The New England Desi Karaoke Club hosted a Karaoke concert, titled, Mehfil-e-Ghazal: Remembering Ghazal King Late Jagjit Singh on Saturday, September 21, 2019 at Robert R. Jay Performing Arts Center, Shrewsbury, MA. Hundreds of enthusiastic audiences in their colorful traditional attires attended the event and made it a great reality.

Late Jagjit Singh Ji was a prominent Indian Ghazal singer, composer, music director, activist and entrepreneur who revived and popularized Ghazals â€” an admired form of the 7th-century Arabic and Persian poetry set to music expressing the writer’s feelings, especially about the love at first sight, the pain of loss or separation of lovers, and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. Ghazal consists of five or more syntactically complete couplets linked by rhyme and the repetition of a closing word or phrase. Jagjit Singh Ji was known as the "Ghazal King", he gained this acclaim together with his wife, another renowned Indian Ghazal singer Chitra Singh.

This attractive and relaxing event was professionally put together by Mr. Ashish Gite and Ms. Varsha Gite. It was turned into a mesmerizing concert with a difference and delight due to the hard work of the singers who have wider popularity in New England area, namely Mr. Ashish Gite, Ms. Varsha Gite and Ms. Sunita Adaval. The event started after light snacks and tea, with a melodious spiritual song beautifully sung by Varsha Gite. Mr. Ashish Gite took the crowd on an unforgettable ride through his singing of very popular Ghazals of Jagjit Singh: Tumko dekha to ye khayaal aayaa; Hoshwalon ko Khabar kya; Jhuki jhuki si nazar; Honthon se chulo tum; Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho; Kal choudhvi ki raat thi; Hazaron khwahishein aisi and many more lively songs. Ms. Varsha and Ms. Sunita sang some duets very nicely and pleasantly with Mr. Ashish and entertained the audiences

Mr. Ashish took little time in between the songs to explain the context for many of the songs and remembered some amusing past stories. Mr. Gite’s soothing and sweet voice touched the hearts of the audiences and in turn they whistled and shouted once more for some well-known songs. By the end of the night, he had fully entertained the crowd with his rendition of joyous songs that were very popular. Brilliance is what both Mr. Gite and EMCEE Mr. Pankaj Adaval brought to the stage, in terms of presentation, in the mix of the repertoire and in reciting nice Shayari and jokes.

At the end, Mr. Pankaj Ji thanked the audiences for their immense enthusiasm and support, Bhavisha Patel from Shivay Events Decorations for stage setup and Raj Tulsani for stage lights and Mr. and Mrs. Gite for stage concept and event promotion. He also thanked all his friends and Swaranjali group members for spreading words and Mr. Nathan Colby, the Theatre Coordinator from St. John School for his help. He appreciated the time and services of volunteers namely, Dhananjay Tambe, Logi Vaidhyanathan, Sanjay Garg, Dilip Balasuriyan, Rajesh Guttikonda, Uday Mishra, Manju Gupta, Neetu Gupta, Shailaja Mamidanna, Vijay Selvam, Anushka Vallem.

“I enjoyed this Karaoke concert in the company of friends and my wife. It was sheer delight to hear some of the signature serene Ghazals of Jagjit Sigh and Chitra Singh sung by our local singers. It is apparent that their Ghazals transcend all boundaries and appeal even to those who may not comprehend the lyrics” – said one of the audiences.

|