THE NEW SINGING PHENOMENON

His parents must have got an inkling that he was a wonder-child, which is why they named him Kamaal. And true to his name, Kamaal Khan has worked wonders with his voice. The super success of the song O o jaane jana has sky-rocketted him to instant fame. But the singer himself remains unfazed by the sudden popularity and all the attention he has been subjected to lately. “It still has to sink in to me that I am popular. I can’t believe it,” says the shy and introverted singer, with a beauty spot on his cheek.

Born and bred across the seven seas, in North London, to be precise, Kamaal says nobody in his family was musically inclined. “We are into the real estate business, but I wasn’t interested in taking that up. The musical notes, especially the Hindi film compositions, had caught my fancy from a very young age. By the time I was nine, I had a vast collection of Hindi film music albums, and my entire room was stacked with them.”

Staying in London and listening to Hindi film music sounds almost unbelievable since Western pop rules the roost there. “I may have been born in London, but my parents made sure that we were in touch with Indian culture and didn’t forget our roots. The languages we spoke at home was Urdu and Hindi, and though I can’t read or write in Urdu and Hindi, my lyrics are in these languages. I think in Urdu and Hindi, and put my thoughts down in English,” he smiles, “Listening to Hindi film songs, which was my passion also helped me keep in touch with the languages.”

While humming along the Hindi film songs, Kamaal discovered that singing was what he loved most and he began cultivating his voice. “While other kids of my age utilised their pocket money to buy toys, I saved mine to buy the latest Hindi film albums,” he says with a smile.

His parents soon realised that Kamaal was not another of those bathroom singers, but was indeed gifted with a good voice, and persuaded him to take up singing as a career. “They told me that since God has gifted me with a good voice, I should make the best use of it. Otherwise it would amount to being ungrateful to God,” says Kamaal.

Heeding his parents' advice, Kamaal decided to make a career in singing. After some performances on a small scale, Kamaal recorded his first song Oh o jaane jana, written and composed by him, which was released as a single in U.K. and became a big hit. “I didn’t undergo any vocal training, except for learning to play the piano. And here I had a hit on my hands, which proved that I had the talent in me,” beams Kamaal.

This was two-and-a-half years ago, when Salman Khan happened to be shooting in London. He got to hear the song and told Kamaal that he wanted to use the song in his film Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya. “Salman said he would call me to Mumbai to record the song for the film,” informs Kamaal.

But for a long time there was no news from Salman. In the meantime, Kamaal recorded some more songs with the idea of cutting an album. Just when he had finished recording the songs, he got Salman’s call, and soon found himself in Mumbai recording O o jaane jaana yet again for the film. “I had to re-record the song because the situation in the film was different. In the original song, I had already found the girl of my dreams, but in the film the boy is yet to meet the girl. So the lyrics had to be changed. My original tune was retained, but Jatin-Lalit changed the musical arrangement a bit. They wanted to give a rock feel to the song, while mine was Hindi pop.”

The song, picturised on a guitar-playing bare-bodied Salman Khan, caught on like fire, and was an instant hit, just like it was in UK, and Kamaal Khan became the most popular voice in India.

Cashing in on the success of the song, Kamaal followed it up immediately with the release of his debut pop album, which included the original hit single Oh o jaane jana and was titled on the same number. “Though I had recorded the songs for the album a year back, I had decided that I would release the album only after gauging the response to my song in Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya. While releasing a debut album you are nervous and want things to work out well. Since the response to the song was terrific, the album followed.”

Why didn’t he release the album in UK with a music company there, rather than release it in India through HMV? “Because the music companies abroad don’t have a good distribution network. If I release it through a UK company, then it will be distributed only in Europe, it won’t reach out across the world, in Asia and America. But with a renowned company like HMV releasing it, the album will reach out to every corner of the world,” the singer maintains.

Kamaal is confident that the album is sure to get a good response, which it has, thanks to the melodious numbers and the two videos being played on the different channels. But he is diplomatically evasive when asked what sales mark does he expect his album to touch? “Let’s wait and see,” he says.

One thing is for sure though, the singer has earned for himself a tremendous fan-following, thanks to his endearing voice. “Not in my wildest dreams had I expected such an overwhelming response,” Kamaal says unbelievingly, “I got a feel of popularity at a concert in Mumbai on March 16, my first major live concert, where Whigfield was the main performer. Since it was a big concert, I was a bit nervous. But when I appeared on stage and played the first strains of the song O o jaane jana on my guitar, the whole crowd, of about 13,000, started cheering and screaming. That’s one time I got a feel of being a celebrity. I was so moved that I actually had a lump in my throat,” he smiles.

Naturally offers to sing for Hindi films must be pouring in by the dozen, especially for Salman Khan-starrers since he fits in perfectly as his voice. “Yeah, they are, but I am not too keen on singing for films. I want to concentrate on my pop career at present,” he says, “Once in a while though I wouldn’t mind singing for a film, but only if the music director doesn’t mind me composing the song also, or if I get a real fabulous song, which hasn’t been offered to me as yet.”

That means Kamaal doesn’t think much of the present Hindi film music? “No, no, that’s not the case,” he assures, “On the contrary things are looking up for Hindi film music, which had become stagnant sometime back. These days a lot of good films are being made with good music. Anu Malik’s music in Border and Virasat was mind-blowing, and the music of Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya too was good. But if you ask me my opinion, I still feel Hindi pop is the fastest growing market, and there is a lot of potential to grow there. So I am onthe right track.”

Kamaal has a busy schedule ahead, which includes a nine-city tour of India, followed by shows abroad with Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt. He has also recorded a number with Stereo Nation. Has he planned his next album? “I have started thinking about it, but it will take some time since I write, sing and compose myself. I don’t believe in rushing, I want to enjoy what I do. I would like to give the listeners only those kind of songs which I myself would enjoy listening to.”

And his favourite songs seem to be romantic numbers, right? After all four of the six numbers in Oh O Jaane Jana are about him meeting his dream girl. Which brings us to the most obvious question - is there a girl of his dreams who inspired him to come up with those mushy love songs? “There’s nobody in my life, though I wish there was,” he says shyly, “Those lovey-dovey songs came about because I tend to listen to a lot of romantic songs.”