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| Jagjit Singh for South Africa concert tour  The world's foremost ghazal singer from India, Jagjit Singh, has announced that he will be performing in three live concerts in South Africa in January 2006. This is part of his current world tour which started in July 2005 in Singapore, where he performed at the famous Esplanade. Since then he has performed to sold out concerts in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK which included performances at the Sydney Opera House, Australia, and the Wembley Arena in UK. Jagjit Singh is a musical superstar, an artiste who almost single handedly revived the flagging fortunes of the ghazal as an art form for our times. Correctly known as the 'Godfather of Ghazal', Jagjit Singh has transcended the barriers of language to endear this poetic form to even those who cannot understand its lyrics, but who can respond intuitively to its wistful description of the human condition. In recognition of his work, the Government of India conferred the 'Padma Vibhushan' award upon Jagjit Singh in 2003.The name 'Jagjit Singh' has been ringing in the ears of millions of music lovers all over the world for over three decades. His baritone voice rendering the finest of poetry by poets like Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir, Sudarshan Faakir, Kaif Bhopali, and Javed Akhtar, amongst others, have set a particularly high standard by which other aspirant ghazal singers have been judged. He has over 60 albums to his credit across a range of international music labels. His ghazals such as 'Ahista Ahista', 'Tum ko dekha to ye khayaal aya', 'Who kagaz ki kashti', 'Har Taraf har jaga' have evoked feelings from his listeners spanning the total realm of emotions from grief to ecstasy. Legendary film playback singer Lata Mangeshkar says in the foreword in his biography 'The world of music would not be complete without ghazals. The world of ghazals would not be complete without Jagjit Singh. His contribution to the world of music is unique.' His live performance is very similar to the jazz format, allowing his musicians carte blanche to improvise. This bears testimony to the fact that no two Jagjit Singh concerts are ever the same. The organizers are sparing no expense in making the South African tour a memorable experience. They have selected of the best auditoria in the country and will have their own sound engineers from India attending to the technical duties. ?Given the caliber and perfectionist nature of Jagjit Singh and our experience in staging his concerts worldwide for over 20 years, we are not prepared to compromise on the offering to the South African audience who have been die hard fans of Jagjit Singh since the early 80's, says Pankaj Kodesia representing New Delhi based company Hype Events. The South African tour is co-produced by Inner Circle Entertainment, who recently also produced the highly acclaimed concert series 'Raga on 120 Strings', featuring world renowned santoor player Rahul Sharma and sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee. The dates of the South African concerts are: Durban: Friday 27 January 2006 at Auditorium A, Durban International Convention Centre Cape Town: Saturday 28 January 2006 at Auditorium 1, Cape Town International Convention Centre Johannesburg: Sunday 29 January 2006 at Linder Auditorium, University of Witwatersrand, Parktown Ghazal is essentially a poetic genre, which has a strong tradition of singing attached to it. It deals with the whole spectrum of human experience but its central concern is love. 'Ghazal' is an Arabic word, which literally means 'talking to the beloved'. The form of the Ghazal originated in Iran in the 10th century. When Persian gave way to Urdu as the language of poetry and culture in India, the ghazal, the fruit of Indo-Iranian culture found its opportunity to grow and develop around the 13th century. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |