Meeting the maestro

One of the advantages of being residents of the UAE is that we get the chance to meet many famous personalities who come here to perform different shows. Whenever I get the opportunity to meet any of them, I feel as if I am floating in my dreams. Recently, I got the chance to meet the ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali when he came to perform live in Dubai.

The way he sang the ghazals was very inspiring. I felt that the time stood still all the while he was on the stage. His Aalaaps were simply wonderful. The rhythm flew fluently into my ears. He was truly the best. I realised that he is rightly called the King of Ghazals.

When I heard him singing I felt that those ghazals were expressing the poets’ feelings. Sometimes they also gave a few important messages. I realised that if you listen to ghazals with full attention, you will feel as if they are representing your feelings.

But the thing that surprised me the most about Ghulam Ali was not his singing style but that he is over 70 years old yet he was as fresh as any new singer.

I had heard my grandparents talking about him and praising him. I have also heard my parents singing his famous and beautiful ghazals. I too had sometimes listened to his ghazals on CDs or online but never felt so great about him. When I saw and heard him live, I had to change my mind about him.

I hope that he would amaze all the people of my generation like he had amazed me. I hope that everyone listens to him with as much interest as they listen to Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar or Mohit Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal.

(Published in The Gulf Today on October 12, 2013)