“I know he’s around and gives me strength,” she says looking at the huge frame of Jagjit reflecting the diya she has just lit. But Chitra seems more in control of herself than ever before. Having lost her two children, Vivek and her daughter from her first marriage Monica Datta (50) in a span of two decades, the vacuum only grew after she lost husband Jagit last year. A ghazal from his upcoming album The Master And His Magic, which she has compiled for release on October 10, Jagjit Singh’s first death anniversary, says Chitra sums up her journey with him: Dil mein aaj dard-e-mohabbat ke siwa kuch bhi nahin, Zindagi teri ibadat ke siwa kuch bhi nahin”Ĭhitra Singh’s life has been more tragedy tinged than all the pain condensed in her ghazals. But she remained intrinsic in his life and art in his lifetime and even after. After losing their only son Vivek Singh (18) in a road accident, Chitra ‘lost her voice’ in 1990 and receded in the shadows. The pair grew iconic through the ’70s and ’80s, triggering a trend of ‘couple singers’ but remained peerless till Chitra turned silent one day. The yin to his yang was provided by wife and singer Chitra Singh with whom his synergy was nothing short of lyrical ecstasy.
He not only simplified the ghazal but also made it hummable. Jagjit handpicked verses of Urdu stalwarts like Mirza Ghalib, Mir Taqi Mir, Daagh Dehlvi right upto Nida Fazli, gave them a raga-based richness along with modern instrumentalisation and set human angst to tune.
They spoke of the rites of passage – of love and longing, dreams and dejection, hope and spirituality. What truly has made them ‘unforgettable’ (also the name of their largest selling album) was the fact that their renditions were not merely about sharab, shabab and shama. In the annals of Indian music the husband-wife duo will be eulogised for retrieving the ghazal from the durbars of the nawabs and bringing it in our homes.
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