The much awaited 2 day Ghazal festival ‘Jagjit Singh Music Festival’ took place in Mumbai recently to celebrate the 75th Birth Anniversary of the king of ghazals, Jagjit Singh.

The uniqueness of this festival lied in its capacity to attract the young Ghazal singers who came across the country to participate on Day 1 of the festival. Day 1 featured 3 sessions in which a total of 75 ghazals of Jagjit Singh were sung. All the participants were honoured by an esteemed panel of jury who had shortlisted these 25 from the thousands of entries which had poured in.

Day 2 of the festival was a treat for music lovers as it brought together all maestros on the same stage for the first time ever. It was embraced with much warmth by Mumbai and the way audience was glued to their seats for four hours is really phenomenon.

The celebrations on Day 2 started off on a high note with Shri Deepak Pandit giving a performance on the violin along with the drum maestro Shri Ranjit Barot, creating a beautiful invocation to the evening followed by Shri Hariharan singing some of his choicest Ghazals and ending with 'Kaash Aisa Koi Manzar Hota'.

He was followed by Shri Suresh Wadkar who sang two very soulful Ghazals of Jagjit Singh, 'Kisko Katil Mein Kahoo' and 'Hazaaro Qwaishein Aisi'. He was joined on the stage by none other than the most celebrated Bollywood singer, Sonu Nigam who sang four Ghazals and a Bhajan from Jagjit Singh's repertoire which gave a very vibrant mood to the evening. This was the first time ever when Shri Suresh Wadkar ana Sonu Nigam performed together.

Post their performance, a special short movie was shown to the audience which was specially made for the occasion. It was nostalgic as the movie brought back all the wonderful memories of Jagjit Singh. After the movie, the first 'Jagjit Singh Memorial Award' which was instituted on the occasion, was announced to the celebrated music composer and director Shri Ilayaraj.

The second half of the evening which actually started without any interval as the audience wanted to hear more and more of the maestros, started with Padma Vibhusan Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia giving a wonderful bansuri recital along with Padma Bhusan Ustad Zakir Hussain. This was followed by Padma Vibhusan Pandit Birju Maharaj making one of those rare appearances on Bombay stage along with Ustad Zakir Hussain, a combination that everyone wait for. Maharaj ji performed teen taal and created some very novel rhythmic patterns along with Ustad Zakir Hussain. He also created some memorable Jugalbandis with the maestro.

Audience gave a standing ovation to this mesmerizing performance. Post this, the finale act featured maestros Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasiya and Ustad Zakir Hussain together on the stage. They were joined by Shri Hariharan to sing two Bandishes, 'Kaah Karun Dekho Gaari Det Kanhayi'  and 'Krishna Nee Begane Baaro' on which Maharaj ji did bhav and dance. Pandit Harisprasad Chaurasiya created beautiful Bhairavi patterns during this 'Chaturdhara' combination.

This was truly a fitting finale to the grand festival. Post the concert got over, Shrimati Chitra Singh joined all the music legends on the stage for cake cutting. One and all sang Happy Birthday... for Jagjit Singh and the evening came to an end.

The grand event was an initiative of Jagjit Singh Foundation, produced by Perfect Harmony Production Pvt. Ltd. and supported by Thinkerz, Union Bank Of India, Indian Oil and Godrej Properties.