Ghazal Maestro, Jagjit Singh for South Africa concert tour

The worlds foremost ghazal singer from India, Jagjit Singh, has announced that he will be performing in three live concerts in South Africa in January 2006. This is part of his current world tour which started in July 2005 in Singapore, where he performed at the famous Esplanade. Since then he has performed to sold out concerts in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK which included performances at the Sydney Opera House, Australia, and the Wembley Arena in UK.

The organizers are sparing no expense in making the South African tour a memorable experience. They have selected of the best auditoria in the country and will have their own sound engineers from India attending to the technical duties. Given the caliber and perfectionist nature of Jagjit Singh and our experience in staging his concerts worldwide for over 20 years, we are not prepared to compromise on the offering to the South African audience who have been die hard fans of Jagjit Singh since the early 80s, says Pankaj Kodesia representing New Delhi based company HYPE EVENTS.

The dates of the South African concerts are:
Durban: Friday 27 January 2006 at Auditorium A, Durban International Convention Centre
Cape Town: Saturday 28 January 2006 at Auditorium 1, Cape Town International Convention Centre
Johannesburg: Sunday 29 January 2006 at Linder Auditorium, University of Witwatersrand, Parktown

Tickets to the concerts in all the 3 cities are priced at from R 150 to R 500 and would be available for sale from Wednesday 28 December from Computicket outlets nationwide, the Computicket Call centre on 083 915 8000 or online from www.computicket.com

Google to thrill with ghazals and geets

New Delhi, December 21, 2005

Soon your visit to the planet of music will be a click away. Not just rock and jazz, but all kinds of Indian music will also be made available on Google's newly launched music search.

With Google Music Search, finding all about your favourite artist and music has got even more easier. For instance, just typing Jagjit Singh on Google Music gives you not just information about the artist but also a list of all his songs, CDs, websites, photographs and even the latest news on him.

To top it all, there's a discussion forum through which you can join member groups to discuss your favourite artist's music. Google also provides snippets of reviews from sites on the web and links to those sites.

But information is not all that you are getting at Google. The new search also gives you a link to the places from where you can purchase or download music.

According to the Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, Marissa Mayer, "Google Music allows a person to type in the name of a band, artist, album or song in the main Google search bar special, and results will appear at the top, accompanied by icons of music notes."

"Items that can be purchased will have links to merchants for online ordering or downloading," she informs.

Google has tied up with some major merchant partners to facilitate buying of music. Currently, the partnership extends to Apple Computer's iTunes service, RealNetworks Rhapsody, eMusic and Amazon.com.

Musical reality shows are media gimmicks : Jagjit Singh

New Delhi: 21 Dec 2005

Rejecting the musical reality shows like 'Indian Idol' as ''populist gimmicks'' to improve the TRPs, noted Ghazal singer Jagjit Singh said the shows did not reflect the tradition of music in the country.

''Such shows are just media gimmicks and have got nothing to do with the real music traditions of the country. They are being used to increase TRPs,'' Jagjit Singh pointed out.

Observing that there is no shortcut to success in music, the noted singer said, ''one must learn the basics first before embarking upon a singing career.'' He also expressed concern over the growing impact of western culture upon the Indian way of life including music.

''We must not forget our culture,'' he stressed.

Emphasising the need for training and practise in the field of music, the renowned singer known for his soothing voice, said, ''I do 'riyaz' for about 4 hours daily.'' The singer was here to inaugurate a digital recording and production facility 'Tarang' over the weekend.

Prestigious Ghalib Awards conferred

New Delhi | December 16, 2005
  
Seven top Urdu literary figures including Fuzail Jafari and Kamal Ahmed Siddique were this evening conferred prestigious Ghalib Awards for this year, for their invaluable contributions to the promotion of Urdu fiction, drama, prose and poetry.

A Special Gahlib Award was conferred to ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh for popularising Ghalib's poetry through his Ghazals.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Gujral said these awards help the younger generation to remember the 'eternal' Ghalib and kept the Ghalib ideology alive.

The award distribution ceremony was followed by a musical programme, Sham-e-Ghazal by Jagjit Singh.

The MTV Immies 2005

Thursday, December 15, 2005
      
In the Special Category, the Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed upon Yash Chopra for his immense contribution to Indian music. The Best Fusion Album was won by the Medival Pundits who also gave a rocking performance at the post-event party. Padmashree Shree Jagjit Singh's Raat Khamosh Hai was the Best Ghazal Album this year. The award for the Best Classical Instrumental Album was given to Ustaad Amjaad Ali Khan along with Bismillah Khan. Noted classical singer Kishori Amonkar won this year's award for the Best Classical Vocal Album. Pundit Jasraj was declared the winner for the Best Devotional Album of the year.

