MUMBAI: Ghazal legend Jagjit Singh, who mesmerized music lovers for over four-decades with his soul – stirring numbers like ‘Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho’ and ‘Jhuki jhuki si nazar’, died today of brain haemorrhage.
The 70-year-old singer, who rediscovered the ghazal genre for common Indian in 70s and 80s, was admitted to the Lilavati hospital on September 23. He underwent surgery but did not recover and was kept on life support.
“Jagjit Singh passed away at 8.10 AM after having a terrible hemorrhage,” said Dr Sudhir Nandgaonkar, hospital spokesperson, here.
Singh is survived by his wife, singer Chitra. His only son Vivek died in a road accident in 1990.
Credited with freeing ghazal from the shackles of complexity, Singh brought a simplicity and lyrical quality to the genre, which was uniquely his own and instantly acclaimed by music lovers.
His evergreen ghazals include ‘Kaaghaz ki kashti’, ‘Ahista-ahista’, ‘Patta-patta boota-boota’, ‘hothon se chhu lo tum’ and ‘Tum ko dekha’.
Rich tributes poured in from politicians, film personalities and his contemporaries.
Condoling the death of the singer, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “Making ghazals accessible to everyone, he gave joy and pleasure to millions of music lovers in India and abroad….he was blessed with a golden voice.”
Lata Mangeshkar said Singh’s death was a big loss for the music industry. “I knew him well. I hoped he would come out of the coma. But the God willed otherwise.”
Mega star Amitabh Bachchan remembered Singh’s “sonorous silk voice. A great loss to the world of music and Ghazal …Prayers and condolences.”
Ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas said, “We will never find a person like him who was so dedicated towards his craft. Music was not a profession for him, it was a passion.”
Singh made inroads into ghazal singing at a time when the scene was dominated by well-established names like Noor Jehan, Malika Pukhraj, Begum Akhtar, Talat Mahmood and Mehdi Hassan.
He was inspired by singers like K L Sehgal, Talat Mahmood, Abdul Karim Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Amir Khan.
A Padma Bhushan recipient, Singh was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, on February 8, 1941.
After graduation, he shifted base to Mumbai, to explore career in the world of music. In the next decade and half, he earned nationwide fame as ghazal singer and music composer. He sang in several languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Nepali.
His huge body of work include some 80 albums, film music, numerous concerts, duets and bhajans. His most famous works are ‘Mirza Ghalib’, a collection of ghazals of the eighteenth century Urdu poet and ‘Marasim’, ‘Face To Face’, ‘Aaeena’, ‘Cry For Cry’, ‘Someone Somewhere’ and ‘Muntazir’.
Singh has the unique distinction of having composed and recorded songs written by former prime minister – Atal Behari Vajpayee in two albums — ‘Nayi Disha’ (1999) and ‘Samvedna’ (2002).
His last concert was planned with Ghulam Ali on September 23 at Shanmukhananda Hall, Matunga, in Mumbai but was cancelled after he was taken ill the same day. The duo had given a stirring performance days ago in Delhi.
As composer Vishal Dadlani recalled Singh’s words, ‘Farishton ab to sone do, Kabhi fursat mein kar lena hisaab, aahista, aahista.’ (Angels let me sleep now, you can question me about my deeds in leisure.) -PTI
