A great legend passes away

ROHIT CHATURVEDI (CA Final Student ) (2298 Points)

10 October 2011  

 

Ghazal king Jagjit Singh, the soul-stirring voice behind Hazaron khwaishe aisiYe kaghaz ki kashti and Jhuki jhuki si nazar, died this morning over a fortnight after he suffered brain haemorrhage.

Jagjit Singh

 

The 70-year-old singer, who alongwith his wife Chitra almost rediscovered the ghazal genre for common Indian in 70s and 80s, was admitted to the Lilavati hospital on September 23 and was in coma since then.

“Jagjit Singh passed away at 8.10 am after having a terrible hemorrhage,” said Dr Sudhir Nandgaonkar, hospital spokesperson, here.

The day he was admitted, he was supposed to perform at a concert at Shanmukhananda Hall, Matunga, in Mumbai but the programme was cancelled after he was taken ill.

Despite a surgery, his condition did not improve and he remained on life support.

Singh, a Padma Bhushan recipient, was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, on February 8, 1941.

After graduation, he shifted base to Mumbai, to explore career in the world of music. In the next decade and half, he earned nationwide fame as ghazal singer and music composer. He sang in several languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Nepali.

His personal life, though, was marked by a tragedy: His only son, Vivek, died in a car accident in 1990 when he was just 18.

REST IN PEACE