Jagjit Singh's Latest Album

[par...@xtra.co.nz]

Hello Fellow Netters

We all are waiting to hear about Jagjit Singh's Latest Album.
Well Here is the News: Source Screen Magazine 13th June

After returning from a successsful international tour, ghazal maestro
Jagjit Singh is all set to release his latest ghazal album. Called "Love
Is Blind",
the album which is being relased on the Venus label is 'dedicated to the
blind'.
The music company has agreed to pay an amount of Rs5 lakh to the
National Association For The Blind(NAB). Meanwhile, the singer and the
music company have decided to release the cassette at a concert which
will be held in Bombay on the 20th of this Month. The proceeds from the
concert will also be passed on to NAB.

I am not sure if the album has been released it must have been on the
20th of June. Can anyone confirm. I have called India and was unable to
get hold of Jagjit Uncle or his Musicians, I belive they are in Calcutta
on the 5th July weekend.

Jagjit uncle's album "Cry For Cry" was for Child Relief and You. I am
more than exicted to hear his latest compositions Shayri's and His
Voice.
As being a die-hard fan I have collected some articles on him which are
included below.

When I visited his house in Bombay 1993. I saw a copy of the Magazine
called TV & Video World Dec 1993. I was amazed to see that the magazine
had covered alot about ghazals and Indian / Pakistani Ghazal artistes.
Here is an intersting article about Jagjit Uncle's dedication &
Achivement to Charity concerts.

Article By Shifa Maitra: September 30th. Devastating tremors rocked
parts of Maharastra and a pained nation rushed forward to help. The film
stars organised a mammoth down-to-dusk rally and collected merely Rs.
3.5Lakhs. Showman Subhash Ghai and his unit couged up another Ten lakhs.
And then on the 28th of October a 'ghazal' show was to organised in
Bombay. Ghazals, it is thought, do not hold mass appeal. But the
performer that night did. The proceeds of the Jagjit Singh Show amounted
to a whopping Rs.30 Lakhs.

Why?
"What Success?" is his instant reaction, when you ask Jagjit Singh about
his crowd-pulling attraction from Amsterdam to Ahmedabad.( Where he has
sung Gujrati Ghazals to so his Tabla Player and good friend of mine
Abhinav Upadhay Said. He also said that recently in Ahmedabad the first
5-10 rows had sitted thousands of young children, who also sang with
him, he made them sing)

from Ali’s notes.. Screen 23, December 1994

Some thoughts literally pierce the heart, stab
the mind and the
hurt, the pain stays, lives on and comes back with the same intensity,
the same ferocity every time those thoughts come close, threaten to
pierce, to stab again. Something like what happens to me every time I
listen to and think of Jagjit Singh, the well known ghazal singer who
has become a part of my life, whose work is a part of my soul now.

Jagjit Singh was a singer who gradually grew
into a major singer who
appealed to any one who cared to listen to him even once. Jagjit Singh
had the power to tell the truth about life like very few human beings
have been able to. Jagjit’s experiences blended with the experiences of
a number of poets, all of them armed with rich experiences of their own
brought life alive to all those unfortunate beings who didn’t have the
time to know life, to face life face to face.

When Jagjit joined his voice with hiswife,
Chita, the result was
something that rarely happened when two human beings sang. Jagjit and
Chitra continued singing and winning till that fateful night when the
telephone rang and within minutes the voice on the other side shattered
their world, destroyed it, destroyed all their reasons to find meaning
in life, their reason to live. Their only son Vivek Singh had met with
an accident and died. What could be more painful, more sorrowful, more
killing? Especially for a father and a mother who were so very
sensitive. That accident which snatched their only son from them left
Chitra dumbstruck. She just stopped singing after that night Jagjit
tried his best to keep his sanity, his life intact.

He lived through several agonising lives to
decide that life had to
be lived with all its agonies, with all its ecstasies Jeena hai to dard
sehna padega he sang with a broken heart and broke every heart that had
the courage to listen to him, broke them and even gave them courage.
That unbearable tragedy has destroyed the man but has fortified the
singer. He is a prophet today more than a singer. He is a modern day
prophet who demands listening because his voice tells the truth and that
is one thing (telling the truth) which is gradually going out of
fashion today.

I have always looked forward to listening to
Jagjit Singh who has,
like I said become an inseparable part of my life. I look forward with
double the enthusiasm now Jagjit Singh used to excite me once. Jagjit
Singh elevates me now like very singers, very few human beings elevate
me today.

His voice gives me the same feeling that Mother
Teresa gave me when
she first touched me, blessed me. And I care a damn for all those
critics of Jagjit Singh and Mother Teresa. They are the only hope the
only succour, the only Messiah’s. They have the courage to convert their
pain into strength for others, so that others may learn to live the one,
life they are gifted with, with dignity, with determination, with
devotion Jagjit Singh sings. Mother Teresa prays.

That’s the only difference but they make that
big difference to this
world which is growing more and more indifferent to life Indifference is
becoming a cult. Jagjit and the Mother are trying their best to destroy
it. We will be doing ourselves a favour if we help them.

Jagjit Uncles last album "Unquie" under Tips was awarded Platinum. I
love the following Ghazal penned by Sabah Sikri

(Complaint)
AAP SE GILA AAP KI KASAM
SOOCH TE RAHE KAR SAKE NA HUM

(Incurable)
USKI KYA KHATA LADVA HAI GHAM
KYUN GILA KARE CHARAGHAR SE HUM
(Healer)

(Kindness) (Generosity)
YEH NAWAZISHEN AUR YEH KARAM
FARTE SHOUK SE MAR NA JAYE HUM
(Excess of desire)

KHENCHTE RAHE UMR BHAR MUJHE
EK TARAF KHUDA EK TARAF SANAM

YEH AGAR NAHI YAAR KI GALI
CHALTE CHALTE KYUN RUK GAYE KADAM

AAP SE GILA AAP KI KASAM
SOOCH TE RAHE KAR SAKE NA HUM

Article by
Jagjit Uncle ka Deewana
Hemant Parikh 6th July 1997
par...@xtra.co.nz