THE HEALING FANKAAR- JAGJIT SINGH

Every soul that lovesmusic and ghazal knowshowsoothingit is to listen toJagjit Singh’s layered voice thatmakes lovewiththemusic and thewords, strikingtheright chords insideevery beatingheart.

WORDS - KOMAL RAY BHATT

This month of love has witnessed the birth of the most lovable artist of all times, Jagmohan Singh Dhiman, making it more worthwhile of celebrations. Born into a middle class family, almost 80 years from today, even his father wished him to become an engineer, though always encouraging him to worship music. He was trained by Pandit Chaganlal Sharma and later by Ustaad Jamaal Khan of the Senia Gharana, mastering the several prominent styles of Hindustani classical, including Dhrupad,Khayal and Thumri. Also, he holds a post graduate degree in history from Kurukshetra University, Haryana.

His unique love for music and never ending dedication moved him to Bombay in 1965, where his career took a great leap. Following an year, he met Chitra Dutta, another great music and ghazal artist of the time and both tied knot, later becoming the first and most commercially successful and popular husband and wife duo of the music industry. The release of the album 'The unforgettable' turned them into stars. Together they continued to compose and sing the tunes that every lip could sync with. Their music stayed and words echoed even after the concerts got over. With him, music was never sophisticated to hear, words could be understood by all, it was no more beyond comprehension, but something that cannot be comprehended was his way to connect the beads of words into the thread of music always, beautifully. At the peak of his career though, he was left shattered because of the sudden demise of his only child, Vivek. He couldn't touch music for almost a year and his wife decided to forgo music for all her life. Later on, as time passed he chose to spend his solitude with his Tanpura, allowing music to heal his wounds just as his voice healed the world.

Unlike the rest of the ghazal singers of his time, only he had and still has the maximum number of youth who admired him, not only because of his talent but also as he chose not to stick to the traditional ways but tried successful experiments. As Talat Aziz once said, "He brought Guitar into ghazal, experimented with non-traditional rhythm patterns and simplified the tunes making them more melodiou...". The Maestro Jagjit Singh once also said "I ensure that first I understand the meaning of ghazal and then expect the common man to appreciate it.“ And surely only he could turn the common man's drawing room into a Darbar and extended the aristocratic mehfil to the middle class homes, signifying that art is something that can be accessed and enjoyed by all. Be it a Bhajan, folk song Ghazal or a filmy note, he could always touch the right emotions and let you either smile wide or weep. From the lot of his sparkling collection of contribution to the music industry, some of his works include albums like "the latest”, “someone somewhere”, “Mirage” and "Silsiley". He is the only composer and singer to have composed and recorded songs written by former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee – also a poet – in two albums, Nayi Disha (1999) and Samvedna (2002). Padma Bhushan Jagjit Singh worked for about five decades and created about 80 albums in his life span of 70 years. Also doing about 30 concerts with his forever friend Ghulam Ali defying all the manmade laws of borders.

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