We went to the live concert of Ghazal Maestro Padma Bhushan Jagjit Singh, “sur with love” on sunday night (on 16 June 2008), the first live concert of my life. No there is nothing to laugh about. Now I have been a big spoilsport as far as the concerts are concerned. In the recent past, I have flunked quite a few of them. I tried for Pink Floyd in Mumbai, couldn’t get the ticket, tried for Parikrama, got the booking but couldn’t make it. Almost got the Dire Straits tickets, but this time he flunked. I finally managed this one and boy! what a concert this was.
“Sur with love”, as it was being called was staged at the plush Birla Matoshri Auditorium in Marine Drive, one of the posh locality in Mumbai (of course every one knows Marine Drive). Although I’m an ordinary fan of Jagjit Singh, I was surprised by the kind of audience they had for the show. The ever enterprising hostess Dolly Thakore mentioned that they had an audience ranging from 10 to 80 years. Whoa! quite a fan base Jagjit has, and rightly so. Excuse me for my audacity, but I think he has altogether a different genre of classical music. I’m not a classical fan but his silky voice leaves millions of listeners like me mesmerised. And Sunday was no different. So it started of with a relatively unheard ‘Kuchh na Kuchh to jaroor hona ha…’ ghazal and as usual ended with fast punjabi number ‘Dhai din na jawani nal chadhdi…’
In the process he sang ‘Hoshwalon ko…’, ‘Hothon Se chhu lo tum…’, ‘Hazaron Khwahishein aisi…’, ‘ Wo kaagaz ki kashti…’ amongst others.
Jagjit has been the famous, most loved and respected singer of the yester years. His silky voice and the sleek pronunciation of Urdu. Its more than commendable he draws such audience (BIrla Matoshri can accommodate over 1000 people, it was full well in advance). What should I say about him, I’m too small to comment on some one like him. We had this concert for close to 3 hours. But it felt like we could go on and on and on…
To end this post, I’m quoting 1 or 2 lines from his Ghazals.
“Mohabbat mein fark nahi hai jeene marne ka… Usi ko dekh kar jeete hai jis kaafir pe dum nikle. Hazaron khwahishein aisi ke har khwahish pe dum nikle”
“Muzko jonhone katl kiya hai, koi unhe batlaye naseeb… meri laash ke pehelu mein wo apna khanjar chhod gaye.”
Enjoy!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You reminded me of a concert i attended last year.. JS is best when heard live.
And yes the last part -- those lines from his ghazals are my fav as well..
thax for sharing
Yeah you are right amitnme, I couldn't agree less
Post a Comment