HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY ASHA BHOSLE KAL… AAJ… HAMESHA
Versatility personified. Playback singer par excellence. Definitive Pop Diva. One would still fall woefully short of words to describe the genius of a singer called Asha Bhosle.
It is a well known fact that when Asha Bhosle sings, she simply sweeps you along on the gossamer wings of melody. This amazing wellspring of talent has been crooning for Hindi films for more than half a century now but almost 60 years and over 12,000 songs in many languages later, her voice still glows like a burnished jewel. Her voice is blessed with a felicity of expression and can consequently mould itself to encompass an eclectic range.
Asha's successes are not so surprising when you look at her family background. She was born to the illustrious Dinanath Mangeshkar on the 8th of September 1933 in the tiny town of Sangli, Maharashtra. The atmosphere at home in her formative years was one steeped in the glories of classical music. Asha learnt her first lessons in music from her great father and later Master Navrang and continued learning from her father's recordings after his demise. Her sister Lata Mangeshkar started very early and has achieved landmark fame as a singer. Much later her other sisters. Meena and Usha and brother Hridaynath also went on to achieve varying levels of fame in the world of music.
With such great inspirations at home, it was only natural for Asha to try her hand at playback singing. She sang her first song 'Chala Chala Navbala - for a Marathi film called 'Majba Bal' at the tender age of 11. Her first Hindi film song was for music director Hansraj Bebl for the film 'Chunariya' in 1946. In her early years, she had to face stiff competition from the legendary Geeta Bali and Shamshad Begum apart from her own elder sister. Her career skyrocketed in the mid and late so when music directors like O.P Nayyar, S.D. Burman and C. Ramachandra turned their attention to her voice. She had a whole surge of melodious bits picturised on reigning queens like Madhubala, Nutan and Vyjayantimala - noteworthy among them being 'Maang Ke Saath Tumbara’(Naya Daur) ‘Aaiye Meherbaan' (Howrah Bridge). 'Aadha Hai Chandrama' (Navrang) and 'Chhod Do Aanchal’ (Paying Guest).
By the time the sixties arrived, Asha had carved a big name for herself in the industry. She continued to belt out hit after bit, be it the seductive classic 'Ye Hai Reshmi Zulfonka Andbera' (Mere Sanam), the emotionally demanding 'O Panchhi Pyare' (Bandini), the racy 'Aaja Aaja' (Teesri Manzil) or even the Filmfare Award winning ‘Parde Mein Rehne Do' (Shikar). Asha's career saw a new high in the beady swinging 70s when she combined with the maverick genius of R.D. Burman to create some cult classics like 'Dum Maaro Dum’ (Hare Rama Hare Krishna) ‘Piya Tu Ab To Aaja' (Caravan) and 'Chura Liya’ (Yaadon Ki Baarat).
If one thought seductive numbers were Asha's forte, they were yet to witness one of her many creative peaks in 1980 with the much acclaimed 'Umrao Jaan' where she perfectly complemented Rekha's courtesan character in Khayyam's captivating compositions such as ‘In Aankhon Ki Masti’ and ‘Ye Kya Jagah Hai Dostson'. She got her first National Award for the evergreen 'Dil Cheez Kya Hai' from the same film. Her collaborations with R.D. Burman and Gulzar proved to be particularly fruitful in the mellifluous 'Ijaazat' - which also got her a second National Award for 'Mera Kuch Saaman’.
Despite the advent of a whole new breed of singers in the 90s, Asha Bhosle managed to keep her place under the sun. Her infectious joie de vivre sounded very convincing on the twenty something brigade like Kajol in ‘Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main’ (Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge), Karisma Kapoor in ‘Le Gayee Le Gayee' (Dil To Pagal Hai), Urmila in 'Rangeela Re’ and ‘Tanha Tanha' (Rangeela). Tabu in 'Rang De' (Thakshak) and Aishwarya Rai in ‘Kahi Aag Lage' (Taal). An entirely new generation of music directors like A.R.Rahman and Jatin Lalit were now making good use of the magic in Asha's voice.
If her achievements in film playback singing sound legendary, her accomplishments in other genres of music are even more spellbinding. In 1982, she recorded her first non film ghazal album called "Meraj-e-Ghazal" with Pakistani legend Ghulam Ali.
Sarod Maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan chose her to learn and perform rare musical compositions from his Seni gharana, passed down and known only to him, by virtue of which only she can keep alive the musical traditions of Mia Tansen, Bahadur Khan and Ustad Allauddin Khan. Their first album together, aptly titled Legacy, received a prestigious Grammy nomination in 1997, making Asha the first Indian popular singer to receive this rare honour.
The advent of 'Indipop in the mid 90s saw the emergence of a different facet of the very versatile Asha with big selling albums like ‘Rahul and I’, and ‘Janam Samjha Karo’. She went on to win the MTV Viewers' Choice Award for ‘Sona Re ‘from ‘Rahul and I' and swept the Channel V Awards for 'Janam Samjha Karo’. Her album ‘Kabhi To Nazar Milao' with Adnan Sami was one of the biggest selling albums of the year 2000.
Asha's collaboration with international artistes is also in a league of its own. In 1985, she formed a pop group in London called The West India Company with Stephen Luscombe and recorded the hugely successful album 'Ave Maria Om Ganesh’ with techno whizkid Vince Clark of the group Eurasia. She also recorded the much acclaimed single "Bow Down Mister' with the famous Boy George. Her experiments with international artistes continued when she recorded with boy band Code Red in the mid 90s.
Apart from being a very talented singer, Asha Bhosle is a fascinating human being. She is a being of rare, undaunted energy, constantly busy, yet always exuding an air of cheery calm. When she is not recording or touring on work, she takes out time to browse through books and art galleries. She revels in life and in everything that life has to offer.
Asha Bhosle – The one and only - Forever
No wonder then that when a legend called Asha Bhosle decided to perform in front of a live audience after a gap of over 15 years, the nation sat up and took notice. The big day was the 25th of November 2000 and the venue for this landmark event was the SRPF Grounds, Mumbai. And when Asha Bhosle appeared from below the stage singing her National Award winning ‘Dil Cheez
Kya Hai' (Umrao Jaan), the thunderous applause of the 7000 strong audience refused to stop for a long while. What followed was over 3 hours of pure musical magic laced with a liberal dose of rare anecdotes from her long singing career. The multifaceted Asha regaled the crowds with a huge slice of her interaction with her sister Lata Mangeshkar, replete with memories of their childhood in interior Maharashtra. She relived heartwarming experiences with various stalwarts of the film and music business like the legendary S.D. Burman, his son and her soulmate - the late R.D. Burman, Helen and others. The music that was created was an enticing ensemble of the days gone by and recent chart busters. With 'Kaho Na Pyar Hai' star Babul Supriyo assisting with male vocals on some tracks, the evening was a fabulous feast for the die hard Asha buffs. The concert entered millions of living rooms across the globe on the 31st of December 2000 through a telecast on Sony Entertainment Television and was among the highest rated shows on that day.
That was one evening of musical magnificence. This album is Sony Music's bumble effort to capture those rare moments for posterity.
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