Music is God’s gift to humankind.It is a beautiful expression of our innate artistic tendencies.Music is made up of seven basic notes.The female voice is more suited to rendering the intricacies of music than the male.Most Bollywood song-makers (director,composer,lyricist) recognise this.They thus keep the sweetest,most melodious numbers for the naturally-gifted female singers.Bollywood is lucky to have had some amazing lady artistes who have performed some wonderful songs at the mike.While not all of them are yet legends most can be described by the title of this review.
1.Lata Mangeshkar:Bharat Ratna Lataji is the doyen of indian light music.Gifted with a near-perfect voice she is technically better than anyone else worldwide.At the same time her ’harkats’ or the acting in each performance are subtle,sensitive and to really die for.
2.Asha Bhonsle:Versatile is the only word to describe this singer.She has sung every kind of song with the same finesse and panache.She is as much a connoisseur’s as sister Lataji but with a greater ability to change according to the musicial mood.
3.Runa Laila:Originally from Bangladesh,she was a top singer in Pakistan by age twenty.She has sung a few Bollywood songs too.Like "Do Deewane Shaher Mein..." from ’Gharonda’.Her voice till date retains a certain freshness,a certain vigour that is all quite rare.
4.Alka Yagnik:Has both Lataji’s gravity and Ashaji’s enthusiasm.She has this luxurious quality to her renditions which make her suitable for sublime,melodious romantic numbers.One remembers her song "Tum Aaye..." from a private album with Hariharan to exemplify this.
5.Shreya Ghoshal:Originally from Kota,Rajasthan this bengali twenty-something has been a prodigy.She has this ethereal sweet Lataji-like sweetness to her voice.Makes the most mundane songs seem like something noble.One was shocked out of one’s reverie by her song "Pooche Jo Koi.." from ’Yahan’.A legend in the making I guess.