Indian Bangali Ghazal Singer Jagjit Singh 1941 - 2011

Jagjit Singh জগজিৎ সিং (Punjabi: ਜਗਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ, Hindi: जगजीत सिंह) (February 8, 1941 - October 10, 2011) was an Indian ghazal singer, composer, music director, activist and entrepreneur. Popularly known as "The Ghazal King" he gained acclaim together with his wife, another renowned Indian Ghazal singer Chitra Singh, in the 1970s and 1980s, as the first ever successful duo act (husband-wife) in the history of recorded Indian music. Together, they are considered to be the pioneers of modern ghazal singing and regarded as most successful recording artistes outside the realm of Indian film music. He has sung in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Sindhi and Nepali languages. He was awarded India's third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, in 2003.

Widely credited for the revival and popularity of Ghazal , an Indian classical art form, by simplifying the complex form of Ghazals in to a more simpler form of Ghazals by amalgamating Ghazal and Geet. His music became popular in mass media through films such as Prem Geet (1981), Arth and Saath Saath (1982), and TV serials Mirza Ghalib (1988) and Kahkashan (1991). Jagjit Singh is considered to be the most popular ghazal singer and composer of all time, in terms of commercial success. With a career spanning over five decades and a repertoire comprising 80 albums the range and breadth of his work has been regarded as genre-defining. He is the only composer and singer to have composed and recorded songs written by Prime Minister - Atal Behari Vajpayee, also a critically acclaimed poet - in two albums, Nayi Disha (1999) and Samvedna (2002). India's current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur are known to be avid admirers.

On May 10, 2007, in a milestone joint session held in the historic Central Hall of India's Parliament (Sansad Bhawan), Jagjit Singh rendered the last Moghul Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar's famous ghazal "Lagta nahin hai dil mera" to commemorate the 150th anniversary of India's First War of Independence (1857). President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and dignitaries including former Prime Ministers, Members of Parliament, Foreign Ambassadors and High Commissioners were in attendance.

Jagjit Singh was the first Indian composer, and together with his wife Chitra Singh the first recording artist in the history of Indian music to use digital multi-track recording for their (India's first digitally recorded) album, Beyond Time (1987). He is regarded as one of India's most influential artistes. Together with sitar legend Ravi Shankar and other leading figures of Indian classical music and literature, Singh had voiced his concerns over politicisation of arts and culture in India and lack of support experienced by the practitioners of India's traditional art forms, particularly folk artists and musicians. He had lent active support to several philanthropic endeavors such as the library at St. Mary's School, Mumbai, Bombay Hospital, CRY, Save the Children and ALMA.

Jagjit Singh was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan^[2] to Amar Singh Dhiman, a government employee, a native of Dalla village in Punjab (India) and his mother, Bachan Kaur from Ottallan village, Samrala. He had four sisters and two brothers and he was known as Jeet by his family. He was raised as a Sikh by religion.

He went to Khalsa High School in Sri Ganganagar and then studied science after matriculation at Government College, Sri Ganganagar and went onto graduate in Arts at DAV College, Jalandhar. He is a post-graduate in history from Kurukshetra University in Haryana.

His association with music goes back to his childhood. He learnt music under Pandit Chaganlal Sharma for two years in Ganganagar, and later devoted six years to learning Khayal, Thumri and Dhrupad forms of Indian Classical Music from Ustad Jamaal Khan of the Sainia Gharana school.

Popularly known as 'Ghazal King', Singh gained acclaim together with his wife, singer Chitra Singh. The couple was considered to be pioneers of modern Ghazal singing and regarded as most successful recording artistes outside the realm of Indian film music.

Chitra stopped giving public performances after their only son, Vivek, died in a road accident in the early 1990s. But Singh continued to charm audiences, singing with equal ease in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Gujrati, Sindhi and Nepali languages. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2003.

Jagjit Singh passed away on 10th October 2011 at 8:10 am in Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai after he suffered a brain hemorrhage.

