Jan 20, 2004 01:04 PM
4284 Views
(Updated Jan 20, 2004 01:10 PM)
Dear Sirji,
Greetings from one of your biggest fans. If I were to choose my single favorite Ghazal singer, you would be my undisputed choice. I would however come unstuck if I were to choose a single favorite song from your formidable collection.
Although you have sung a very limited number of songs for bollywood, most of them continue to haunt till date. When you teamed up with didi (Lataji) for Sajda, I was one of the first persons to pick up the album off the shelves. An album which is a landmark in itself.
At a time when my knowledge of urdu was limited, you made me listen to Mirza Ghalib and over the years, my tryst with the album and the poet have grown to an extent that I am now learning urdu very seriously, just to understand the nuances of the ''kaafir'' poet.
But, chhoti munh badi baat sirji, your voice, divine and soothing as it is, does have its inbound limitations. While a Ghazal and Bhajan of every hue would be done infinite justice through your resonant melancholous voice, there are songs which need other voices to carry them through. Your album '' Close to my heart '' is a reflection of my statement.
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You start off with ''Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye''. This song, which rules every music channel is a treat to listen to and although not a patch on Manna Da's original, comes close to it. More so, because this song falls in line with the kind of songs that suit you best.
The problem sirji, starts with the second number ''Wakt ne kiya kya haseen sitam''. ''Bekaraar dil is tarah mile jis tarah kabhi hum juda na the...'' When Geetaji sings, the pain expressed in the lines sear through one's heart. But with you, the lines sound so impersonal, as if you were singing about someone else, not the pain which artistes carry hidden in their souls.
''Dukhi man mere'' is more bhajan like than the original. Yet, you do adequate justice to the number.
Yaad Kiya dil ne kahaan ho tum was meant to be a duet. Hemantda and Lata didi in the original express the yearning of the heart to such perfection that there was no way it could have been bettered. The chorus in the end reminded me of the ''jhankaar beats'' although that song was original and in no way related to this gem. Wonder why ji?
Seene mein sulagte hai armaan: A raw Talat Mehmood and Lata Mangeshkar set rivers on fire in this original. Not only does your song not do adequate justice to the original, I am also left wondering why the ''piece de resistance'', the ending of each paragraph get swallowed up in the orchestra.
Guru duttji was one of the few thinking directors of Indian movies. And like any thinking person, he suffered. The pain of love, guilt, tragedy to culminate in an untimely death. And Jaane woh kaise log the jinko was an ode to that pain. When Hemantda breathes life into ''aahe sard mili'', every bit registers. That anguish, that frustration never strikes when you attempt this classic....
Teri duniya mein jeene se faces a similar crisis. Detached, as if it were sung for someone else by someone else.
When the voices of Mukesh and didi vie with each other for supremacy in ''Ek pyaar ka naghma hai'',the ebb and tide of their voice drowns the listener in a sea of passion. With you, the listener floats, barely.
Tasveer banaata hoon has you back on the track again mainly because this tune if not sung by Talat saab could have been easily sung by you.
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What was the intent behind this album sirji? Surely, it could not have been to better the already perfect originals. Was it to produce a coffee-table version for generation-X for whom love is a four letter word? In that sense, I guess your album definitely works.
Unfortunately, being an audience to the towering originals, I am caught in an unenvious position of having to compare them in the voice of my favorite ghazal singer, YOU.
At the risk of being rebuffed as a ''non serious music buff'' I will still say that next time I want to listen to all these songs, I will play the originals. Your album will be reserved for moments when I am sipping my coffee in solitude...reading a newspaper.
Sigining off
Your bhakt
Preran Kumar
