Singer Javed Ali truly defines who a versatile artist is! And, why not? Be it singing in different genres or languages, he has mastered skills in his own way and made an identity for himself. This week, taking you through his musical journey, The Pioneer’s Tejal Sinha interacts with the maestro about various phases in his musical life and becoming a virtuoso in the industry.
Renowned Jamaican singer Bob Marley once said, “One good thing about music is that when it hits you, you feel no pain.” True that! And if we have to talk about one of the singers from the Indian music industry as a whole whose songs hit you on another level, it surely has to be Javed Ali.
This saying of Bob Marley would be very relatable to all the Javed Ali fans and the audience. Listen to one of his songs, and you’re transformed into a whole different world of peace.
His songs have always created waves to such an extent that they have had an impact to date. For instance, in the song Ek Dinn Teri Raahon Main from the film Naqaab, his voice has been so impactful that today, even after years of listening to the song, we can still feel the vibe.
Good music, voice, and lyrics will definitely hit you, and you can see an instant change in your mood, they say. Thanks to his songs and his collaborations with some amazing composers and lyricists, we’ve got some amazing music that can uplift our mind and soul in like a second.
The musical connoisseur was recently in Hyderabad for a concert organised by Rudraksha Communication, and we fortuitously got a chance to interact with him via telephone. This has not been the first time that the Srivalli singer has performed in the ‘City of Nizams’, and he’s overwhelmed with the love that the Hyderabadi audience has been pouring onto him. “I have a name in the Telugu industry as well, and people love me here,” he enthused.
His discography proves how versatile singer he is. Be it romantic songs like Deewana Kar Raha Hai, Jashn-E-Bahara, or Tu Hi Haqeeqat, peppy songs like Galat Baat Hai, Kajra Re, or Tinku Jiya, or Sufi songs like Arziyan or Kun Faya Kun, his voice only mesmerises you in any genre of music. And he feels ‘Khush-Naseeb’ about it. “I’ve got the chance to sing different types of songs. There have been very few artists who have had such a chance.
I’ve sung Sufi, romantic songs, and dance numbers, and I’m very blessed for it. I feel lucky to have gotten to sing songs through which people have gotten to know me, and I’ve got an identity of who Javed Ali is! I’m very happy about my career and journey, and by the grace of God, whatever he’s given me, I’m really happy with it.”
Would you believe it if we said that the Guzarish singer didn’t really think about or want to become a playback singer? Well, even we were amazed! Going further in our conversation, he recalled, “I didn’t really want to become a playback singer; I never thought of it. I never had a godfather in the film world. But you come across a couple of situations in your life that change your nazariya (ideologies). And when this happened to me, that was when I decided to sing in films. I felt that if I sang in the films, I would gain popularity, and I wanted to become versatile. In films, you get to sing qawali, romantic, or classical, and you get popularity too. So because of this, I came here to become a playback singer in films, and by the grace of God, what I wanted, I’ve got it.”
“Music is my life; there’s no life without music,” chuckled the Jashn-e-Ishqa singer when we asked how he would describe music in his life. “Music is a language in itself; you see, it is a universal language. And so he opines that music doesn’t really have a language. Not just in Hindi or Telugu, he’s given the voice to several songs in different languages, including Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, et al. Music is music. I really enjoy music, but there’s one thing. if it’s Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, or Hindi. Yeah, but there’s one thing: my matribhasha (mother tongue) is Hindi, so I’m very fluent in it. Now that I’ve been singing Telugu songs too, I’ve become fluent in Telugu and Tamil as well,” he said.
That’s true, in fact! For instance, his song Ringa Ringa Rosey from Atharva, or most recently Tu Meri Roja from Kushi, have received humongous responses from the audience. “There are a lot of movies for which I’ve given my voice, and by God’s grace, at least one or two songs that I’ve sung come up every week. Touchwood, Allah ka Shukar Hai (Thank God),” vocalised Javed, who feels that with Srivalli he has broken the speed breaker in his career.
The Tum Tak singer has been a ‘rockstar’ on stage and a ‘tranquil’ person in real life. So how does he manage to rightly manage both his personalities, professionally and personally? “When I work, I only focus on my work, and when I’m with my family, I don’t think of my work. Mai do cheezon pe sawaar nahi rehta hoon (I don’t live on two things). You just cannot think of two things at once, right? Maybe there are people who do think, but I cannot think like that.”
There is no surprise in the fact that, of late, the shelf of songs has been short these days. Every week, there are several songs released on a regular basis. To this, even the virtuoso agrees, as he said, “Every week, 7000 songs are released all over India. And so, to stand out and make your identity or song get noticed, it is very difficult. And I believe that in this, Kuch insaan ki mehnat hoti hai aur kuch taqbeer hoti hai (few are our hard work and few are the blessings of God). So when this combines together, that’s when things work.”
The type of music that the industry creates keeps evolving. While earlier we had traditional Sufi songs, now we get to hear situational Sufi songs. When asked about how he feels about the situational Sufi songs, he said, “For this, you’ll have to ask the composers (he giggles) since they want to make songs that leave an impact. For example, there’s this really amazing song for the Taj web series where I sang Maula mere Maula, by me and Kailash Kher, that came out really well and people are loving it. In fact, there’s a film coming up called Kushi. I sang the Hindi version of it, and people loved that song too, and it had millions of views in just 4-5 days.”
Now, as we’ve been talking about the music evolving in the industry, another thing that has changed is that dance numbers have become the salt of films, while earlier it was romantic songs. The Khuda Haafiz singer, who believes that the dance numbers have been promotional, feels, “When we talk about romantic songs or soulful music, that has a long-lasting impact on the audience. Soulful music impacts slowly, but when it does, it has a long impact.”
There are a lot of criteria that play a major role in making a film a hit, and music is one of them, no doubt. Well, even the Evo Saraagaalu singers believe it. “Absolutely! If music is good, and songs are good, then the public is attracted to it, towards the theatre. Music plays a very important role in film promotions.”