Career

Early career

The Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University and Kurukshetra University, Late Professor Suraj Bhan encouraged his interest in music. He arrived in Mumbai in 1965 in search of better opportunities for being a musician and singer. His early struggle in the music industry, though no .,/./t too harsh by his own account, still had its share of trials and tribulations. He lived as a paying guest and his earlier assignments were singing advertisement jingles or performing

First entry into movies

Singh was first offered to sing in a Gujarati film, "Dharati Na Chhoru" produced by Mr. Suresh Amin, famously known by Jagjit Singh as "Jholi Vaaley Baba" : known so, because he carried a Red Shoulder Bag wherever he went. Mr Suresh Amin was from Baroda-Gujarat and was associated with Scad Consultants Pvt Ltd. When, Mr Suresh Amin died in 1998 and Scad Consultants, Baroda, Organized a Live Concert by Jagjit singh in December 1998 - Jagjit Singh [Famously Called by friends as Maharaj] paid a special Tribute to Mr Suresh Amin and dedicated the Scad Consultants Concert to Mr Suresh Amin by Singing the song " Chitthi Na Koi Sandesh ", the perfect song to match his unawareness of Suresh Amin's Death.

Rise to fame

During 1970s, the art of ghazal singing was dominated by well-established names like Noor Jehan, Malika Pukhraj, Begum Akhtar, Talat Mahmood and Mehdi Hassan. However, he was able to make his mark and carve out a niche for himself. In 1976, his album The Unforgetables (On HMV LP Records) hit music stores. Essentially a ghazal album, its emphasis on melody and Jagjit's fresh voice was a departure from the prevalent style of ghazal rendition, which was heavily based on classical and semi-classical Indian music. Skeptics had their own reservations, purists scorned it but it was widely successful among listeners and the album set new sales records.

In 1967, Jagjit met Chitra, also a singer. After a two year courtship they got married (1969). They epitomize the first successful husband-wife singing team. Jagjit and Chitra Singh have made immense contributions to 'Ghazal' music and the Indian music industry in general.

Successful releases of the duo include Ecstasies, A Sound Affair and Passions. While these albums were breezy, Beyond Time released in the opening years of 1990s was an experimentation with sounds and conveyed a feeling that was beyond space and time.

Around this time the duo was struck by grief, when their only son, Vivek (21), met an untimely death in a road accident on 28 July 1990. Their subsequent album 'Someone Somewhere' was the last album with ghazals sung by both. The album is a tour of the soul, ethereal, conscientious and introspective. These ghazals have a moving quality to them since they embody a feeling of deep personal loss. After that Chitra Singh quit singing.

Jagjit Singh's later albums, including Hope, In Search, Insight, Mirage, Visions, Kahkashan (meaning "Galaxy"), Love Is Blind, Chirag (meaning "Lamp"/"Flame") also achieved success. Sajda (an Urdu word meaning "prostration"), which has ghazals sung by Jagjit and Lata Mangeshkar was another brilliant release and made its mark as a classic Ghazal album. The combined successes of his many albums made him the number one ghazal singer in India. The audience wanted more and Jagjit Singh obliged with his Punjabi albums. Ebullient, effervescent and bubbly, his Punjabi songs are pleasant as well as joyous. His enchanting ghazals use the choicest poetry by renowned poets including Mirza Ghalib, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Qateel Shifai, Shahid Kabir, Ameer Meenai, Kafeel Aazer, Sudarshan Faakir and Nida Fazli, and contemporary writers like Zaka Siddiqi, Nazir Bakri, Faiz Ratlami and Rajesh Reddy.

Jagjit also sang (as playback singer) for various songs in Bollywood films including Arth, Saath Saath, and Premgeet (all from 1980s). These scores remain popular even today. In fact, all the songs of film Premgeet were composed by Jagjit. His compositions for the TV serial Mirza Ghalib (based on the life of the poet Mirza Ghalib), remain extremely popular among ghazal aficionados. The exclusive element of Ghalib's poetry was sensitively and wonderfully brought out in the soulful compositions of Ghalib's ghazals by Jagjit Singh. The album could veritably be called a magnum opus.

Compared to his earlier ghazals (sung during 70s and 80s) his later ghazals have acquired a more soulful and poignant demeanour, as in albums such as Marasim, Face To Face, Aaeena, Cry For Cry. But all through this, romance never took a backseat! The journey to the soul is punctuated by romantic pauses like Dil Kahin Hosh Kahin. A testimony to his popularity is his ghazals in recent Bollywood flicks like Dushman, Sarfarosh, Tum Bin and Tarkeeb.

