Nobody can sing his songs like him ...says former singer Chitra Singh, wife of the late ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh as she curates a musical tribute on his first death anniversary on October 10

Nobody can sing his songs like him

...says former singer Chitra Singh, wife of the late ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh as she curates a musical tribute on his first death anniversary on October 10

Former singer Chitra Singh has organised a show for her late husband, ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh, on his first death anniversary on October 10. And though she maintains a firm “no” when asked if she will be performing, she reveals that she has restored some of the unreleased songs by her late husband which will be released at the event. Excerpts from the interview: Why did you decide to organise a show on your own? A grand tribute was organised on his birth anniversary (February 8) early this year in the city. And though there were around 18-20 singers and musicians who were playing his compositions, it disturbed me. As it is, his songs are hard to perform by anyone. Nobody can sing them as well as he did. I realised that there was no thought put into the selection of the songs. Which is why I decided to organise a show where I could pick the songs and the performers. Tell us more about the show... From conceptualising the programme, to designing the sets, finalising the artists and the songs that they’ll be performing — I’ve done everything. I will choose who I want to have in the show. Who are the artists who are a part of it? There are five musicians who will be performing Jagjit’s compositions — Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma (santoor), Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia (flute), Anup Jalota, Sonu Nigam and Shankar Mahadevan. Actor Farooq Shaikh will be hosting the show. How did you decide on these five artists? Based on their voice calibre and range, I calculated the compositions that they would do justice to. Even Pt Shiv Kumar and Pt Hari Prasad will be playing the tunes that I picked. All five of them have been really kind and forthcoming, and made no complaints about my selections for them. One hears that you’re also launching a collection of his unreleased songs… Yes. A fan-friend of Jagjit called Sanjay Tayal from Ahmedabad contacted me and told me that he had recorded some live concerts of his. These songs are unrecorded and unreleased, and since they were recorded live, there was a lot of background noise to them. I worked hard to restore these songs in the studio.