Lata Mangeshkar, the singing nightingale of India

Feb 01, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Th Singing Nightingale of India has sung her last song, crooned her last symphonic melody to man and hymn to the gods of music, taken her last bow on the earthly stage that she has dominated for the incredible span of eight decades. The superlatives cascade like a rushing torrent for this saint of a singer, who thrilled audiences throughout India, and resonated all the way over here to the other side of the world in Guyana, Trinidad, and Suriname. Even in Western societies, the grandeur of her singing style and voice, cut many to pieces, which speaks volumes to her broad, almost global, appeal, and the enchantments that she brought to tens, if not hundreds, of millions, of listeners worldwide. It may not be inaccurate to say that her admirers numbered hundreds of millions.
In a world of hits and misses, egos and eccentrics, excesses and gaudy showmanship, Lata Mangeshkar let her voice and the melody of her marvelous voice ring into the ears and hearts of countless many. What a singer, she was. What a performer in the simple graceful lines of her clean-cut delivery, the soaring trilling power of her crescendos. Lata possessed a voice and a range, a skill to make even the most stony-hearted melt in surrender and weep with joy.
There have been comparisons to other lesser mortals. But how can there be a comparison with one who is an immortal, gifted with peerless powers of crooning and warbling that just did not have its equal in her time, and perhaps for all time to come. All India mourns for her in a national outpouring of loss and grief, who to some was just a voice on the radio to those who had one, a playback singer of rare, delightful allure. It was a sign of her talents, her envy generating versatility that Lata was able to work smoothly with a succession of giant Indian composers and arrangers in the charmed Bollywood circle that does not have much patience with pretenders and mediocrity, but who were quick to recognise genius when they saw it, and most of all heard it close up in the person of Lata Mangeshkar.
Indian music maestros in the calibre of men like Laxmikant-Pyarelal and R.D. Burman and S.D. Burman, among others, came into close contact with this singing sensation, and reaped the benefits of many movie outings with her providing the sweet, out of this world sounds that came to be associated with her voice and her prolific output. In her own words, Lata said she can’t “believe I have been tolerated by music lovers for 75 years.” In recognition of her long and outstanding contribution to music, she was awarded the highest civilian honour that her country of birth, India, could have given. Most astonishing of all is that she was similarly honoured with its highest civilian honour by France of all places. As we say this, we remember that the French have an ear, eye, and deep appreciation for the cultural heights, which Lata personified and delivered in spades without letup. In fact, it is a tribute to her musical stature that Lata, this almost exclusively Hindi language singer, could have enjoyed favourable receptions and wide followings in largely Muslim Pakistan and Bangladesh.
In Guyana, she had and would still have her legions of admirers and followers, for whom even her passing does not cut the cord, does not make a difference; once that voice is around on some musical channel or medium, then she will be thrilled to, and be a source of romantic nostalgia for the great memories that she instilled in many. Again, Lata’s almost incomparable ability, that near effortless ease, to cross boundaries and hurdle barriers, even without conscious effort, has its place and outcome right here in Guyana. We say this because there are some Afro Guyanese who could speak with admiration, if not awe, of ‘Dheere, dheere, machal’ one of her timeless classics that triumphed over the puny limits of time.
There is so much more that could be said of this grand lady of Indian music. We take our bow with heartfelt thanks for the moments that were pure magic.

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Lata Mangeshkar, the singing nightingale of India

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