Keeper of timeless melodies
Aditi Tandon

Jagjit Singh is back where he belongs

Jagjit Singh’s music has survived many a season. It has seen the charm of spring and the dullness of autumn. In the end, it has returned to inspire generations with its rustic feel – the feel you get when you are close to the earth. It is this earthiness that makes Jagjit Singh what he is – the keeper of timeless melodies. And no matter how hard his adversaries try to write him off, he keeps coming back to weave magic and present himself in a fresh mould.

Today, he is in Chandigarh to share with admirers his legacy of gold. The concert, being organised by Durga Das Foundation, brings back memories of the days when Jagjit was hailed as the toast of his college in Jalandhar. "We would win all music competitions. Our contenders would get jitters at our sight," the maestro says. But things were not so rosy always.

Jagjit Singh, the legend, had his share of struggles. His earliest memories go back to Bikaner, where his father was posted. "During the kite season, buying kites was a luxury. So we would look for those that were cut and retrieve them so that we could fly them. Radio too was a luxury. I remember going for walks with my father and listening to news on the radio others were carrying," Jagjit Singh has admitted in his biography, released recently.

Even as a child, Jagjit would never miss his favourite music programmes on the radio, no matter how much effort it entailed. He grew up to develop a craze for Talat Mahmud and to cherish the music of Madan Mohan. As a youngster, Jagjit would spend most of his time listening to songs. In his words, "Listening to classical music on the radio was like a hidden education in my sub conscious."

Then came the frenzy of student days when he won countless awards. The first motivation to make it big came from his friends, who would make him sing all night and tell him what magic he could weave with his voice. From Jalandhar to Mumbai, Jagjit’s journey was only beginning. He stayed a few days at Gope House on the Elphinstone Road in Mumbai. And his daily routine would include taking the road to Church Gate, hover around Gaylord, and stop over at Asiatica for a cup of tea.

The one golden spot in his otherwise dull days was the chance meeting with Chitra Singh, then a student of Mahinderjit Singh, for whom the two then recorded ghazals. In his memoirs documented by Pankaj Kodesai in Beyond Time, Jagjit Singh speaks about his marriage to Chitra: "We married in 1970 for a grand sum of Rs 30. Our tabla player organised the priest. Bhupinder Singh (the singer) came with garlands and sweets. No drama, no reception, no presents – just two minutes and we were man and wife," Jagjit writes.

This simplicity couldn’t but shine through his music, which went reached its pinnacle in The Unforgettables. Soon, the couple was presenting concerts across the world; their son Vivek (nicknamed Bablu) by their side. But the destiny was not going to smile at them forever. Tragedy struck when they lost their only son to a road accident. Jagjit went into hibernation, only to emerge stronger and better. He is on record: "After Bablu’s death, I stopped singing for a month. It took me six months to give my first concert. But I was rehearsing with the tanpura. I told myself that I must live. In some quarters it was being said that I was finished."

But that was far from true. With Someone Somewhere, Jagjit made a remarkable comeback to silence his critics. Ever since, the maestro has been on the path to rediscovery though he could never get Chitra to sing again. But that has been no deterrent for Jagjit, who went on to lend his voice to the lyrics of eminent poets including former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and now Gulzar. In between, he received the Padma Bhushan from President APJ Abdul Kalam.

Everything done, he is back in Punjab, where he belongs. At the Durga Das Foundation, for whom he has sung for a decade, he is a patron. Atul Khanna, the foundation in charge, says, "With Jagjit, we have a family relation. His commitment to this region is immense and he wants the Foundation to scrap new talent and bring it to the fore. He has been regularly meeting the children of World School in Sector 26, where we have named the sports complex after his son Vivek."

Few would know, but Jagjit is a strong votary of encouraging sports among children. He himself unwinds at the race course, looking at horses and being among them. "It’s a break from music. You get to recharge your batteries there," says the maestro, whose concert at Nehru Bhavan, Sector 26 today, has been as much awaited as those in the past.