R.I.P: Mehandi Hassan

Ranjish hi sahi, dil hi dukhane
ke liye aa,
Aa phir se mujhe chhod ke jaane 
ke liye aa....

Mehdi Hassan, the famous ghazal singer passed away yesterday at the age of 84 and with him the curtain came down on the Dhrupad-style of ghazal gayaki. Though I don't claim to have heard him a lot, me being of an age where ghazal was a genre which was limited to sad, melancholic moments of hero, heroine of Bollywood. I know some of my colleagues and heard many celebrity claiming being obsessed by his songs. My knowledge of Ghazal has always remained limited to the likes of Jagjit Singh (another famous singer who passed away few months back) and Ghulam Ali, I can't help feeling sad about his demise and the void it created in Ghazal gayiki.


The heart rendering lyrics of the above lines are truly touching!





Tag: Songs, Singers, Maetros, Ghazal, India, Pakistan, Mehndi Hassan

Music, Musings and more

I was wondering the other day that I don't like melancholic songs anymore. Rather I hate them nowadays. When I was in college, I use to listen to gloomy cowboy songs a lot, as we know, country songs are usually about unrequited love ( girl leaving boy or vice versa). The best Hindi songs are usually about separations, if you know what I mean. In my college days, I use to love these sad romantic numbers a lot. Songs evokes such vivid tumultuous emotions, it's almost like you are living through that phase. Remember that song 'Lambi Judaai' (from Hero), isn't it depressing?. Well, it always managed to depress me. The music and the flute play of that song is so haunting and painful that it always use to leave me in despair. The lyrics is so heart rendering, that I always use to feel the pain seep up in my veins and honestly, I don't like being affected like that. Name any sad romantic song, I bet, it will have a long fan following. One of my friend use to cry every time she listened to "Ektara" from Wake Up Sid. I remember, we were on our way to give 3rd SEM MBA exam, when the driver played "Ektara" yes just to cheer our before exam nerves. Poor chap, he was unaware that he just stir up the hornets nest because after few second Sumati ( my friend) was literally started sobbing in her hanky, which eventually turned into a full fledged brawling.Songs are very tricky, they make you laugh, cry, dance, glow with their universal appeal. Also music tells you about the time gone by, about the moments you have lives, people who came & left. When I hear an old song playing from the creak of a door, this sudden rush of recognition reminds me of a time I've lived and left and this inward tear makes it all for the time gone by.

P.S. I remember one quote from "High Fidelity" ( a highly recommended book) by Nick Hornby. "What came first – the music or the misery? Did I listen to the music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to the music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?" — Nick Hornby


TAG: Music, Hindi Music, Nick Hornby, Lambi Judaai, Hero, College, Wake up Sid