Most of the earlier albums of Jagjit Singh had English titles. Later, these had Urdu names like Sahar (meaning "Dawn"/"Morning"), Muntazir (meaning "In waiting"), Marasim (meaning "Relation"/"Relationship"/"Affinity" ), and "Soz" (meaning Pathos). The switchover may not be deliberate but marks a milestone in his singing. These new albums show a far better selection of lyrics and his singing has scaled new peaks.

Besides ghazals, Jagjit Singh has also sung Bhajans and Gurbani (Hindu and Sikh devotional hymns respectively). Albums such as Maa, Hare Krishna, Hey Ram...Hey Ram, Ichhabal and also Man Jeetai Jagjeet in Punjabi, put him in the league of Bhajan singers such as Mukesh, Hari Om Sharan, Yesudas, Anup Jalota and Purushottam Das Jalota. The soothing effect that Jagjit's voice has on frayed nerves ha/ .c;,lm cm, prompted psychiatrists in metros (as large cities in India are called) to prescribe them as stress relievers.

Influence

Jagjit was born in 1941 to simple parents in Sriganganagar, Rajasthan. Actually named Jagmohan at birth, his devout Sikh father rechristened him Jagjit on the advice of his Namdhari guru. Jagjit's early years were spent in Bikaner, where his father was posted as a public works department employee. "We were a lower middle class family, not at all well off ... buying kites was a luxury ... radios too were a luxury ... we used to study by the light of lanterns because there was no electricity in the house ... we had no running water". (pp.17-18)

The Sikh religion accords a very high place to classical music. On returning to his birthplace in 1948, Jagjit's father got him to train under a blind teacher, Pandit Chhaganlal Sharma, and later, under Ustad Jamal Khan of the Senia gharaana (a school of traditional Hindustani music). Still a child, Jagjit sang shabads (devotional Sikh hymns) in Gurdwaras and processions on birthdays of the Sikh gurus. "From that time, I had a taste for lyrics with the melancholy flavor of parting and separation." Jagjit's first public performance came in the ninth grade. "When I sang there was great excitement! Some gave me five rupees, some two, and called out their encouragement." (p.19) There was no looking back after that.

At college in Sriganganagar, he sang one night in front of 4,000 people. Suddenly, the electricity went off and the entire arena was plunged into darkness. The sound system was battery-operated and remained live. "I went on singing, nobody moved, nothing stirred ... such incidents and the response from audiences convinced me that I should concentrate on music." (p.22)

Jagjit listened intently to classical singers of that time on radio - Talat Mehmood, Abdul Karim Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan et al. Being fond of Urdu poetry, Jagjit developed a preference for bol-pradaan music, where emphasis is on words and expression rather than the

Jagjit chose DAV College, Jalandhar, for higher education since the principal of the institution waived hostel and tuition fees for talented musician students. Another reason was that Jalandhar's All India Radio (AIR) station carried programs in classical singing. AIR graded him a "B" class artiste and allowed him six live music segments a year for small payments. In 1962, while in Jalandhar, Jagjit composed a welcome song for the visiting president of India, Rajendra Prasad.

Inter-university music competitions required his college to send one nominee for classical and one nominee for light music, and since an established senior student already occupied the classical music berth, Jagjit shifted to Geet and Ghazal and won trophy after trophy, "Slowly, I started acquiring fans who would ask for specific song requests ... often a 100 rupee note would be lovingly pressed into my hand." (p.27)

Struggles In 1961, Jagjit went to Bombay to scout out prospects for a career in film playback singing. Music director Jaikishen liked his voice but could not offer any big break. Money ran out and a dispirited Jagjit did not have enough to even retrieve his clothes from the laundry or buy a ticket home. "I traveled by train from Bombay to Jalandhar minus a ticket, hiding in the bathroom." (p.28)

In March 1965, Jagjit decided to have another go at the celluloid singing in Bombay. He lived in a run-down hostel, sleeping on an iron cot surrounded by bedbugs and getting his foot chewed off by rats at night. He was financially in a precarious situation. "Sometimes there was money and sometimes there wasn't." But such was the purity and attraction of Jagjit's voice that he managed to get two Ghazals recorded for an EP (Extended Play, a 1960s gramophone record format) with HMV. When the time came to take a picture for the cover of the album, Jagjit decided to cut his long Sikh turban and hair, reasoning, "It was a matter of identity ... whatever picture was taken, that was how I would have to remain for the rest of my career." (p.42)

Life in Bombay was hard and Jagjit eked out a living doing small mehfils (musical gatherings) and house concerts. He sang at numerous film parties in the hope that a music director might notice him and give him a chance. But filmdom was run in cliques and newcomers were rarely accepted in a highly competitive environment. Besides, as his brother Kartar Singh recalled, "The musicality of his voice, its depth, its pain, how would it suit a hero who runs around trees?" (p.46) His strong composition skills and conjurer-like control over words, ragas and tunes would have simply been lost had he remained stuck in film playbacks.

