24.2.10

Ek Hi Khwab, Bhupinder Singh

Bhupinder Singh’s voice is not the kind you listen to without a good two drinks down and a couple more in the waiting. But when, in the dead of night, a night before a final exam, AIR flashes a rare melody from Kinara (1976), memorising anything skips your agenda gladly.


Ek Hi Khwab is not a song. It isn’t a ghazal. Not even a nazm, really. It is a rant. A tease. The question is can you take it? Or worse, can you get enough?

It took two years for some charitable clairvoyant to upload it on the internet, post the shareware boom. I’ve had the song on my iPod ever since it became available, and heard it every single day the past 17 months.

The tune reveals once more, the genius of Gulzar–Pancham. It also unleashes a little known fact: Hema Malini can also sing.

Sensuality in Ek Hi Khwab is so pure, it leaves you joyful ear-to-ear. What’s most remarkable is the peace that pervades your personage. It’s the kind of music you’d enjoy if you liked Apocalypta’s quiet bass version of the Metallica number – Nothing Else Matters. The melody, peace and profundity of poetry unite to deliver a most supreme piece of music. Almost dreamlike.

2 comments:

comingtoterms said...

you do love the word 'personage', don't you? :-)
now don't tell me i'm web-stalking you. congrats on your new blog. keep writing girl.

PrianCa said...

o heck, i just might be in love with it!