The Incomparable Lata Mangeshkar

Lataji.

May this godess of sweet music live on in the hearts of many more millions of music lovers all over the world.

I go into my own world of bliss by always switching on to some soothing music from Lataji. I have a favourite list of songs. Mostly soft melodies is my kind of music and most of them sung by the one and only Lataji.

The youtube be blessed as I can also see some of the beautiful heroines mouth her songs. But my preference is to just hear her sing while I work away without the distractions of having to see the picture along.

Yesterday I was, as usual, listening to some of my favourites and among them a few pairs of songs sung by a male singer and then followed by the same song sung by Lataji. Oh, what an uplifting of the song when sung by Lataji. The song sounds so divine when she lends her molten golden voice to the lyrics and the tune. None can ever equal her. Even Lataji herself at her advanced age can never hope to recreate what she sang decades ago.

I mention here a few songs to bring out the sharp comparison between two singers singing the same song.

The first one is the famed paarampaaric Hindi Bhajan "Paayoji maine raam ratan dhan paayo" by Pandit Paluskar first and then the same one followed by Lataji. Panditji sings it excellently and brings out the raga beautifully yet when the same is sung by her, the purity comes through markedly, so pure that you are transpoted to another world of spirituality. Such is her power to mesmerize her listeners. Many of her bhajans are sung so divinely.

The other one was listening to "Maayi ri, mai kaase kahoon pi, apne jiyaa ki" from the film "Dastan". This is a special favourite of mine as my favourite music director the late Madan Mohanji has composed music for this one as for the many of my most favourite songs. Madanji has sung this song in his voice filled with so much emotion and with so much feel that you tend to overlook the small off-tune lines in his version of this song. Then what follows in that sweet voice, is pure bliss and an experience which is an out of the world kind.

There are a few others like "Yehsaan tera hoga mujh per" from Junglee which I watch on Toutube due to the resemblance of the actress Saira Banu to my niece who was the first born and most loved baby girl of our family (of 4 sisters) for a long time until another beauty queen was born to another sister of mine.

To continue with Lataji, the other one I remember is from the film "Samjhauta" it's the title song which goes something like ths, "Samjhouta ghamon se karlo".
(What a coincidence! They are right now airing the Hindi film "Junglee" on Doordarshan National channel today just now. Bless my husband for tuning in the TV right on time. I will certainly catch up with this song very soon on TV in a couple of minutes from now).

I could go on like this but I think I have got my feelings across sufficiently enough on this topic.

Enjoy the purity of Lataji's sweet voice if you have time and the inclination to.

Just before I close this blog down, I would like to mention the new male singer on the horizon - Amanat Ali of Pakistan.
He bettered even the original singer who sang the unforgettable song from the film "Masoom" - "Tujhse naaraaj nahi zindagi, hairaan hoon hain".
The sharp comparison came through even more when Amanat Ali while singing this song for the Sa Re Ga Ma Programme on Zee TV competition and another singer got up on stage, grabbed the mike and almost croaked the song just to show that he too loved the song and inspired to sing it on stage. The imperfect version was heard out in patience by the entire live audience even while celebrity actors and producers were agging on Amanat for an encore, which he obliged and wow! was it some treat to the ears! Obviously this comparison showed what a bad, good and super redition of songs was! Amanat got inspired and emotional only to come out with better stuff this second time around. Many had tears in their eyes. One actress was shown wiping away her kajal/eyeliner alongwith her tears. Such was the effect of Amanat over his audience that day.
Such singers are born very rarely on earth for the listening pleasure of people like you and me. Amanat's rendering of a Pakistani national song, "Aiy watan pyaare watan, paak watan.." is my most often listened among this young boy's renditions.
If you do get a chance to listen to this young talent, do not miss it.

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi