Music & Lyrics

Five years is a long time to release a new album. “When you have no takers for your kind of music,then one has to prepare themselves for such long gaps,” smiles the young ghazal maestro of the country,Jaswinder Singh as he stops by town to release is new album under Saregama India Ltd,‘Ishq Nahin Aasaan’.

A look at his work,and it’s predominantly romantic,stringed in timeless writings of poets like Bekhud,Momin,Faiz Ahmed Faiz,Jigar Muradabai and Mirza Ghalib,all set to tune by his father,Kuldip Singh. “We are not producing poets like that anymore,” he rues,as he carries on the tradition of poetry,words that are so central to the entire existence of the art form called ghazal. “My forte is romantic poetry,and I try to simplify it so that the younger lot is able to understand and appreciate.” Through this,Singh is trying to keep a lost art form alive,saving it from a slow death. While concerts abroad get him accolades and larger,more tuned in audience,back home,Singh feels that ghazals need to be revived. “It’s not that easy,to learn ghazal singing. It takes eight to ten years of classical training,a lot of concerts,the perfection of zabaan and diction,and unfortunately,not many have the means or patience for it,” he says.

“I’m not promoting ghazal gayaki,I’m merely representing the new generation of ghazal singers,” says the velvet voice who will soon be seen in a music video of this one of his ghazals from the album directed by Raajeev Walia. “Adding more charm is ‘Rotiyan’,a meaningful nazm by Naseer Akbarabadi on hunger and the struggle for survival,” he adds.

For Singh,ghazal is all about love,expression,and most importantly,a balm that produces a calming effect on mind,body and soul. Carry on singing!