Poet-academic Kalim Ajiz captured his reason for penning ghazals in a perceptive couplet:Woh jo shairi ka sabab hua woh mamla bhi ajab hua/Main ghazal sunaun hun isliye ke zamana usko bhula na de(The reason for my becoming a poet was a strange incident/ I say ghazals because people should not forget those painful incidents)Whatever the reason Ajiz or any other poet may have for writing ghazals, the fact is people have not forgotten them. Ghazal, the beautiful form of conveying tender, often romantic feelings, have survived the pulls, distractions and short attention span in our times.Keeping the flame of ghazal’s alive among the connoisseurs are a bunch of young singers.Post–legends like Mehdi Hasan, Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Udhas, pioneering couple Rajendra and Nina Mehta popular as “Musical Mehta’s”, the torch has been passed over to a bunch of young, energetic ghazal singers.
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Most of them come from non-Urdu, non-musical backgrounds, yet they have kept the genre alive and flourishing.Take Nihira Joshi. Coming from a traditional Maharashtrian family in Dadar, Joshi first performed solo when she was 16. “It was my urge to express human emotions which attracted me to ghazal singing. Joining legendary musicians Kalyanji-Anandji’s troupe “Little Wonders”, I got a platform which catapulted me to a challenging arena, ghazal singing. Learning Urdu helped in getting the perfect pronunciation and diction,” says Joshi.Singer-composer Tejas Gambhir grew up listening to the legends. His soulful renditions of ghazals, sufi songs and qawwalis have earned him a huge following. His live, immersive “Mehfil-e-Sufi” and qawwali nights, says, Gambhir, are inspired by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Ghulam Ali. He says Khan inspired him to present ghazals as qawwali numbers. “Nusrat sahab’s famous number Tumhein dil lagi bhool Jani paregi is actually a ghazal which he turned into a mesmerizing qawwali. So one kalam can be sung in different formats with the use of varried instruments,” says Gambhir. He places poet Krishna Behari Noor’s “Fursat ghamon se pana hai agar toh aao Noor/Sab ko karein salam chalo maikade chalein” among the ghazals he enjoyed singing.Maikada (tavern), sharab (wine) and saaqi (bartender) are strong metaphors frequently used in Sufi kalam and romantic ghazals. While the literal meaning of saaqi is the bartender, it could mean God too. Sometimes singers explain certain words during live performances,Many are “experimenting” and fusing with different genres in ghazals too. Singer-composer Prithvi Gandharv who became a household name with his participation in “Bandish Bandit”, a musical romantic drama web series, says new experiments are being done in the ghazal singing arena as well.“Jazz Ghazal is a genre gaining popularity today. Unlike the solo performances the past generations patronised in packed venues, now many singers sit on sofas accompanied by half a dozen instruments, including guitar on the stage,” says Gandharv.To some veterans, this fusion is nothing but “confusion”. “I hate words like experiment and fusion. Let ghazal remain ghazal. By blending sounds of different instruments and giving the ghazal mehfil the feel of a rock band, they are killing the soul of ghazal,” protests senior singer, composer and mentor Pandit Somesh Kumar Mathur whose recent creation Achcha Hai, comprising classical shairi of Mir, Ghalib, Momin and Jigar Muradabadi, is in the race for the 69th Grammy Awards to be announced in January 2027. Mathur adds that a singer like Asha Bhosle (he had collaborated with her on a ghazal album) lifted ghazal gaiki to dizzying heights even though she made a name as a playback singer.Despite distractions and short attention spans, the singers do bring the Gen Z to the mehfils. “I have noticed many youngsters busy with their mobile phones and suddenly waking during concerts if a good ghazal comes up,” says Joshi. “It is a challenge to keep a young crowd involved, but we are trying our best.”
