Have a look at this guysssss….its hilarious.

@anon, yes friend, lets agree to disagree here as I don’t see us seeing eye to eye on this one. But that’s good as this is what makes the blog more interesting.

–Sonu & Classical Background -

I have reviewed both the links and anon’s links had some comments about “Lata & Asha” which I dont think
Sonu might have made.But it seems in Priti’s link, Sonu clearly mentions that “”I’ve done most of my playback singing as an untrained singer”

Classical or not – Sonu rocks in most genre’s he’s tried.

—Mussarat vs Amanat & Poonam – Verstality.

Priti’s explanation shows, that both Amanat & Poonam have sung different songs. But sadly, that cannot be
said about Mussarat.

If in a competition, they have a comedy round (as we had the other day), Mussarat really failed very badly. So from
a competition point of view, this would be rated as a failure.But again as Asrani said “Even NFA-saab would have refused to sing in this category”.
But if the other contestants have managed to do better then they go forward.

I am not a big NFA follower, hence I don’t know his collection. But if tomorrow the show has a “Duet round” or a “Ghazal”
round,if NFA-saab has no duets or has not sung ghazals, would Mussarat refuse from singing. This I feel is not
correct in a competition.

If tomorrow, Someone participates in a Cross country race which involves 2 miles of swimming, If a runner cannot swim, However
good a runner they are, they have lost the race.

The format of the show itself is flawed, If elimination was based on a round basis, then we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

It is difficult to compare 2 singers, unless they sing in the same genre,Someone correct me if I am wrong, But isn’t it why “Jugalbandhi’s” originated.

To end on a Humorous note ==

The best part of yesterdays show :

Bappida – Mauli, Tumhare liye “Good News” hey.

I thought the next line would be a typical bollywood dialogue “Mein tumhare bacche ka baap banne wala hoo”.

Bappida, please think before you talk and don’t put pauses in unwanted places.

Also when you sung ” Chahiye THora pyaar”. Aap ka diction kuch “Unees-Bees tha”. Thora hai ya thoda.

i completely agree that amanat and poonam have attempted the most variety of songs.. but I think the results were mixed, i dont think they excelled in all the songs.. def some efforts were mediocre

poonam sometimes has the tendency to shreik in the high notes

so the mere fact that a singer attempts different types of songs doesnt make them “versatile” if they are mediocre in some of them

and then there is the X factor- which a singer brings to a song which makes it memorable.. so far i have found it in the following songs:

1. poonam- vandematram , tadap tadap and tose naina lage

2. mussarat- sanware and tere bin nahin lagda

3. amanat-none

4. raja- none

5. aneek-none

6. sumedha- none

i understand this is just my personal preference..

so lets agree to disagree ok?

and yes ALL the singers are wonderful one way or the other

If only the judges didnt play politics, one could be free to choose a singer based strictly on merit.

as it is, the field has been so tainted by Zee and the gurus, that it is hard to separate your feeling for the singer from any percieved unfair favoritism of victimization towards them.

for eg., aneek was my favorite till about the time after the salman episode.. Then the overhype machine by HR started and you start wondering why this blatant favoritism.. i mean he aint THAT much better than anyone else..

mussarat i pretty much was indifferent to till saanware, that changed everything..He has become an underdog for me after HR went on his national aneek ass kissing spree

amanat i have always found a technially excellent singer, missing the X factor..

I loved Raja when he was being brought back into the competition and then he became this monster who cldnt score less than 10′s however mediocre the performance..i mean come on! and i also found him a little insincere in his attitude, like he seemed very politician like in his attempts to get votes

poonam , has been my favorite from the get go.. she has faltered in some songs, but she seems to sing difficult songs with ease .
I got sick of ID playing up the mother tho

sumedha- sings in one tone and one kind of song.. pleasant enough but not a powerhouse “singer” by any stretch of the imagination

Poonam has sung:

Lata-vande mataram (which I think was one of the best performance in saregamapa)

Asha-Hungama ho gaya (in front of Asha to sing her song and get a comment from her saying you would become
a playback singer, I think its great for anyone)

Jaspinder Narula-Tare hai barati (just check out the power of thorow of voice)

K.K.-Tadap tadap ke (try singing this (male song to be sung by female)song and you would know what I am saying
about a song as volatile with emotions and variety of pitch)

Richa Sharma- Mahi ve ( I am not saying this is her best performance but again the song is a duet and she has
made an attempt)

Kavita Krishnamurthy- Hamesha tumko chaha

Alka Yagnik-Sanam mere Humraz

Sunidhi-Baras ja ae badal

Kshitij and Shilpa Rao-Tose naina lage piya saware (check out the classical notes in the song and low-high notes)

(I think this certainly qualifies for a versatality in a singer and she is good-amongst the girls)

Amanat has sung:

Lata: Rasme ulfat ko nibhaye (come on, not a joke to sing a Lata’s song in a male voice)

Rafi-Parda hai parda

Parveen sultana-Hamein tumse pyar kitna(classical based)

