The Voice From Beyond - Jagjit Singh

The name of the new album of JS. Released by Universal Music India Ltd, this album is available now for pre-order online almost on all retail websites. It will be released on 10th of October 2013 in "The Legend Lives On" a tribute concert at Nehru Center Mumbai, by Chitra Singh.

The striking feature of the album is that 4 out of the 7 tracks are of the same beher, khafiif musaddas makhbuun mahzuuf maqtuu. This is a 10 syllable beher with the pattern 2122-1212-22. I have already remarked at times, that Jagjit Singh is a master composer of small beher, and this album is a testimonial to that. The tracks on this beher are: "Ek tere qareeb", "Rasm-e-ulfat", "Aashiyane ki baat" and "Dard halka hai".

First listen, and I am immediately drawn to the following tracks: "Rasm-e-ulfat sikha gayaa koyi (Daag Dehlvi)", "Ek tere qareeb aane se", "Zindagi jaise tavaqqu thi nahin, kuch kam hai (Shahrayar)" and "Aashiyane ki baat karte ho (Javed Qureshi)". I am not sure of all the poets as I have to check the inlay card for details. Jagjit Singh foundation lists the following poets additionally: Nida Fazli, Saeed Rahi, Nasir Kasmi and Gulzar. It says one by "unknown" so I guess it is the one by Javed Qureshi. The other tracks are "Dhadkan dhadkan dhadak raha hai (Nida Fazli?)" and "Khuda ke waaste apnaa hisaab".

Also, "Aashiyane ki baat karte ho" is a very popular Noor Jahan ghazal. Jagjit Singh has done full justice to its rendition. "Rasm-e-ulfat" too is a very popular Begum Akhtar ghazal and Jagjit's rendition is typical of his style and "dard".

Detailed analysis from the books of the poets will definitely follow, but first glance, Jagjit seems to have reversed "misra-e-oola" and"misra-e-sani" in "Ashiyane ki baat karte ho". In  "Zindagi jaise tavaqqu thi", Jagjit uses "tamanna" instead of "tavaqqu" which is understandable due to its ease of use. Jagjit takes a lot of liberty in "Rasm-e-ulfat". "basaa" instead of "mein chaa" and "udaas" instead of "ujaad". As always, the meter of the ghazal is maintained in perfect.

Needless to say, this album is a collection of very very good ghazal rendition from the master. His mastery in composing short meter ghazals is the true gem of this album. Wonder why these were never released by him.