ALKA YAGNIK: No stranger to fame

She’s no stranger to fame. Alka Yagnik is something of a Queen Midas - most songs she touches turn into gold. Probably the first au courant playback singer (and they don’t come any more au courant than her today) of the younger generation to become a huge success even at her private album (Tum Yaad Aaye/ 1997/ Plus Music), Alka has sailed smoothly on the super-success highway for over a decade now.

Though her career began in late 1979, and she was first noticed as early as Laawaris (1981), her career really propelled into high gear after she wrote history on the charts with Ek do teen (Tezaab) 12 years ago. For nine consistent years of those, she’s been ‘czarina’ of her domain. And 2000 has been virtually an Alka grandslam with Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, Fiza, Josh, Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya, Refugee, Dhadkan, and now her second album, Dil Le Gaya Ajnabi on Tips. As she says, "I cannot say that I am happy about the lack of competition, and nor have I planned or manipulated to get here. In fact, I have reduced my singing from 4-5 daily three years back to one or, rarely, two per day." Excerpts from an interview:

Tell me something about your album.
Well, it’s a romantic album called Dil Le Gaya Ajnabi, and I will not describe it by the clich ‘different’. But the feedback I got from my fans after Tum Yaad Aaye is that while they liked its songs, they wanted something chulbula, light and pacy next time. There is melody but also pace as we are aiming it at the young generation.

You are known to be very involved in your albums is that why they succeed?
As I said at the time of my first album, the idea was to establish your identity, as in films we may lose out on that if the song is a hit with a top star. I definitely had a say in approving the songs. And unlike Tum Yaad Aaye, which was born as a result of a casual in-flight talk between Javed Akhtar Saab and me, this time I went hunting for a composer who could be fresh and give me time and work at my pace, because my first priority is playback singing. But success depends on so many factors.

How did you find your composer?
Well, I met Talat Aziz Saab at a party and casually asked him if he knew of anybody good. He strongly recommended Sameer Phaterpekar who is known as a musician but not as a composer, and I found him to be truly talented. At his suggestion, Manohar Iyer came in as lyricist - and I had heard and liked his earlier work. Kumar (Taurani)ji and Ramesh (Taurani)ji heard of our activities and expressed interest. They heard the first two songs we had taped at my own studio, Studio A.B. Sound, and Tips came in.

Tell me something about your brother Sameer who is your co-singer and is making his debut.
Well, he’s sung two solos and two duets with me. You see, both of us were always musically inclined. But I trained myself in music and took it up as a career, while he did not learn even for a day! He occupies a high post in Tata Technologies and is based in Singapore. Music has always been a hobby for him, and he is one of those naturals at singing. He has his own little style and more important, he sings from the heart. Incidentally, he has always been my sharpest critic, noticing small flaws that escape general attention and pointing them out to me! As I said, he’s a natural.

How easy or difficult it was to convince the music company to record with him?
Oh, we had taped a couple of songs, and when they heard him, they immediately agreed. We had decided to have a co-singer on the album anyway. It was actually more difficult to convince him to record his voice! My mother and I kept goading him, and finally he agreed. To our surprise, we found him cool, relaxed and confident in front of the mike, and he did not need too many re-takes. He’s really sung for a lark!

You have sung from the era of Kalyanji-Anandji and Laxmikant Pyarelal, to the latest composers like Ismail Darbar, Shanker, Ehsaan and Loy. Is there anything from that era that you miss now?
I miss the charm of those live recordings, with those hundred musicians and the general atmosphere. Today when I record a song on tracks, I do not even know who is my co-singer in a duet, and I sometimes have to sing the jawaab line first! But everyone’s doing good work. The younger generation is pretty cool and talented. What remains to be seen is which of them sustain. Personally, I have alwa-ys enjoyed singing throughout my career.

Rajiv Vijayakar

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