Jagjit Singh charms ghazal lovers

Jagjit with Ashwin and Daksha Patel- the hosts. (pic:Manhar Bahkta)

ST. LOUIS: It was Mother's Day on May 10 and an enterprising business couple thought of celebrating it in a novel way. They decided to host ever Ghazal King Jagjit Singh so that St. Louis Indian residents could get out of their daily chores and somewhat depressing economic climate.

Jagjit Singh did not disappoint and in fact exceeded the expectations of the 800 plus audience. The event was held at Keating Center Auditorium and the live concert was presented by Ashwin and Raksha Patel of Seema Enterprises and Seema World Travel.
Jagjit Singh, a legendary name in the field of Ghazal singing, is one of the most talented artists of India. His singing deeply touches your heart with meaningful and melodious songs in many languages.

Accompanied by six talented musicians- Deepak Pandit on violin, Paras Nath on flute, Naren Salaskar on guitar, Deepak Khazanchi on ace guitar, Heera Pandit on dholak and  Abhinav Upadhav on tabla - Jagjit  started with a new number kuchh na kuchh to zaroor hona hai.  With the sound of music and Jagjit's voice the hall reverberated with applause. Then came tum ne badle hum se gin gin ke liye and after that chithi na koi sandesh. This was followed up with sunte hain ke mil jaati hai cheez dua se. The audience repeatedly clapped on every Sher of each Ghazal.

Then he charmed the audience with some of his old but still very popular ghazals like jhuki jhuki si nazar bekaraar hai ke nahin and yeh doulat bhi le lo yeh shohratt bhi le lo. His hit ghazals in the past four decades followed one by one to the delight of all - ham to hain pardes mein, des main nikla ho ga chaand, honto se chhoo lo tum, mere geet amar kar do and ghazals from new album "Inteha"  received thunderous response.

Towards the end he sang Punjabi Lok geets and songs. People started whistling, screaming, dancing on their seats and clapped non-stop. The concert ended with Mirza Ghalib ghazals. The concert lasted for about 3.5 hours and people enjoyed every bit of it. It was the best memorable evening in the history entertainment of Indian/Pakistani communities of St.Louis.