Hariharan-jhoka hawaka aajbhi (check this out, just great)

Adnana Sami-Kabhi to najar milao

Kailash Kher-Ya rabba

Udit narayan-Ae Ajanabi and Tu cheez badi hai

Shafkat Amanat Ali-Mitwa(listen to this one too-not best but still too good), mora saiya mose bole na

Hariharan- Kuch mere dil ne kaha

Sonu Nigam-Sine se ye dil

Mukesh-Jane kaha gaye woh din

Abhijit/kumar sanu-Tum dil ki dhadkan mein

(I mean if this is not good enough then I don’t know what is…If this is a competition and if we are with the
contestants that we have, I support these two for their efforts, versatality, quality-just see how they have
improved over the weeks…)

At the end, I just want to say that all the singers that are left now are all excellent. I love all of them.
They all deserve to be successful in music so let anyone win as for me all of them are good, but please don’t
say that Mussarat’s non-versatality is true for everyone as that’s certainly not the case from their chosen songs
above.

thanks for links( havent read it yet)

but this link seems to indicate that he was classically trained earlier?

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:mzk6VRAsJX8J:cinemasangeet.com/cinema/articles/%3Fa%3D38+sonu+nigam+classical&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=22&gl=us

anyhoo, i guess the point I am making is that-IF a singer is able to demonstrate expertise in sur taal mukhras antaras (and other classicalese) *I* would consider him to be a superior singer to someone who does light music

This is irrespective of their training – altho i find it amazing that sonu could sing the classical based rafi songs( man tarpat hari darshan, radhike tune bansari bajai) without any training..

likewise with mussarat- it is amazing that he does those things he does without being trained.. certainly aweinspiring

likewise with SPB .. he is amazing at classical based songs

Re kishore da- i think it is unfair to compare ANYONE in a nationally televised TV talent show with someone like him ( or comparing anyone to Rafi saab, lata bai or asha tai)

If one has been a giant of the musical world for 5 decades..they get a pass from comparisons with mere mortals in a TV show.

i love manna deys classical songs, and i think they are very popular.

Your point about mussarats non verstatility is well taken..he cannot sing all kinds of songs.. but isnt that true for all of them. I cant see anyone on the show who can sing Rafi/kishore/mukesh/hemant/talat equally well.. can you?? ( or lata/asha/geeta dutt for the girls)

then how do you judge who is good??

Take an example of a great classically trained singer like Manna De. He not only sang heavily classically based
songs but also could sing other songs like zindagi kaisi hai paheli, pyar hua ikrar hua, ae meri zoharajabi etc.
So this proves that having a strong classical background he was still versatile to sing halke phulke songs.

Having lived in UK and USA, I have come across many Indians who force their children to take classical vocal
training. And I have been to lots of such performances wherein the singers couldn’t do any justice to the songs at
all, inspite the years of best classical training (Exa. Pandit Jasaraj camps)

On the other hand, I have come across children who grow up listening to their parents sing or listen to music
(any kind) regularly and can sing even the difficult of the songs to their best abilities.

Please know that I am not against classical training in singers but a talented singer with classical training can
be compared with a polished diamond whose true qualities have come out. But a talented singer without any training
is still a diamond, no less.

Priti

http://bollywoodzone.wetpaint.com/page/SONU+NIGAM?t=anon

If you check out the second last paragraph you will see that he started his training when he met Ghulam Mustafa Khan as one of the jundges on saregamapa. Can you believe all the wonderful songs that he has sung before that from an untrained singer? Well Sonu proves it to the world that all you need is talent and willingness to work hard to become successful.

@ Sumitro, I completely agree with you, talent goes a long way.

@anon, So now that you know Mussarat also doesn’t have classical training, what would say about your opinion about a good singer? As you only believe that a good singer is the one who has classical background? Well my friend, I just gave you examples of 3 great singers (Sonu, SP Balasubramaniam and Kishore Kumar) who without classical training not only became great singers but also hugely successful.

That is why I appreciate contestants like Amanat and Poonam who are trying to sing in different genre and hence improving day by day in being good singers.

So please considering all this understand my point about Mussarat restricting himself by only singing Nusaratji’s songs. I rest my case, a good singer should have talent and should be able to sing in any genre. Rest all is surely a plus but not a requisite.

Being a singer myself (even though not a professional one), I can certainly say that a singer should be able to attempt different style of singing. Knowing Mussarat has talent means he can do so if he tried but there is no point in singing in Nusaratji’s style while singing Remo’s song. Take Manna de’s example, he was heavily classically based singer who gave hits like zindagi kaisi hai paheli, pyar hua ikrar hua, ae meri etc. and hence proving that one can be classically based but still be versatile (just in case if Mussarat was from a classical background, this would have been my point.)

if mussarat sings like he does without classical training, i am in awe of what the guy will do with training..

amaazing.. my respect for his singing has only gone up thousand fold..

thanks so much for giving us this nugget of information about this amazing singer