TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Singer, violinist to pay tribute to Indian ‘ghazal’ composer in Jakarta
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Indian composer and singer Shekhar Ravjiani sings ghazals, poetic songs with rhyming couplets and a refrain with each line sharing the same meter, during a concert accompanied by a keyboard player. (Teamwork Productions/File)
J
akartans who are into world music can look forward to enjoying a unique performance this week as Indian composer and singer Shekhar Ravjiani, along with violinist Deepak Pandit, will perform a tribute concert to the late Indian composer Jagjit Singh on May 6 at 7 p.m. in the Ciputra Artpreneur theater in Lotte Shopping Avenue, Kuningan, South Jakarta.
The “Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi…” concert was premiered in the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore on Sept. 9, 2016. The upcoming Jakarta show is part of the musician’s 2017 World Tour.
Ravjiani is a well-known singer who has composed soundtracks for over 65 films, including the 2013 action-comedy film Chennai Express starring Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan, with his partner Vishal Dadlani. He has also sung a number of songs, including “Radha” and “Meherbaan”, which have become popular in India and around the world.
He was trained in music by none other than Singh himself, along with Ustad Niaz Ahmed Khan. Singh, who was born in 1941 and died in 2011, was a composer well-known for the ghazals (poetic songs with rhyming couplets and a refrain with each line sharing the same meter) he wrote. Known as the ghazal king, the singer, composer and musician gained critical acclaim together with his wife, renowned Indian ghazal singer Chitra Singh.
Read also: Popular Indian character actor Om Puri dead at 66
Traditionally invoking melancholy, love, longing and metaphysical questions, ghazals are often sung by Indian, Afghan and Pakistani musicians.
Pandit, meanwhile, is a violinist who played with Singh for 23 years and arranged music in more than 70 albums for him.
During the 120-minute concert, Ravjiani is set to perform some of the most well-known ghazals penned by Singh, including “Hothon Se Cholo Thum”, “Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi…”, “Tumko Dekha” and “Tum Itna Jo”.
According to Ravjiani, he is very eager to play his very first Jakarta concert to transport the audience to a peaceful and harmonious world.
Read also: Indian airline to offer child-free 'quiet zones'
“We live in an era where people are constantly living in chaos; [people] are looking toward music and the arts to help them make sense of things. There is no better genre than ghazals to really speak to people and help them find peace,” Ravjiani told The Jakarta Post in an interview.
He said that when anyone listened to ghazal renditions, the music would take them on a poetic journey where the lyrics and music come together seamlessly to take listeners into a meditative state.
“The genre requires immense vocal control on the part of the singer. Clarity of voice and diction is of paramount importance,” the singer, who attended Singh’s more than 100 concerts, said.
Tickets to the concert are on sale from Rp 500,000 to Rp 2,700,000 per person. (kes)
