Ghazals

With the invention of Television in the past and the internet recently the traditional radio has died a silent death. The shape that it still exists in is FM radio. But unfortunately, the quality of stuff that these FM channels broadcast is mostly trash. If you are a poetry/ghazals lover, these 2 online channels broadcast some brilliant stuff. Check them out. Mirchi Mehfil - https://gaana.com/radio/radio-mehfil Radiocity Ghazal - http://www.radiocity.in/radiocity-ghazal Apart from these two, FM Gold channel of All India Radio broadcasts (in NCR, not sure about other cities) a ghazals programme called “Andaaz-e-bayaan” in the evening from 5:30 to 6. You can listen to it on FM radio (106.4 in NCR. So now they swapped the frequencies. This program is broadcast at 101.1 same time), online at http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Default.aspx or through mobile apps http://allindiaradio.gov.in/mobileapp/Pages/Default.aspx ...

My oldest memories of listening to Mehdi Hasan sahib date back to school days when we used to listen to his duet with Noorjehan jado teri dunia ton pyar tur jayega, das fer dunia te ki reh jayega on Radio Pakistan, Lahore. Almost every alternate day this song played on Radio Pakistan, Lahore or Islamabad. I loved Noorjehan’s voice but didn’t know much about Mehdi Hasan. While growing up I became a big fan of Pakistani music and regularly used to listen to it on radio but didn’t know about all the singers. ...

“kaun sahab nu aakhe ke inj nahi inj kar” (Literal translation is: Who can dare tell God that do it like this, not like that ?) How truly someone has put it in just a few words. A very very sad day for music and the music lovers. The “one man army”, the captain of Indian Ghazal singing Jagjit Singh is no more. And even sadder is the thing that there is no-one to carry forward his legacy. His untimely demise marks the end of an era in the Indian music. There is no one like him, of the same status, same repute. In our sub continent also, there are very few names; Mehdi Hasan already stopped singing due to his health. At this moment the singing in 2 countries was being headed by Ghulam Ali & Jagjit Singh and one of them just left us. I can’t describe in words what a tremendous loss it is. Only a month back, we saw him perform live with Ghulam Ali and I was not at all happy with his performance and complained a lot about it. Because I wanted him to sing the classics he created. I feel lucky to have seen him perform live thrice in my life. I can’t just accept that he is no more with us. ...

Just got back after watching Ghulam Ali & Jagjit Singh live in concert at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi. It probably was for the first time that both were coming together on a single stage. The concert started with Ghulam Ali and as usual he was amazing. He started with faasle aise bhi honge and then went on to sing dil mein ek lehar si uthi hai abhi, chupke chupke, legendary Ahmed Faraz’s phir kisi rahaguzar par shayad, hungama hain kyon barpa and so on . And believe me it was an amazing performance. If someone is there after Mehdi Hasan, he is Ghulam Ali. After one and half hour Ghulam Ali freed the stage for Jagjit Singh ...

Most of the Indians go to see live concerts because: They are the people with approach and can manage to get free VIP passes and all. They are from rich section of the society and can manage to buy tickets (if any). Attending live concerts is a feel good thing and a bit of fun. The real fans of artists are generally sitting in last rows, or even worse; standing. The folks sitting in VVIP and VIP sections are the the output of above 3 points. Anyways yesterday night there was a live concert of Ghulam Ali and me and 2 of my friends were ready to enjoy and had high hopes. So we got the tickets well in advance to avoid any “not available” etc etc situation. The time printed on the ticket was of 7 PM and 2 other singers were supposed to perform before Ghulam Ali. So we reached the venue around 6:15 to find that they had just started to setup the stage and other stuff. Nothing much strange as India runs like that only. Finally after 8 PM they started entering people and we got good seats. Weather was being tricky and a rainfall was a sure thing to happen. Finally things started moving a bit and it started drizzling as well. They introduced some local signer on stage and he left after singing 1 song. Then came the two expected ones; a man and a lady and till then it was no more drizzling; it was raining. Things continued but people were waiting for Ghulam Ali only. ...