By Mahesh Shah (April 7th 2012)
What an amazing voice? Ghazal lovers in the valley got a chance to enjoy this amazing style of poetry on Saturday, April 7 at the Piper Theater at Mesa Center of Arts thanks to Indo-American Cultural and Religious Foundation of Arizona (IACRF) and the Gas Station and Convenient Store Owners of Arizona (GSCSOA). The artist we are talking about is Jaswinder Singh. Jaswinder Singh is the most promising ghazal singer of this generation with a soft and silky voice and has proved his mettel as an artist who has ghazals in his blood. Literally so, as he is the son of famous music director Kuldip Singh of Saath Saath (Tum ko dekha to yeh khayal aaya),and Ankush fame (Itni shakti hamen de na data). Jaswinder primerily learned music under the watchful and selfless guidance of his father. Jaswinder got initial training in classical vocals from Pt Ajay Pohankar and continues to be under the tutorship of Dr. Sushila Pohankar. The ghazal maestro Late Shri Jagjit singh has also given lot of encouragement and has inspired Jaswinder’s work. After years of fine tuning , he has perfected the nuances of ghazal gayaki that differentiates the ordinary from the rare. As Jaswinder pointed out “Jagjit uncle” told him to sing ghazals from other singer but to make sure to sing in his own style and put his own imprint on the ghazal. Jaswinder Singh has also been awarded the Best Singer & has stood 1st in the Mega finals of the most popular of Zee TV’s musical program TVS Sa-Re-Ga-Ma. He is touring USA with a concert as a tribute to his mentor Late Shri Jagjit Singh.
He has sung for the film Train To Pakistan & Amritsar. He has sung for tele-serials like Naya Nukkad, Discovery Of India, Chitrahaar (DD1), Kacchi Kandh (Alpha punjabi), Ittafaaq (ZEE), Raja Ka Baaja (DD1), Supriya (SaabTV), Sarhad(Alpha Punjabi), Papa (B4U), RangShaala (Zee), Pani wich parchawaan (Alpha Punjabi), Amanat(Zee) and many more to follow. He also various albums “Jazba-e-Dil” “Yours Truly” “Dilkash” and “Ishq nahim asaan” amongst others. Currently Jaswinder singh is working on the release of his new album “ Arsh “ and forthcoming tours and concerts.
The concert began with Jaswinder Singh being introduced by an eminent valley resident Dr. Sachdev. Right from the start, he one over the crowd with stunning rendition of the famous Jagjit Singh Ghazal – Pyar ka Pahela Khat. From their he proceeded to Ghazals such as Tum ko dekha and git such as “Ye daulat phee lel” amongst other Jagjit Singh favorites. In between, he mixed his presentation with his own Ghazals, “Jo kisi par Fida Nahin hota” amongst others. Off course, no Ghazal concert is complete without rendition of ghazal by Mirza Ghalib. Jaswinder sang an amazing verison of Dil-e-nadan tujhe hua kya hai”. All in all, he kept taking requests from the audience and kept singing for over three and half hour. The concert was made possible by tireless effort of Mr. Subhash Thathi, Sam Sodhi, Manish Gupta, Rajeev Sethia and Mahesh Shah. The concert was sponsored by Coco-Cola®, Solar Tops, Phoenix Desi Sports Club, Valley Dreams, Radio Sri and AzIndia. It was a night that would be remembered by the Ghazal lovers for many months.
