Dear Editor,
Asha Bhosle, age 83, an icon in the Bollywood music industry, and a well known name among Guyanese (Indians and many non-Indians) has called it a day and was given a terrific send off in her final overseas concert last month in New Jersey. Asha, as she is called, has recorded thousands of different songs, many favourites of Guyanese, in a friendly competition with her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar. After entertaining Indians and the world for nearly seven decades, the legendary Asha, as she is called worldwide, is calling it a day. This means there will be no more Asha tour of Guyana or the Caribbean.
Thousands, including many Indo-Guyanese and other Caribbean people, showed up at the prestigious New Jersey Performing Arts Center to bid her farewell in the final act of her six-city American tour. Asha was accompanied by the indomitable Talat Aziz who is also well known for popular ghazals among the Indian diaspora including Guyanese.
Talat Aziz, in tribute to Asha, said: “Future generations will be envious of you for having seen Asha. Great people like her are great human beings, and they have no ego or pretensions.”
Asha has been performing in the US since the 70s with countless tours to entertain the huge Indian diaspora in America. Most of her performances were in New York except in the last few years where she also performed in California, Texas, Chicago, Florida and Georgia.
As some remarked, even at 83, Asha can put any of the new crop of singers to shame with her melodious voice. In her last concert, Asha joked with the audience, keeping them engaged and asking them what they wanted her to sing.
In remarks, Asha said she is not sure when she started singing but that she “felt fortunate to have sung with most of the musicians and worked with all the celebrated music directors over the years”. She said: “All of them were my favourites. I sang with Didi (elder sister Lata) and other singers, and took it as a challenge.” Asha’s younger sister, Usha Mangeshkar, is also a fantastic singer.
Asha uttered praise and ashirvad (blessing) to Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar for her “invaluable guidance”.
In response to a media question of which song she loves most, she said she could not distinguish one from the other. “I love them all equally, as I love my children,” she said.
When fans asked her how to inspire the younger generation to recognize good music and develop an interest in music, she said everyone who loves to sing should keep singing no matter how old they are.
Bhosle and Aziz cut a cake to mark the success of the tour and continued to regale the audience with their favourite tunes. She belted out old time tunes including like “Aaiye Meharbaan”, “Jhumka Gira Re,” “Raat Akeli Hain,” “Aaja Aaja,” “Dum Maro Dum,” “Dil Cheez Kya Hain”, among others. And she also paid tribute to her older sister, Lata, by singing one of her most famous songs, “Lag Ja Galey.” Aziz, the maestro of ghazals, sang top movie hits as well including “Chaudavi ka Chand.”
Asha recently lost her elder son, Varsha, to cancer in Scotland but was able to undertake the strenuous tour. Her other son Anand who served as coordinator of her foreign trips for almost three decades said “his mom is mentally strong trying to overcome her loss”.
He is quoted as saying that while his mother is fairly healthy without any major problems, “traveling the length and breadth of the United States for concerts has been a little too much for her, which is why she announced her retirement”.
Anand noted that his mother has finished writing her autobiography, which will be released next year in English and Hindi. Guyanese fans, as indeed others, are looking forward for it.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
