Remembering the ghazal king

The genre of ghazal is synonymous with the immortal name Jagjit Singh. After the legendary singer passed away, there began a spate of performances, as a tribute to him.

One such tribute was recently held for Delhiites where Zulfiqar Khan Sabri remembered Jagjit Singh through a journey of his ghazals in ‘Ruh-e-Ghazal’ at Siri Fort Auditorium.

The evening was warm and lovely with the auditorium half-filled with fans of Jagjit Singh, lending proof to the theory that had the veteran been there himself the audi would have been over-flowing till the roads outside. Yet, the enthusiasm was high among the listeners who gathered to hear soulful renditions of ghazals made popular by Jagjit.
As Zulfi Khan climbed the stage and in Jagjit Singh style proceeded to play the harmonium and began with Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi... the audience was lost in the memories of the ghazal maestro.

After gaining momentum, Zulfi presented some of the greatest hits of Jagjit Singh such as Teri khushbu mein base khat..; Ishq Ki Daastan; Jhuki jhuki si nazar; Choudavin ki raat mein and famous composition from Aamir Khan’s Sarfarosh, Hoshwalon ko khabar kya which received huge appreciation from the audience.

Popular for his ghazals and sufiana songs, Zulfiqar has established his own style of musical rendition and had begun performing at the age of 22 by singing Mehdi Hassan songs. He soon evolved with a pure style of his own. The similarity between his voice and that of Jagjit Singh was instantly noticed by all.

Now that Jagjit Singh is no more, Sabri feels a great responsibility to carry forward his legacy. Releasing his album, Zulfiqar Khan said, “The most endearing quality of Jagjit ji’s music is that he always managed to keep facets and essence of the ghazal intact without manipulating them. There are different genres of music such as rock, pop, jazz, classical and others, the one underlying link is that all kinds of music is related to God and to the soul. This soul is what attracts me to my kind of music.”

The singer then moved the audience with Hothon se choo lo tum; Sarakti Jaaye Hai and others. His performance also included a composition of Mirza Ghalib, Aah ko chahiye ek umr asar hone tak which left the audience mesmerised. However, some felt that the singer was better in his original voice than when he tried to sing like Jagjit Singh.
However, he did manage to please some of the legend's fans and was able to recreate the magic for them.