He made it sound so simple

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: He has left the world to fill the heavens with his dreamy rendition. And no words can express the way Jagjit Singh has influenced or inspired many a soul who loves music, especially ghazals. However, they all say in unison - he made it sound so simple. “Begum Akhtar, Mehdi Hassan and Ghulam Ali stuck to the classical style and there he came with a voice loaded with simplicity, be it in lyrics or rendition. What makes Jagjit Singhji special is that his voice fused so well with the ghazal genre,” says Pandit Ramesh Narayan, adding, “There is no doubt that youngsters are absolutely fond of his voice.” Ghazal and playback singer Gayathri remembers how she was moved to tears as a young girl after attending a ‘mehfil’ by Jagjit Singh in Kochi. “That was an event organised by CRY and he had given the concert for free. I had not started taking training in Hindustani music then, but was a huge fan of his music. Thanks to my friend, I could walk up to him after the concert, talk with him and get his autograph. That evening he sang a purely classical piece, which he usually never does. I couldn’t hold my tears listening to that. Such was the effect. I still remember that rendition,” she says.  She makes it a point to sing at least 3 or 4 ghazals by Jagjit Singh at each of her concerts. Like ‘Phir nazar se...’, ‘Hothon se choolo..’ or ‘Tera chehra kitna...’  “The kind of reception I get when I sing ‘Hothon se choolo...’ is amazing,” she says. Jagjit Singh had his limitations when it came to singing in higher octave. “In spite of that, he could create a different feel with his voice. Also, he could arrange the rhythm so intricately and is also credited with using western percussion in his concerts. He is truly the father of modern ghazals in India,” says singer G Venugopal. Gayathri seconds, saying, “He never went for elaborating the notes. And he created a ghazal empire of his own with his 24-carat voice.”Ananthapuri had hosted the singer a couple of times. Soorya Krishnamoorthy remembers his concert at the Soorya Festival with wife Chitra Singh. “That was some 20 years back, before they lost their young son.’’ (Chitra Singh stopped giving concerts after the tragedy). Jagjit returned to the capital city with his music years later at an event organised by Swaralaya. The venue was the AKG Hall. He had returned after an illness. But that didn’t stop him from giving a concert that lasted for nearly four hours. The hall was filled to the brim, remembers R S Babu, coordinator of Swaralaya.Perfect diction and pronunciation had kept him in good stead, notes Ramesh Narayan. “In fact, ghazal legend Ghulam Ali had once said that if he got any award, he would love to receive that from Jagjit Singh,” he says.