A rare blend of humour and melody

BY PRIYANKA TATER

Padmabhushan Jagjit Singh has deservedly earned the title of ‘Ghazal King’. He has mesmerised his fans with a gift of more than 50 music albums through a journey of melody spanning half a century. The maestro is credited for the revival and popularity of ghazals, as well as his musical contribution to Hindi cinema, which has been significant as seen in the likes of Arth, Saath Saath and . Still, I can’t take credit for this R&D which is available to anyone with access to Wikipedia. But no Google search would have detailed the experience of seeing Jagjit Singh live in concert, which was a special one.

The first copy of his latest album Shukraana, a collection of 70 of his best tracks is put up for auction, the proceeds of which will go to the Red Cross for the Brisbane floods

Time: 6pm, venue: Sydney Town Hall. This was the hub of the event, pulling in Sydney’s Indian community on the night of April 16. I reached the venue at 6:30pm and was pleasantly surprised to see the Indian diaspora (around 500 people) waiting patiently for the star of the evening. Jagjit Singh has performed live in Sydney many times, but this certainly was a special occasion and one that called for an even more special celebration. This performance was Jagjit Singh’s golden tour on his 70th birthday, as he completes 50 years in the industry. Concert organiser Vijay Jogia of Music Beyond 2000, a well known face and voice around Sydney’s Indian community, was able to convince the maestro himself to come to Sydney and weave his magic for his many fans in this city.

It’s 7:30pm and the audience has already tolerated two warm-up performances. Vijay Jogia’s version of Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye has set the mood for the evening quite well. Suddenly the air is alive with applause, whistles, shutterbugs flashing and voila! On stage appears the voice of emotions, Jagjit Singh.

The maestro adjusts his harmonium and synchronises the sound with his team. “Good evening, satsri akaal, salaam aleikum and happy birthday!” Jagjit Singh’s sense of humour sends the audience bursting into peals of laughter. On his 70th birthday, Singh has committed to do 70 concerts around the world.

The humour seeps into his ghazals too and the musical evening kickstarts with Thukrao ab ki pyaar karo, main 70 ka hoon!, an ironic twist of the original Thukrao ab ke pyaar karo, main nashey mein hoon!, which leaves the crowd in splits.

From Jhuki jhuki si nazar to Hothon se chu lo tum Singh is on a roll, sporadically adding a pinch of humour to the performance. The jugalbandhis are a treat to watch too, but soon the interval acts the spoilsport. But before the break, Jagjit Singh is felicitated and there’s a surprise in store for all. The first copy of his latest

This performance was Jagjit Singh’s golden tour on his 70th birthday, as he completes 50 years in the industry album Shukraana, a collection of 70 of his best tracks is put up for auction, the proceeds of which will go to the Red Cross for the Brisbane floods. The auction opens with $100, then to $400, $450, jumps to $1000, $1500… $2000 and finally the hammer goes down at $2500!

After a 20-minute break, the ghazal king takes centrestage yet again. The moment the maestro starts with the soulful Tumko dekha to ye khayaal aaya , the crowd breaks into a chant, matching its tune with Jagjit Singh’s. It reaches a crescendo when Singh switches gears to belt out a few Punjabi numbers. The Town Hall echoes with the sound of claps and whistles. The front row has already jumped out of their chairs. Now the backbenchers too move to the forefront and the floor has almost turned into a club dance floor, with Bhangra beats playing in the background. Sydneysiders are letting their hair down, and how!

Finally, the man responsible for uplifting and keeping alive ghazals gets a standing ovation from his fans. There certainly could have been no better way to bring the curtain down on this melodious evening.