Bangalore: Jagjit Singh and Ghulam Ali to Perform Together

Report and pics from Akash Poojari Polali
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (MB)

Bangalore, Aug 5: Drizzles heralded the arrival of two music maestros in the city.

Ustad Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh, ghazal singers from Pakistan and India respectively, have reached the city for 'Beyond Boundaries - a Ghazal Concert'  to be held on Sunday on Palace grounds here.

Jagjit Singh said Bangalore is a growing city and he has found some or other improvement in the city, whenever he has come here. When introduced to the media as two maestros, Ustad Ghulam Ali said, "We are not two maestros. There is only one maestro and that is both of us together."

"The audience and fans are our source of happiness and inspiration," Gulam Ali further said, adding that "India and Pakishtan have no dearth of young talents but the youngsters need to work hard and must not dream of instant success".

 Jagjit Singh

Jagjit Singh was born in Ganganagar, Rajasthan. His father Sardar Amar Singh Dhiman, employed with the Government of India, hailed from Dalla village in Ropar district of Punjab and his mother Bachchan Kaur came from a deeply religious Sikh family of Ottallan village near Samralla. His siblings include four sisters and two brothers and he is fondly called Jeet by his family members. Although his late father wanted him to become a bureaucrat by joining the Indian Administrative Service, he was later reported to be happy with his son's achievements in the world of music. Jagjit went to Khalsa High School at Ganganagar. He studied Sciences during (after matriculation) from Government College, Ganganagar and went for graduation to DAV College, Jalandhar in arts stream. He also acquired a post-graduage degree in history from Kurukshetra University, Haryana.

Music Career

Initial days

Jagjit Singh's association with music goes back to his childhood. He learnt music under Pandit Chaganlal Sharma for two years in Ganganagar, and later devoted six years to learning Khayal, Thumri and Dhrupad forms of Indian Classical Music from Ustad Jamaal Khan of Sainia Gharana. The Vice Chancellor of Punjab and Kurukshetra University, Late Professor Suraj Bhan encouraged his interest in music. He arrived in Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1965 in search of better opportunities as a career musician and singer. His early struggle in the music industry, though not too harsh by his own account, still had its share of trials and tribulations. He lived as a paying guest and his earlier assignments were singing advertisement jingles or performing at weddings and parties.

Rise to fame

During 1970s, in India, the art of ghazal singing was dominated by well-established names like Noor Jehan, Malika Pukhraj, Begum Akhtar,Talat Mahmood and Mehdi Hassan. However, Jagjit was still able to make his mark and carve out a niche for himself. In 1976, his album The Unforgettables (On HMV LP Records) hit the music stores. Essentially a ghazal album, it's emphasis on melody and Jagjit's fresh voice was a departure from the prevalent style of ghazal rendition, which was heavily based on classical and semi-classical Indian music. Skeptics had their own reservations, purists scorned it but it was widely successful among listeners and the album set new sales records.

In 1967 he met Chitra, also a singer, while doing jingles. After a two-year-long courtship they got married in 1969. They epitomize the first successful husband-wife singing team. Jagjit Singh, with Chitra, has contributed immensely towards changing the course of this genre of music known as 'Ghazal' making it more ear friendly, melodic and enojoyable by a wider audience.

Later successful releases of the duo include Ecstasies, A Sound Affair and Passions. While these albums were breezy, Beyond Time released in the opening years of 1990s was an experimentation with sounds and conveyed a feeling that was beyond space and time. Around this time the duo was struck by grief as their only son, Vivek, who was twenty-one, met an untimely death in a road accident. Not only Jagjit and Chitra, it was a big shock to his numerous fans also. The album is a tour to the soul, ethereal, conscientious and introspective. The ghazals have a moving quality to them since they express the personal loss of Jagjit and Chitra. 'Someone Somewhere' was the last album containing ghazals sung by both. After that, Chitra quit singing.

Jagjit Singh continued singing his later albums, including Hope, In Search, Insight, Mirage, Visions, Kahkashan (meaning "Galaxy"), Love Is Blind, Chirag (meaning "Lamp"/"Flame") also achieved success. Sajda (an Urdu word meaning "offering"), which has ghazals sung by Jagjit and Lata Mangeshkar was another brilliant release and made its mark as a classic Ghazal album. The combined successes of his many albums made him arguably the number one ghazal singer in India. The audience wanted more and Jagjit Singh obliged with his Punjabi albums. Ebullient, effervescent and bubbly, his Punjabi songs are pleasant as well as joyous. Their enchanting ghazals use the choicest poetry by renowned poets including Mirza Ghalib, Ameer Meenai, Kafeel Aazer, Sudarshan Faakir and Nida Fazli…. and contemporary writers like Zaka Siddiqi, Nazir Bakri, Faiz Ratlami and Rajesh Reddy.

Jagjit also sang (as playback singer) for various songs in Bollywood films including Arth, Saath Saath and Premgeet (all from 1980s). The scores remain popular even today. In fact, all the songs of film Premgeet were composed by Jagjit. His compositions for the TV serial Mirza Ghalib (based on the life of the poet Mirza Ghalib), remain extremely popular among ghazal aficionados. The elusive element of Ghalib's poetry was sensitively and wonderfully brought out in the soulful compositions of Ghalib's ghazals by Jagjit Singh. The album could veritably be called a magnum opus.

