Jagjit Singh passed away earlier today. I had known of his unfortunate stroke from the news and was hoping against hope for a recovery but it was not to be. Sitting in office , preparing for a meeting and suddenly the phone beeps, SMS from 53000, Twitter, from a follower mentioning “Jagjit :’(“ and I felt my self helpless and broken
Whenever I am down n out, fighting battles with my inner self, soft ghazal in the background, a calm voice of Jagjit Singh singing it, and the world became a peaceful place. That was the magic created by the voice of the ghazal maestro. Whether it was nostalgia for a lost, carefree, golden childhood, or the pining for a beloved, he had amazing grace and a smoothing pain in his rendering of the situation, with feeling
Jagjit Singh brought the uninitiated ones like me closer to poetry and the fine art of ghazals. There is a must -be phase for every young heart to hum his ghazals in parties and when alone, to seek respite in their melodious longing of love or to despair in the soulful agony of unfulfilled ambition.
Without him, I know my generation would have been lost to the beauty that is Ghazals - I know I would have been. And if I was lost to Ghazals, I would have been lost to Blues too. I cannot imagine what a reduced existence it would have been.
Today, as the voice became silent, one would hum the Jagjit Singh melody - 'Chitthi na koi sandesh, jaane vo kaun sa desh, jahaan tum chale gaye.' As the man rests in music, his voice will continue to give peace to the listeners. RIP Jagjit Singh, Return if Possible
You won't believe I hummed the same song when I heard the sad song.. 'Chitthi na koi sandesh, jaane wo kaun sa des, jahaan tum chale gaye :(
ReplyDeleteLoved this post. and yes i hummed the same song.. and i love how u said Return if possible.. (Anu)
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