It is indeed a great pity that politics stood in the way of preventing a devoted friend of ghazal king Jagjit Singh to perform in Mumbai –just because he is a Pakistani. The cancellation of Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai in memory of Jagjit Singh under pressure of the Shiv Sena must have hurt millions of hearts all over the sub-continent. Ghulam Ali said he was deeply hurt but not angry because these are passing phases. Ghulam Ali said that India was his second home and Jagjit Singh was like a brother. He also revealed that out of his four best concerts up to date, three were held in India and only one in Pakistan. And Kolkota was one of those three places. No wonder Mamata Bannerji immediately extended an invitation to him to sing in Calcutta. He has accepted Kejriwal’s invitation to sing in Delhi.
The day was October 10, 2011.Thousands in Pakistan mourned the singer who was to have performed with Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali the same day he suffered the haemorrhage. Ghulam Ali then exclaimed:’I was in Lahore when my sister called me from Mumbai to tell me that Jagjit had passed away…We performed together at the Talkatora Satdium in Delhi on December 3 (2010)’. Pakistan’s folk and ghazal singer Shaukat Ali said: ‘Jagjit would not only sing poetry but would paint it for us through his rendition. If we call Mehdi Hasan the Emperor of Ghazal, Jagjit was the King of Ghazal’“Jagjit Singh was instrumental in bringing ghazals to my generation,” Pakistani ghazal singer Tina Sani said in Karachi. And Shiv Sena says that Pakistanis don’t care for our artistes!
In the past too we have lost great singers, may be greater ones too. But when they left, there were others to keep flying the banner of soulful music. But with Jagjit Singh it seemed as if the soul of music was dead. There is none around so great as he who may fill in the gap—not immediately at least. He seemed to be the last of the pillars of melody who brought about a harmonious blending of the past with the present. He seemed to be a running stream of pure music, bringing gems and emeralds of our traditional treasure and gushing forward with them towards new goals, new horizons with such grace as to leave the listener spellbound. He will always remain alive. The man may be dead. The legend lives.
