Jagjit Singh albums on iTunes

So, the community has decided to release the master's unreleased gems on the internet from now on. Recent launch releases and the unwillingness of the music companies these days to release pure-audio albums (since they get ripped off almost instantaneously) was the major reason why this was decided.

Mr. Raja Sehgal, the "official" sound engineer for Jagjit Singh's concerts the world over,  is leading this initiative. He is collaborating with Chitra Singh, for all the copyrights and legal issues surrounding the releases. The albums are being released on all major online music platforms like iTunes, Google Music, Amazon and Nokia. Raja maintains a facebook page by the name Jagjit Singh Tribute and all the information I shared above can be got from there.

As of today 5 albums are already out. More are in the pipeline and one can visit the facebook page or the YouTube Channel to listen to the teasers.

Enjoy!

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.

Dil Mein Ab Dard-e-Muhabbat Ke Siwa

ए खुदा मुझसे  न ले मेरे गुनाहों का हिसाब,

मेरे पास अश्क़ - ए - नदामत के  सिवा  कुछ भी नहीं।

O God, do not make me account for my sins,

I have nothing else but tears of regret (to pay for them).

This Sahir Bhopali "ghazal" has been on my mind all through the day. This is originally sung by Lata Ji, in the epic album "Sajda". And now we have a version of this by JS, in "The Master And His Magic". 

This ghazal is composed at a very high scale (by JS standards) and I never expected JS to match the scale (as in "Sajda") in the one rendered in "TMAHM". But what a rendition it is! Absolutely precious! JS could spring so many surprises in his concerts. At some places where he drags the "radeef" together with the "qafiyaa" (as in "केसिवाकुछभीनहीं"), it sounds so beautiful. The violin played by Deepak Pandit is mesmerizing too.

To end, a few more from the ghazal:

दिल में अब दर्द-ए -मुहब्बत  के सिवा कुछ भी नहीं,

ज़िन्दगी मेरी इबादत के सिवा कुछ भी नहीं।

मैं तेरी बार गह-ए -नाज़ में क्या  पेश करूं,

मेरी झोली में मुहब्बत के सिवा कुछ भी नहीं।

A 15 syllable "ghazal", in the "beher": "ramal musamman makhbuun mahzuuf" [Pattern: 2122-1122-1122-(11)22].

The Master and His Magic - Aahon mein hai asar

The "Aaho"s of thousands of JS fans definitely has had a huge "Asar".  Sanjay Tayal shared some  rare unreleased performances of the master with Chitra Ji. Chitra Ji promptly agreed to getting them released as an album, on 10th October this year. ("The Master and His Magic", Jagjit Singh, Sony Music, India)

There was the usual and the un-usual excitement in the vast community of the master's fan, with regards to the album. Usual excitement regarding the launch, the tracks, the concerts in which they were performed, the poets and so on. What was unusual was no one seemed to miss the master! It is as if he is with us all the time. As is mentioned in the accompanying booklet in the album, one year has passed, but somehow the fans seem to be consciously unaware of the master's absence.

The tracks are wonderfully sung. The poetry selection is masterful too! Waseem Barelvi's "Tu Ambar ki Aankh" is mind blowing in poetry. I will have more on the tracks in a later post. There are 9 tracks, including "Dil mein ab dard-e-muhabbat ke siwa". Without any disrespect to Lata Ji, one can say that JS always infused life into a composition of his own when he sang it.

Finally the "catchy" ghazal of the album,

आहों में है असर मगर  फ़र्क़ असर असर में है,
चैन से सो रहे हैं वो, दर्द यहाँ जिगर में है.

दिल को मेरे ले गया उसकी तलाश क्या करूँ,
जिसने चुराया दिल मेरा वो तो मेरी नज़र में है.

वो ही है रात वस्ल की वो ही है रात हिज्र की,
आए ही गी सहर मगर फ़र्क़ सहर सहर में है.

मस्ती तेरे शराब की जैसे हो मय गुलाब की,
साँसों में ऐसी ख़ुशबू है जैसे हिना अतर में है.

On Smashits, Low Quality

The poet is unknown. Beher of the 16 syllable ghazal is:  rajaz musamman matvii makhbuun [Pattern: 2112-1212-2112-1212] - [muf-ta-i-lun][ma-faa-i-lun][muf-ta-i-lun][ma-faa-i-lun]

This is of course following the same beher same tune rule, as in "Aapko bhol jaayen hum" and "Os pade bahar par" but the tempo is much faster in this one.

Lazy Day

There are days when the lazy bone in you becomes active. Today was one such day. I did not feel like rising from the bed in the morning. Neither, did I want to shave before going to office (and I didn't in fact!).

The Office resembled like the school today. Just like those text-books, I did not feel like going through the code, or the priority cases reported by the client. Just fiddled with the keyboard, checked my mails, attended a meeting (which was like the lecture we received at school) and ho... it was 5:30 P.M!

Thank god it's Friday!

The reason for this laziness and this detachment? I attribute to the couplet of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, rendered beautifully by my three favourite singers, Beghum Akhtar, Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh:

Kar rahaa thaa ghum-e-jahaan ka hisaab,
Aaj tum yaad be-hisaab aaye.