Jagjit Singh Won IMMIES Award

MUMBAI, December 15

The show started with the blowing of trumpets and what followed was a riot of colours and yes… music. At the first ever Indian Music Excellence Awards, held under the aegis of MTV and the Indian Music Industry (IMI), on December 12, in Mumbai, the credo was fusion, fusion and more fusion. East met west as Danish percussionists Safri Duo and south Indian temple drummers set the mood with a high-octane performance, followed by fusion acts featuring Bombay Vikings and Falguni Pathak, Euphoria and Junoon, Punjabi MC, Rishi Rich Project and Outlandish.

Saif Ali Khan and Cyrus Broacha were the hosts for the evening at the event graced by stars such as Jackie Shroff, Abhishek Bachchan, Fardeen Khan, Karan Johar, Preity Zinta, Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan among others.

In the pop music category, Adnan Sami's Tera Chera won three awards - Best Male Pop Act, Best Pop Album and Best Video. Falguni Pathak was adjudged the winner in the category of Best Female Pop Act for Yeh Kya Jadoo Kiya, Babul Supriyo for Soochta Hun in Best New Non-film Talent and the Best Remix Video going to Kaanta Laga.

Lata Mangeshkar was given a special Inspiration Award for her contribution to music and playback singing in particular while Pankaj Udhas was the winner in the category of Best Ghazal Album, Jagjit Singh for Best Devotional/Spiritual Album, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi for Best Classical/Classical Fusion Album - Vocal and Rahul Sharma for Best Classical/Classical Fusion Album - Instrumental.

Jagjit Singh Live Concert at Calcutta

December 4 at Nazrul Mancha; 5 pm:

Sahanubhuti (Society for Caring for the Uncared) presents Ghulam Ali (ghazal) solo and a new concept to trio and solo by Jagjit Singh, Rashid Khan, Kushal Das (sitar) with Aninda Chatterji and Abhinav Upadhyay (tabla).

Jagjit Singh Live Concert at Mumbai

Sangeet Sammelan to celebrate golden jubilee

The 50th Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan 2005 will be held from December 7 to 31. So far, Sur Singar has presented on stage 4597 singers, vocalists, dancers and poets. It organises Kal-Ke-Kalakar Sangeet, Nritya Festival, Swami Haridas Sangeet, Acharya Bruhaspati Sangeet Sammelan, Kavi Sammelan, conference on classical music, exhibition of books on music, exhibition of musical instruments, shows of new experimental plays and film music awards.
Kal-Ke-Kalakar Sammelan is a 15-day festival, which includes classical vocal, instrumental, tabla and Bharatnatyam, Odissi, Kathak, Manipuri and Kuchipudi dances performed by talented young artistes from all over India. More than 100 singers, instrumentalists and dancers get a platform to perform in Mumbai.
Amjad Ali Khan, Gulam Mustafa Khan, Shivkumar Sharma, Munnawar Ali, Malati Pande, Abdul Karim, Suresh Wadkar, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Jagjit Singh, Debabrata Chaudhuri have all performed in this sammelan. Surmani, Taalmani and Singarmani titles are awarded the best talents.
Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan showcases India's best masters in vocal, instrumental music and dances. It was started in the name of Swami Haridas of Vrindavan who was Tansen and Baju Bawra's guru. He composed and wrote innumerable bhajans.
The Golden Jubilee year of Swami Haridas Sammelan is from December 7 to 31 and is a 25 day music and dance festival with top 100 artistes from India at Bhavan's College Campus, Andheri (W) from 6:30 to 100:00 pm. Free entry passes will be available at Bhavans Cultural Centre, Andheri (W) Munshi Nagar, Dadabhai Road, Andheri (W) from 1st December onwards between 10 am and 5 pm. For further details contact M.K. Patel 9322002677 or Lalit Varma 30938017.

Jagjit's Latest Song

MUSIC REVIEW OF SHIKHAR
....
....
Spiritually divine warmth of eternal serenity blossoms in the mellifluously pristine vocals of Jagjit Singh in soundtrack "Tu Hai Shikhar". God's adulation unravels through the affluences of Mother Nature sparkling its delightful blessing to mankind. It's thematically and poetically rendered soundtrack that forays the eternal divine light of the Almighty. Jagjit Singh's soft and sonorous along with instrumentally engineered chorus is simply magical and immortal. This versatile genius has been the hallmark of spiritually designed music and this adds to his strength.
...
...