Mumbai: Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar's son Baiju Mangeshkar says his aunt and legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar's dedication towards work is something to learn. “She is very encouraging and a thorough professional. It is surprising that even today she is very active, dedicated and is a perfectionist. She is a very humble and a down to earth person. And these are qualities to learn from her,” Baiju told PTI in an interview.
Bajiu's debut album ‘Ya Rabba' was recently launched here and has four songs in it.
The two ‘kalaams' (poems) by the noted 16th century Sufi poet Hazrat Shah Hussain forms the essence of the musical offering. The album contains two duets and one solo, each of Mangeshkar and Baiju.
“There is a pressure that you have to be like her, the comparisons are inevitable. It is not like, I got everything on platter,” he said.
Baiju's debut album as a singer-composer has aunt Lata Mangeshkar stepping into the world of Sufi poetry and music for the first time in her career.
“I have been singing for sometime for shows and Bhojpuri and Marathi films. I had composed these song (in album) and had wish of working with my aunt,” Baiju said. “When I made her hear the songs, she readily agreed. She had not sung a Sufi song in her career and liked the idea,” he said.
The singer said he was nervous to sing in front of the melody queen.
“I was intimidated to sing in front of her, I think even trained people feel that way. Her name itself is daunting considering the kind of work she had done and her experience, one doesn't want to get wrong or do any mistake in front of her,” he said.
Despite the fact that he is nephew of the veteran singer, getting her on board for the album was not easy. “I had to wait for two years for her for the album.
She had prior commitments and her health reasons,” he added. In his debut album, Baiju attempts a melodious contemporary appeal, while retaining the sanctity and purity of the poetry and the ethos and majesty of Hindustani music.
