K.L Saigal-The Immortal Voice

Well, I am sick, and my nose is running and have very bad sinusitis. But this will not prevent me from putting up something on my blog today! Since I am in no condition to sing, I decided to use a very old montage which is from a live show in 1998! I decided to move away from the likes of Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore, Yesudas, S.P.B, Jayachandran and give you a different experience. He may be called the forefather of all the above greats. The greatest of them all who reigned like a king in Hindi Films from 1932-1946! He is K.L Saigal or Kundan Lal Saigal who is said to have a voice which was so powerful that recording needles used to break when he sang, giving a tough time for the recording engineers those days! Born in a family of Jullunder in the year 1904, he entered in the films in 1931-32 and acted in several films until his untimely death on 18th January 1947 at the very young age of just forty-two! Alcohol eventually consumed him. As a boy his mother used to take him to a Sufi-Pir Salman Yousuf of the Yesvi sect. Singing was his hobby. Later on he learnt music and basic melodic structure and perfected after practicing a lot. He also learnt from the great masters: Faiyaaz Khan, Pankaj Mullick and Pahari Sanyal. In 1935, Saigal played the role that would come to define his acting career: that of the drunken title character in Devdas. At New Theatres, his singing style was influenced by the studio's top music directors, such as R.C. Boral, Pankaj Mullick, and Timir Baran. As an actor, his first film was Mohabbat Ke Aansoo (1932), but it wasn't until Chandidas in 1934 that he became a bonafide star in Hindi cinema. As a youngster, India's "melody queen" herself, Lata mangeshkar, is alleged to have said that she wanted to marry K.L. Saigal after seeing his performance in Chandidas!
Saigal's distinctive singing voice was so melodious and popular that he was idolized by the first generation of post-independence Bollywood playback singers, including Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, and even singers in the south like Ghantasala, Kamukara, T.M.S, P.B.S..... Saigal managed to develop what the Italians call ‘La Voce Bianca’ or the ‘White Voice’ of Italians that follows you like a scent and hides in your memory like a coiled serpent.
I present a very famous song of him here. I repeat that this recording being live would have mistakes, show my inexperience as a singer in my early days, and what not...but I was tempted to share this recording with you!

Credits: Suresh Chandvankar, e-bay

63) Soja Rajkumari- K.L Saigal-Punkaj Mullick-Zindagi

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