Singing a New Tune

Anita Singhvi is a ghazal singer who is fortunate enough to have a ready audience of political bigwigs. The wife of lawyer and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Anita’s concerts are generally well attended by those who matter (her last album was released by Congress president Sonia Gandhi). She is now set to release her fourth album Tajjali (Sa Re Ga Ma) — in July. “People think that connections help and I agree because initially they do,but after a while people will stop inviting you to sing if you are not talented enough,” says Singhvi who has over 200 concerts to her credit.

The latest,a nine-track Sufi album with poetry of famous Sufi saints like Hazrat Amir Khusro,Nizamuddin Auliya and Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti,is composed by Anita and Anjali Banerjee,a former disciple of Begum Akhtar. “Some tracks are regular Sufi numbers like Allah hu that we’re all familiar with,” says Anita,whose tryst with music only began after marriage. “There is no language as beautiful as Urdu,” she adds,“I’m lucky to have discovered it through music.”