Jagjit increasingly veered toward the Ghazal. Bollywood's loss was the Ghazal's gain, for those were the times when Ghazal music was turning into a forgotten and dying art. The Urdu language itself was in decline in India. Jagjit made the Ghazal his beloved and changed its destiny. Jagjit Singh was successful because he developed his own style and didn't try to be like film singers. He was different from them, several notches above.

Bonds In an era when the Ghazal had yet to emerge out of the confines of aristocratic seances to become marketable, Jagjit composed music for radio jingles, ad films, documentaries, etc to earn an income. It was at one such jingle recording that he met Chitra, who was at the tether end of a bad marriage. Her daughter, Monica, remembered hearing Jagjit sing the Punjabi folk song, "Maye-ni-Maye" at a neighbors's home: "As a little kid, I was so moved by that song, I just sat down and wept ... it was the purity and intensity of his voice that touched me." (p.53)

Jagjit's album recordings were excruciatingly slow in the late 1960s. Between 1965 and 1973, he had three solo EPs, two duet EPs with Chitra, and one "SuperSeven" (a 20-minute format that has disappeared). Most earnings came from live performances at parties and weddings. On one occasion, he was invited to Hong Kong to sing at a marriage and the Hilton Hotel "asked me to perform for half-an-hour each day in return for a room and food - no money." (p.69) In 1969, Jagjit and Chitra also went to East Africa along with an orchestra troupe of light music singers. In 1970, "for the grand sum of 30 rupees", the two got married. "No drama, no reception, no presents. Just two minutes and we were man and wife."

Vivek, alias Baboo, was born in 1971. When Baboo was brought home from the hospital, "we had very little money, our apartment had just one room ... but there was joy, such joy." To tide over financial hardships, Chitra used to literally hold the sleeping 20-day-old baby in her arms while singing jingles into the mike. Despite the straitened conditions, Jagjit fondly recalls those times: "I felt as if I was the richest man in the world." (p.73)

Ascent In 1975, HMV asked Jagjit to compose his first ever LP (Long-Play) album, a signal that he had finally arrived on the scene. "The Unforgettables" featured Jagjit-Chitra Ghazals that sounded totally different from orthodox Ghazals. Modern instruments rubbed shoulders with traditional sarangi and tabla. Jagjit's trademark belief that Ghazal must not be imprisoned in one rigid style raised critics' eyebrows, but as the album grew into a hit beyond expectations, the self-same critics hailed Jagjit for this foresight and innovation. "Unforgettables" brought Jagjit and Chitra Singh to national attention and helped finance the purchase of their modest flat in Bombay.

The next album Jagjit recorded was the Punjabi "Birha Da Sultan", poems of Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Jagjit's interpretation and mellifluous rendering of Batalvi's sad verses haunted listeners for decades. A quarter of a century after the album was released, hit numbers like "Shikra" (where the beloved is compared to the falcon who won't eat what is offered and "so, I fed it the flesh of my heart") are requested at Jagjit's live concerts. After "Birha Da Sultan", Jagjit and Chitra composed and sang the first-ever double album, "Come Alive", sparking a Ghazal hunger that was unprecedented in South Asia. "Live at Wembley" and "Live at Royal Albert Hall", two more double albums recorded in concert, came out after Jagjit toured England in 1979 and 1982. On the latter trip, two performances in London were scheduled for two consecutive nights in venues with seating capacity of 6,000. Tickets sold out in three hours.

In 1980, Jagjit agreed to sing Javed Akhtar's poetry for a low-budget film, "Saath Saath", without bothering for financial rewards. Raman Kumar, the director, could not spend much at the recording studio, but Jagjit footed the bills. A similar movie venture, "Arth", in the same year saw Jagjit and Chitra Singh's popularity climb higher and higher. Even now, "Arth" and "Saath Saath" are one of HMV's highest selling combination cassettes ever.

