Nicknamed “the nightingale of India”, Lata Mangeshkar has reigned supreme over Bollywood music for decades. She died at the age of 92, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Sunday.
I am anguished beyond words. The kind and caring Lata Didi has left us. She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled. The coming generations will remember her as a stalwart of Indian culture, whose melodious voice had an unparalleled ability to mesmerize people. pic.twitter.com/MTQ6TK1mSO
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 6, 2022
“I am heartbroken beyond words. The kind and caring Lata Didi has left us. She leaves a void in our nation that cannot be filled.”wrote Narendra Modi on Twitter.
Born on September 28, 1929 in Indore, in the state of Madhya Pradesh (center), Lata Mangeshkar began her musical training very early under the tutelage of her father Deenanath Mangeshkar, a classical singer and theater actor, whom she said was her first and “true guru”.
When she was only five years old, he took her with him when he performed on stage. “My father was the huge influence that made me the singer I became. He taught me music”she said in an interview with the daily Hindustan Times in 2013.
Died in 1944, “My father didn’t see me becoming a playback singer. But he predicted my success”she continued, “He told my mother his prophecy: ‘Lata will be so successful that no one will be able to match her'”.
In 1945, the family moved to Bombay. Lata Mangeshkar, who must help her mother provide for her three younger sisters and her little brother, begins a career as a singer in Bollywood.
By having him record his first song in 1947 for the film majboorGulham Haider, a great Indian composer, said to him: “people will forget all the others (…) when they hear you”. Dil mera todaone of the songs in the film, propels her, at 18, into the spotlight.
From then on, the blockbusters of Bollywood will tear off his incomparable voice throughout the following decades, marking many cinematographic works such as Barsaat or mahal.
Accompanied by her younger sister Asha Bhonsle and her brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar, she has worked with almost all of the country’s composers.
“I was composing keeping in mind the range and quality of Lata Mangeshkar’s voice. She had a wide register that allowed me to imagine more complicated melodies”remembered the composer Anil Biswas, quoted by the Hindi Cinema Encyclopedia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOgiL5qP9GI
Her immense glory had made her essential to the point of being invited to sing, in January 1963, at the commemorations of the Republic Day of India.
She interpreted a patriotic tribute to the soldiers killed in the Sino-Indian war of 1962, Ae mere watan ke logon (“Oh people of my country”) which, it is said, moved Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to tears.
At the time when pay parity was still far from being a subject, Lata Mangeshkar had dared to claim an increase in her fees and a share in the receipts from her songs.
By dint of discipline, coupled with exceptional longevity, she had lent her voice to a host of actresses, sometimes 50 years her junior. So much so that some critics complained that its ubiquity overshadowed young rising stars. But she retained a following of fanatics who placed each of her titles at the top of the charts.
Remained single, some of her little quirks were famous. She always sang barefoot and transcribed each of her songs by hand before recording it.
Always wearing a long brown braid, red dot on the forehead, she sang in more than 1,000 films and published a multitude of albums. She had some 27,000 songs in her repertoire, performed in dozens of languages, including English, Russian, Dutch and Swahili.
On the occasion of her 75th birthday, the big names in Indian music had paid tribute to the diva, calling her a“soul of indian film music”.
Lata Mangeshkar had to drop out of school, yet she could read, write and spoke several languages including Hindi, Marathi, English and Urdu. After more than 75 years of career, she was surprised to still be adored.
She had broadcast a patriotic title on YouTube in March 2019, six months before celebrating her 90th birthday.
“The Nightingale of India” will have sung almost until the end of his life.
“Be kind and generous to those less privileged than you. Give generously. Do not suppress your love for your fellow man”she had preached in 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. “It’s time to stop being stingy with feelings.”