Jagjit Singh- giving people what they want

" Settling into his booklined study, he talks about the concert

Sunlight streams in from many open windows at the Breach Candy residence of ghazal singer extraordinaire Jagjit Singh. He gazes outside wistfully, lost in thought, then picks up a tanpura and launches into an impromptu piece. The drone of the instrument subsides, he smiles. It’s just a fraction of what’s in store for audiences at the Bandra Fort tomorrow at the Times of India Eid concert.

Settling into his booklined study, he talks about the concert. “I don’t do any preparation before a concert. I leave the technical details to the technical people. I just turn up and sing. When I sing, I judge the mood of the audience, the vibe and the feel of the place. Then I sing what they have come to hear,” he says.

Jagjit Singh is quite clear about that. “I don’t like films with four dances, two or three fights and two sex scenes. If somebody comes to me, I will have to check the song. Firstly, the lyrics have to be dignified. That means no vulgar double meanings. Then the melody should be nice and should fit my image.

There is genuine concern in his tone. He is not merely being dismissive or derisive. For he yearns to preserve and nurture that rich past lineage from which he hails. “I remember many evenings of poetry and music of old with my peers and contemporaries. With khichdi and chhole to satisfy hunger pangs afterward,” he recalls, adding,

Apart from his music, there is something else that he indulges in to the full, and that is horse racing. He’s mad about it. A huge stack of Cole books, and photos everywhere of him and his prize studs is evidence. “I own a few horses. I’m extremely passionate about that. But it’s not the most profitable of hobbies; You do it for the passion of it,” he says. ”