Dial M for Mangeshkar and you will get Music

 As I look at my twitter feed, listening to the music of the legend, I have a smile on my face and tears in my eyes. Of course, the world of music is poorer today and the void created cannot be and will never be filled. But my tears are just accompanying the ironic smile on my face. It was Basant Panchami yesterday. The day of Ma Saraswati. I restarted my Hindustani Classical training yesterday and the incarnation of Ma Saraswati went to her heavenly abode today. This time I will not stop, my learning will continue, but its just ironic. Or so I think and feel, and some of you who know me will know why this irony is so strong for me.

In one of her earlier interviews, she had said that devotional music was amongst her favourites. I am musically a pauper compared to her, but I also really enjoy that genre. In fact, when I started singing weekly bhajans about two years ago, it was also because her rendition of “Allah Tero Naam” was looped in my head. Knowing my keen interest in devotional music, just before Nani passed away, that is one song Guruji had started teaching me. This was in addition to the knowledge of the ragas and Riyaz that I was getting under his tutelage. As I started to sing the bhajan, I would listen to her rendition of the same multiple times a day. Other than her voice and intonations what struck me was how one could never hear her breathe while singing. Notice it. She is amongst the rarest of singers who while singing do not let their breath hit the microphone. Apparently, she would turn slightly away from the recording instrument and then inhale. What dedication to the art!

As hard as I try and recall, I cannot remember my first Lataji song. What I do have is a vivid memory of the two LPs that I played very regularly. One is a recording of her live performances with the legendary Mukesh and the other one is that of her live performance at the Royal Albert Hall. I still have both the LPs and had to share this picture from the first one, which is her tribute to the singer she called an older brother. This LP introduced me to one of my all-time Lataji favourites, “Aap Ki Nazaron Ne Samjha”. The lyrics somewhere depict what love means to me and her rendition makes that emotion extremely palpable. Madan Mohan who was the music director for this song incidentally was also the composer of her last full album as well – Veer Zara. The song “Tere Liye Hum Hain Jiye” from Veer Zara awakens every pore in my body and every corner of my soul. Her voice conveys the deep emotion of love so well that I can feel that love in my own bones! 

The second LP had two songs that have stuck with me all through – “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” is the first. In fact, one of the weekends, I thought I could try and sing this bhajan and then had to acknowledge how far I am in my journey to be able to attempt this song. So, respecting her kala I did not even venture to attempt the first line. The second one is “Ehasaan Tera Hoga Mujh Par” from Junglee. The profound lyrics come alive with her soulful rendition. This one I tried to attempt (even my attempt to try was meek) and shared with Apyrrhicvictor. A very dear friend who understands music and revels in it as much as I, he is the only one I feel I can share some of these recordings with. He is honest and gentle in his feedback, and I am not scared of being judged by him. In almost two decades of friendship, he must have been done with judging me multiple times over! 

One movie that I can watch multiple times over is the Hrishikesh Mukherjee directed “Chupke Chupke”. C Ramachandra has just lit the plot with his absolutely perfect scores. However, I can never get over the title track, “Chupke Chupke Chal Ri Purvaiya”. Lataji sung it with such ease, that the grace with which the melody envelopes the sublime lyrics is purely prepossessing. It’s been a song that has always inspired me to have control in my singing. She had this innate command on music and voice where she could just use control to convey the emotion. No intonations, no murkhis, no alaaps. Just pure simple controlled rendition and the song seemed to be from another planet. That is exactly how she could invoke the patriotism of millions of Indians when she sang “Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon”. She used the right amount of softness and force in various parts of the song so that the listener feels the call to duty, the pain and the valour all in that span of a few minutes. I remember watching Indian Idol recently where one of the contestants had brilliantly sung a Lataji classic. While commenting on the performance, one of the judges said that while he could not take away the stunning capability of the performer her real challenge would be to bring about the same emotions without having Lataji’s rendition as a guide. And how true he was. Very few singers have been able to get this control right.

In fact, as I write this, the other melody that comes to mind is the beautiful “Gudiya Hum Se Roothi Rahogi” from the film Dosti. It’s a song that Sequoia and I often sang to the pampered Bonsai and later to our Mini Mouse when she would get upset. The playful innocence with which Lataji sang that song really captured the emotions of a mother trying to cajole a sulking child. Throughout childhood it was a fun song to sing and tease Bonsai when she would needlessly mope or brood. The music of this song was given by the duo of Laxmikant – Pyarelal. Between 1963 – 1998, Lataji recorded 712 songs with them which is the highest number of compositions she sang with any music director. If we are counting then her top 3 music directors after Laxmikant – Pyarelal were Shankar Jaikishan (453), R.D. Burman (327) and C Ramachandra (298) with Kalyanji Anandji at a close 297 next.