Compared to his earlier ghazals (sung during 70s and 80s) his later ghazals have acquired a more soulful and poignant demeanour, as in albums such as Marasim, Face To Face, Aaeena, Cry For Cry. But all through this, romance never took a backseat! The journey to the soul is punctuated by romantic pauses like Dil Kahin Hosh Kahin. A testimony to his popularity is his ghazals in recent Bollywood flicks like Dushman, Sarfarosh, Tum Bin and Tarkeeb.

Most of the earlier albums of Jagjit Singh had English titles. Later, these had Urdu names like Sahar (meaning "Dawn"/"Morning"), Muntazir (meaning "In waiting"), Marasim (meaning "Relation"/"Relationship"/"Affinity" ) "Soz" (Pathos) etc.. The switchover may not be deliberate but marks a milestone in his singing. These new albums show a far better selection of lyrics and yes, even the singing has scaled new peaks.

Besides ghazals, Jagjit Singh has also sung Bhajans and Gurbani(Hindu and Sikh devotional hymns respectively) . Albums such as Maa, Hare Krishna, Hey Ram...Hey Ram, Ichhabal and also Man Jeetai Jagjeet in Punjabi, put him in the league of Bhajan singers such as Mukesh, Hari Om Sharan, Yesudas, Anup Jalota and Purushottam Das Jalota. The soothing effect that Jagjit's voice has on frayed nerves has prompted psychiatrists in metros (as large cities in India are called) to prescribe them as stress relievers.

Impact

Jagjit Singh is accredited with bringing the ghazal genre, which was previously restricted to the elite classes, to the masses. His music direction can be seen to be pioneering in changing the sound layout by adding more Western instruments while mostly retaining the traditional orchestra (which includes a tabla, and harmonium, and a couple of string instruments)

Jagjit Singh is accredited with finding one of the foremost playback singers in Bollywood in modern times, Kumar Sanu. As he played a big part in Sanu's initial career, in an interview Sanu said that Singh took him to meet the legendary music composers Kalyanji Anandji after hearing his voice, from there on Sanu has become a legend in Bollywood for his range and singing as he went to win five male playback Filmfare Awards in a row. A record that still stands.

In addition to cultivating his own successful career, Jagjit Singh has been involved in guiding many new, talented singers such as Talat Aziz, Ghanshyam Vaswani, Ashok Khosla, Siza Roy and Vinod Sehgal. He also lends active support to several philanthropic endeavors such as the Library at St. Mary's (Mumbai), Bombay Hospital, CRY, and ALMA (an organization that adopts under-privileged students for further education and development).

Jagjit Singh lives in Cumballa Hills, Mumbai.

Awards

In 2003, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour from the Government of India. [1]
In 2006, Teacher's Achievement Awards

Ustad Ghulam Ali

Early life

Ali was born in the village of Kaleke in the Sialkot district of Punjab, British India (now in Pakistan). He belongs to a musical family; his father was a vocalist and a sarangi player who gave him early training. At the age of 15, he became a student of the legendary Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, who was a master of the Patiala Gharana (Patiala School) of Hindustani music. His actual training was provided mainly by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's three brothers: Barqat Ali Khan, Mubarak Ali Khan, and Amanat Ali Khan, in Lahore. All these great teachers of classical music taught him the finer nuances of classical music and his solid foundation of classical music included studying Thumri and learning to sing ragas.

Career

Ali started singing for Radio Lahore in 1960. Ghulam Ali's father named him "Ghulam Ali" after Bade Ghulam Ali. Along with singing ghazals, Ghulam Ali composes music for his ghazals too. His compositions are raaga-based and sometimes include a scientific mixture of raagas. A raaga is a scientific, precise, subtle and aesthetic melodic form with its own peculiar ascending and descending movement consisting of either a full seven note octave, or a series of six or five notes (or a combination of any of these) in a rising or falling structure called the Arohana and Avarohana. He is known for blending gharana-gaayaki into ghazal and this gives his singing the capability to touch hearts. He beautifully sings Punjabi geets too. Most of his Punjabi geets have been extremely popular. Though from Pakistan, Ghulam Ali remains as popular in India as in Pakistan. He burst into the Indian scene with a Hindi film song "Chupke Chupke raat din" in B. R. Chopra's movie, 'Nikaah'. Other popular ghazals include "Hungama hai kyon barpaa" and "Awaargi,yeh dil yeh paagal Dil mera", and many more. On being questioned about Pakistani pop groups, Ghulam Ali replied, "Frankly, I am really bewildered at their style of singing. How can you sing a song by running and jumping around the stage? The stage is meant for performing not for acrobatics."

Ali has also sung some beautiful ghazals like Kina Kina Timro Tasveer, Gajalu Tee Thula Thula Aankha, Lolaaeka Tee Thula and Ke Chha Ra Diun in Nepali language with Narayan Gopal, the greatest Nepali singer, and composer Deepak Jangam. Those songs were compiled in an album entitled Narayan Gopal, Ghulam Ali Ra Ma, and are equally popular among Nepali music-lovers to this day.