Hazaaron khwahishen aisi ki har khwahish pe dam nikle
Bahut nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhi kam nikale
God only knows why I hadn't paid attention to Ghazals before. They're slow and sometimes they're boring, but when they're written by Ghalib, they're divine.
Let the singer have his flourishes of pitch. Humour him as he plays with the beat. Get teased when he teases you with the poetry, giving you one word at a time, but in the end, drown yourself in the lyrics and the singer's voice and if you can identify with the song like I did with Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi, then all the best in trying to think about something else :)
Two ghazals, that's all it took for me to decide I'm embarking on a Ghalib discovery tour. Ankur (my roommate) prefers to look at the song as a performance by the singer, admiring all the nuances of the music and the "brilliant improvisations". Me, I'm listening and digesting, word by word, the lyrics. Translations are sometimes necessary since I don't even have a good grasp of Hindi, let alone Urdu, but it's all worth it.
So listen to these, for the lyrics, with everything else as decoration and you'll know what I'm talking about:
1. Jagjit Singh - Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi.
2. Mehdi Hassan - Ranjish hi Sahi
Each is written by Ghalib, and...and...ouch! My heart hurts ;-)
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