Lataji with Shankar Jaikishen gave us some absolute classics that are evergreen and of course “Ehsan Tera Hoga Mujh Par” is at the top. But one other hauntingly melodious creations of the trio, for me, is “Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh”. This is another song where Lataji has empowered the melody and incorporated control to convey more than what the lyrics could. Another one is from the movie Saanjh Aur Savera. While Suman Kalyanpur has sung some of the songs from the film no one could have sung “Manmohan Krishna Murari” like Lataji did. The unconditional devotion pours out of every note. This is one bhajan that I have been singing regularly now because it is attemptable, and her singing is just inspirational.

“Bekhudi Mein Sanam” is a song I recently recorded as I had to sing it to get out of my system. I had been humming it incessantly and once when accidentally my mic was on during a zoom meeting. Embarrassed to the core, that I night I sung it finally. Obviously, it is no patch on the original, but it is a great example of the nostalgic classics that we got when Lataji sang with Kalyanji Anandji. The other one being “Chandan Sa Badan” a song in raag Yaman that I attempted just last night! 

One of my all-time favourite Bollywood soundtracks is Aandhi. This is RD Burman’s pinnacle in my view. And this album would not have been what it is without Lataji. The call to love with “Is Mod Se Jaate Hain” to the acknowledgement of love with “Tum Aa Gaye Ho” and finally the acknowledgement of the longing for love with “Tere Bina Zindagi Se”. None of these songs would have their souls had it not been Lataji breathing life into them. What an incredible voice and musical talent house she was! It seems unbelievable that she has transcended to be with the Gods, the creators of music. Think of it, while she sang for RD Burman, she also sang for his great father SD Burman. Remember "Katon Se Kheench Ke Ye Aanchal" and the "Guide" soundtrack? She also sang for mothers and daughters - Tanuja and Kajol are one example!

As we moved to Bombay, we had the absolute fortune of attending her last live concert in the city. There was a massive live orchestra and then there was the much anticipated performance of “Ye Kahan Aa Gaye Hum” with the Bollywood numero uno Amitabh Bachchan. Shiv-Hari are classical maestros, and they outdid themselves in scoring the songs of “Silsila”. The music is a class apart! When the orchestra played the opening notes my toes started tingling, but I will never ever forget the sensation that shot through me when Lataji started singing this song. I have always been very partial to this song. It was this melody that made me want to visit Keukenhof and as an MBA student I saved for a trip to visit the Tulip Gardens. That day, walking through the rows of flowers, I kept listening to Lataji’s live performance of this song. At every step of life she seemed to have been there with the music, with her voice.

It sounds silly as I am even thinking of writing this next bit, but however stupid it may sound, given the vast repertoire of bhajans and Bollywood classics that Lataji had garnered I never even thought about hearing her work in her native Marathi. A few years ago, a friend shared her music collection on a thumb drive. She is an ardent music lover and a Maharashtrian so of course I had the opportunity to skim the surface of Marathi music. And in that came a beautiful Sant Dyaneshwar composition “Mogara Phulala”. I was completely soaked in this composition. Speaking to my friend I realised that while the voice was that of Lataji, the music was composed by her brother Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar. The entire family is blessed by Ma Saraswati and today I pray that she grants them the strength to carry on without the matriarch.

If I do not make a deliberate attempt, I will not stop penning today. How can one when she has sung some 30,000 songs in 36 languages, across genres and generations! But I have to stop. 

As I paid my last respects to this musical genius and goddess, what struck me was stuning. Maybe my restarting my training yesterday was very timely because I had her blessings while she was here on this planet. My eyes are still moist, and my smile remains but the smile is no longer of irony but of gratitude. 

They say that the soul takes a few days to transcend from this mortal world to the abode of the Gods. Any attachments, here, make that transition difficult. I pray that the love that the nation has for Lataji makes it easier for her to reach the abode of Ma Saraswati so that she can bless us all forever and ever. So filled with deepest of gratitude, I thank her for the music that she has blessed us with.