'I hope the romantic era is back soon'

The melody queen of the nineties, Alka Yagnik, who was in the City recently, wants the romantic era in Bollywood to return and hopes that the phase of item numbers will be over soon.

“This is my first big concert here. I have come to the City a few times earlier, but never had the time to explore it. Hopefully, I will be able to do some sight-seeing this time,” she says. The romantic era of the nineties may be over but the songs rendered by Alka remain timeless.

“It is just a phase, the Hindi film industry is going through the item number phase and it will pass. I am not critical of it. Playback singers now have a different tonal quality and a lot of variations in their voice. The tonal quality that we have is fit for romantic numbers,” she explains.

Ask her about the City and she says, “Bangalore is cooler than other cities. I also like the parks and gardens and I am looking forward to visiting some of the famous ones.” Music clearly has been her only passion and all her projects, whether it is judging a reality show or training contestants have been woven around music.

“Music is the centre of all my plans. I love performing across the country, listening to good music and rendering some good pieces,” she adds. She says the current crop of musicians cater to the latest trends.

An artiste today has technology on his or her side and things are easier now. “Earlier, in a movie, out of nine songs, seven were romantic numbers and one or two were songs of a different genre.

Now, out of five songs, three are item numbers and two romantic songs are added to break the monotony. Singers today are singing different kinds of songs,” she explains. “I don’t want to pinpoint any song and tag it as my favourite.

All the songs that I have sung are close to my heart and I cherish the memories. The audience gets to decide the favourites,” she says.

She says technology has introduced a whole new style for recording a song. “Earlier, the  singers recorded the songs together in the studio, so we could enjoy the reactions of our co-singer.

Now, the songs are recorded in parts and we don’t get to experience the other person’s reaction. I miss these things now,” she says.