As he turns 70 early next year, evergreen ghazal legend Jagjit Singh gets hyper-active with a spree of 70 ‘live’ inter-continental concerts and a 70-song set of 7 albums!
Bass baritone voiced ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh who also has an occasional fetish for equestrian betting, believes that “if one is always young at heart, ageing can never be a spoilsport.” Even as he completes 70 years on February 8th next year, the singing legend is tuning himself for a non-stop musical spree.
Enthuses Jagjit, “My global NRI fan-following is eager to know what’s up my sleeve. On my year-long agenda is a string of 70 ‘live’ concerts in different parts of the world including USA, Europe, New Zealand and of course select Indian cities.
There will also be my personal compilation of 70 best songs from my entire repertoire spread over a pack of seven albums to mark my 70th birthday. On 5th February will be the inaugural concert which will also have distinguished perfomers like Ustad Zakir Hussain ( tabla) and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia ( flute) besides my own ghazal recital.
While on 6th there will be a ‘mushaaira’ with eminent ‘shaayars’ performing. It will be a hectic but rocking time right through for me, I guess, as I turn 70 years young, ” he chuckles in his bass voice. At the release event of the music album of this maverick musical movie ‘Shahrukh Bola Khubsoorat Hain Tu’ directed by senior actor Makarand Deshpande, which has its music tracks scored by the young vivacious singer-guitarist Vasudha Sharma (of ‘Aasma’ band fame) Jagjit startled the invitees.
Deviating from his protocol of avoiding live performances in 5-star hotels, that too without accompanying musicians, he sang the entire soulful song composed by the young Vasudha for the movie ‘Shah Rukh Bola…’
Asked how he agreed to make an exception for such a young composer, the veteran singer explained. “Initially I was not too sure whether I would be doing it. But when I heard her singing the number during the sitting-rehearsal I realised that Vasudha was genuinely talented and had a strong classical base besides being a fabulous rock band performer. We somehow vibed very well and there was absolutely no generation-gap and I am impressed with her recorded fusion composition.”
