Lata Mangeshkar...the Goddess of Bollywood music. I absolutely love her classical, semi classical and other renditions in movies...and have tried to ape her voice forever...................and failed. Like all other female Hindi movie fans, I've tried singing in a voice shrill as hers whenever I've hummed a tune within another person's earshot.I am not shrill. I have a voice that is 'bhaari'...like the rest of me. I like my own voice too, very much. I sing fairly well...by my own standards and can hold certain tunes with ease. But "yaara seeli seeli" is impossible...as is "Aye ree pawan". I don't have much success with many of Asha Bhonsle's numbers either unless I try to sing them my way at my own pitch. One of my honest and not so polite friends once pointedly asked me why I tried to sound like Lata and that was like a wake up call. I can never thank him enough.
While the two sisters have entertained and inspired generations of movie and music crazy Indians, they had also, till recently, made it impossible for women like me to sing in public without negative remarks about the texture of our voices. I guess it wasn't deliberate and even not their fault, it was just that they sounded so good that we didn't want to entertain any other kind of voice. Just recently Alka Yagnik said on TV to a girl with a 'different' voice like Sunidhi Chauhan's that she could probably sing 'item numbers' or 'different' songs but there was no way she was going to be crooning for the main lead, Indian kind of heroine...meaning the long suffering, suppressed, pining, lost, 'abala Indian naari', I suppose. I mean, how can a Nutan be shown crooning "One two cha cha" in Usha Uthup (nee Iyer)'s voice?
Luckily for me, I discovered Farida Khanum and through her, the entire galaxy of female Pakistani Ghazal singers with voices to die for and luckily today, Sunidhi is on top...as are other 'different' singers and I actually have a choice of songs I don't have to struggle with to sing. I do still go back to listen to Lataji and Ashaji...they were and will remain more than worthy of our respect and awe for their voices and abundant talent, but I don't try to sound like them anymore. And I hope all my friends who sound extremely FUNNY trying to ape the duo will come into their own too. Doesn't matter if we only sing for ourselves, we must sing LIKE ourselves. Trust me, it is such a release!
4 comments:
I have often felt that music is science as well as art. In the sense, that within the science of the "swar", you must , to your best, fit in your own special artistic ability. And just like everyone doesnt paint like Ravi Verma , Picasso, Gaitonde, or Chagall, everyone has their own style of singing - so long as you are doing the "swar" and "taal" stuff ok.....
Everyone is special, Lata, Asha, Sunidhi,Alka, SaReGaMaPa Little chapms, as well as A.I......
Aww thanks. And I do agree that sur and taal are very important...one reason why I can't appreciate Jazz(Blues I like - sometimes)...and (con)fusion music. I can't get either.
lata ji is the best singer ever i listen in my life.. goddess sarsavati is always their with her and i wish she should sing throughout her life.. she told something about mr. bali ji he is was the guru of my grand father pandit jagmohan ji maharaj.... thank you lataji....
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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