loss, though fans could no longer hear Jagjit's famous duets with Chitra. "Someone Somewhere", "Hope", "Kahkashan", "Visions", "Face to Face", "Silsilay", "Marasim", "Forget me Not" and so on reached a global audience. "Sajda" (1991) with the nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar, smashed non-film album records of all time. The caravan has not stopped to this day. The very day his mother died in 2001, after the cremation in the morning, Jagjit went to Calcutta in the afternoon for a scheduled concert.
After Vivek's death, Jagjit began showing more of his spiritual and philosophical side, mellowing his already sobering voice, singing complicated metaphysical verses and also venturing into classical and devotional songs. When poet and associate, Nida Fazli, sees the sonless father figure Jagjit with legions of his youthful fans, "it seems as if he has hundreds and thousands of children who shower love on him".
Jagjit came at a time when the stricken Ghazal was about to fade, but his arrival breathed oxygen into it. For this service, says poet Sudarshan Faakir, Ghazal lovers are forever indebted to him. "He developed a new industry, the Ghazal industry," with its ancillary artistes, sound engineers, studios and poets. Urdu poets owe him a special place in their hearts, for it was Jagjit who made it a practice to pay lyricists a part of his earnings. His latest commitment is to popularize Hindi all over multi-lingual India as a connecting language that the whole country should share.
Mr Jagjit Singh, creating this magic aesthetically contrasting from classes to masses. He strongly does believe in great public’s emotion and making connections with mass audiences, understanding the emotional mechanism of humankind. Appealing to large number of audiences from young to elder ones, touching the maximum number of people and connecting to them compassionately.
Being an outstanding singer who constantly use in-depth knowledge of music, ragas, khyals and take care of all kind of parameters not to adulterate the soul of the song or thought of the poet. He has rendered all the leading poet of all times and in many languages, to name a few Mirja Ghalib, Shiv kumar Batalvi (Punjabi), Bulleh Shah, Ghulam Farid, Kabir, Saint Nanak, Meera, Kalidas, Soordas, Sudarshan Faakir, Qateel Shifai, Muzaffar Warsi, Meer Taqi Meer, Zauq, Ameer Minai, Jigar Moradabadi, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Ibn-e-insha, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Nida Fazli and list goes on and on. Singing from the Traditional, conventional poets to modern, contemporary poets, hymning the sufi writings of saints and nobles. Compassing in every manner of traditional and sophisticated music, including some foot taping Punjabi songs, classical renditions in various ragas etc. He became such a unique artiste who never cared about the trends of the outside world, created his own world of music apart. Reckoning millions of listeners, fans, lovers from across the globe falling in that world of music where he is the only creator (God). What astonishes is that, artiste who is enjoying his early works, never paused or laidback but appeared sincere, incessant creator of innumerable melodies.
Nowadays when technology has been flawlessly adapted daily lives and people come up with virtual communities and fan clubs makes easier to discuss, share tête-à-tête beliefs, thoughts and ideas. Priorydejs.com is one of the examples of such phenomena reaching to the excellence of creating an event for widespread people with uncommon savours of music.
Today, Jagjit the perfectionist motivates himself to ever-newer musical achievement. For someone who has attained Himalayan heights, "every morning is a new beginning, every album is a new album, every concert is a new test ... to live in your past is a dangerous thing ... whatever you've done, you can do something better, let's try for that".
Jagjit Singh aficionados will concur when I conclude with one of his own immortal couplets as a request to the great singer:
Uthke mehfil se mat chale jaana,
tum se roshan ye kona kona hain
(Do not ever get up and leave this heart;
it is you who light every corner of it)
Anil Vohra
Paris, France
Bibliography : Beyond Time. The Ageless Music of Jagjit Singh by Asharani Mathur (edited). Habitat Arts Pvt Ltd, New Delhi. December 2002. ISBN: 81-901563-0-6. Price US$57.50, 164 pages.
Concert
