RIP " The Ghazal King"

Jagjit Singh, he was rightly known as “The Ghazal King”. It might be quite unusual for me to put up this post. But to say the least I grew up listening to his tracks. Whenever I used to visit my grandparents I ended up listening to him on a regular basis. My granddad was a huge fan of Hindustani Music and Ghazals. When small all I remember was sitting in front of that old tape recorder and watching the cassette play. The voice of Jagjit sir was so soothing that most of the times I used to fall asleep right there. 

This interest of my grandfather was instilled in my father as well. Soon after my grandfather’s death, my dad brought home all those cassettes which his dad used to listen. The songs when played the members of the house used to sit in silence and listen, such was the peace and bliss we used to reap out of his music.   

As I grew and entered my teens the interest grew. I now began to understand those lyrics. To be frank no lyrics of any song can be as magical and pure as any ghazal song. The musical instruments used in any ghazal song are so minimal but the sound of each instrument echoes in our ears giving the perfect mix with the lyrics. 

Jagjit singh is the one to be credited to bring ghazal music to the forefront. He battled the likes of Rafi , kisore da in the 70s and 80s. His film albums Arth(1982) and sath sath(1982) are still so evergreen and I listen to them along with my father .  My personal fav ll be “ Tum itna jo muskara rahe ho “and "Jhuki Jhuki Si Nazar" from Arth and his duets with his wife chitra were also melodious. And from the film saath saath the tracks "Pyar Mujh Se Jo Kiya Tumne" ,"Tum Ko Dekha To Yeh Khayal Aaya" were blissfully beautiful. Oh all his tracks were awesome.

He managed to bridge the gap between youth and ghazals. All credit to his velvet voice and beautiful lyrics.

The tracks like “Hosh walon “from Sarfarosh or “Koi Fariyad “from Tum bin were huge hits among youths. 

Today that man is no more. He lost his battle against life after two surgeries, he suffered from brain hemorrhage and despite having so many family problems he found success.

An era of beautiful pure voice comes to an end .

A sad day it is.

RIP Jagjit Singh.

you might go , but your songs ll live on forever in our hearts :)