I always loved Asha Bhosle. Today, she turned 75. And she is still reinventing. To list Asha favourites won’t work for me. Instead, I will present one of those songs that are rarely lauded. Listen to it carefully. It is pitched so perfectly. The pathos, the pining. Unlike Umrao Jaan where she sang at one pitch lower, as suggested by director Muzaffar Ali, to add depth to the rendition and perhaps also to the lyrics, here she has retained her normal range and just followed the slower tempo to give us this beauty.
It is true that O.P.Nayyar brought out the best in her during the early days and later R.D.Burman. But this S.D.Burman composition penned by Shailendra is sensitive without being overly cloying.
Ab ke baras
FV:
ReplyDeleteDoes she figure in your list of Top-3 playback singers? Over Shamshad Begum!
PS:
ReplyDeleteYou are putting me in a very uncomfortable position...well, Shamshad is the BIG other voice. Asha tops in taking the conventional to new heights.
One also has to think about the volume. Where would I fit in Zohrabai Ambalewaali? Rajkumari?