In 1987, Jagjit crossed another milestone by recording the first purely digital CD album by an Indian musician, "Beyond Time". It was a memorable moment not just for Chitra and him, but for Ghazals as a whole. The year after, Jagjit sealed his name in history by composing the music for Gulzar's epic TV serial, "Mirza Ghalib". Jagjit's soft and serenading voice paid befitting tribute to the greatest 19th century poet of undivided India.

Despair In 1990, against the run of professional success, Jagjit and Chitra lost their 18-year-old only son, Vivek, in a motor accident. Chitra lost her voice and never returned to the stage or to the recording studio. Jagjit decided "not to let what has happened become a weakness to crush me, instead I should turn it into a strength". (p.109). He began playing the tanpura as a form of meditation. "After Baboo's death, my focus sharpened and I concentrated entirely on singing and composing." (p.114)

The first album after his son's demise, "Man Jite Jagjit", contained Sikh devotional Gurbani, where "you'll hear the pain ... my mood of acceptance [of fate]". Work did not stop even after the devastating loss, though fans could no longer hear Jagjit's famous duets with Chitra. "Someone Somewhere", "Hope", "Kahkashan", "Visions", "Face to Face", "Silsilay", "Marasim", "Forget me Not" and so on reached a global audience. "Sajda" (1991) with the nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar, smashed non-film album records of all time. The caravan has not stopped to this day. The very day his mother died in 2001, after the cremation in the morning, Jagjit went to Calcutta in the afternoon for a scheduled concert.

After Vivek's death, Jagjit began showing more of his spiritual and philosophical side, mellowing his already sobering voice, singing complicated metaphysical verses and also venturing into classical bhajans (Hindu devotional songs). When poet and associate, Nida Fazli, sees the sonless father figure Jagjit with legions of his youthful fans, "it seems as if he has hundreds and thousands of children who shower love on him". (p.119)

Tributes Over the years, Jagjit has promoted young Ghazal singers by lending his name or his music to budding talents. "Nobody helped me like this when I had just arrived in Bombay ... if you help others, it doesn't demean you." (p.123) Jagjit believes he has imbibed his father's generosity and large-heartedness. "These are sanskaras [good deeds] which I saw from childhood and learned from them." His acts of kindness, which are showered on accompanying artistes, friends in need and associates, also extend to people he does not know. "He gives you everything before you have to ask for it" said Kuldip Desai, Jagjit's personal assistant. In the 1990s, Jagjit has done albums whose vast royalties have gone to charitable organizations like Child Relief and You, the Aurobindo Ashram and the National Association of the Blind. "One does these things hoping for relief or peace or to see someone happy." (p.154)

Jagjit came at a time when the stricken Ghazal was about to kick the bucket, but his arrival breathed oxygen into it. For this service, says poet Sudarshan Faakir, Ghazal lovers are forever indebted to him. "He developed a new industry, the Ghazal industry," with its ancillary artistes, sound engineers, studios and poets. Urdu poets owe him a special place in their hearts, for it was Jagjit who made it a practice to pay lyricists a part of his earnings. His latest commitment is to popularize Hindi all over multi-lingual India as a connecting language that the whole country should share.

The first step was an album with the Hindi poetry of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, "Samvedna" last year. Such is Jagjit's market value and phenomenal presence that like Urdu was resuscitated after "Mirza Ghalib", the more Hindi Geet albums he releases, it will be the turn of shrinking Hindi litterateurs to thank him as their savior too. In recognition of his yeoman contributions to music and literature, Jagjit was awarded the Padma Bhushan title by the government of India last month.

Today, Jagjit the perfectionist motivates himself to ever-newer musical achievement. For someone who has attained Himalayan heights, "every morning is a new beginning, every album is a new album, every concert is a new test ... to live in your past is a dangerous thing ... whatever you've done, you can do something better, let's try for that". Jagjit Singh is accredited with bringing the ghazal genre, which was previously restricted to the elite classes, to the masses. His music direction can be seen to be pioneering in changing the sound layout by adding more Western instruments while mostly retaining the traditional orchestra (which includes a tablaa, dholak, bongos, sitar, sarod, santoor, flute, and harmonium, and a couple of string instruments]. Jagjit Singh is also nicknamed Ghazaljeet Singh.

Jagjit Singh is accredited with finding a famous singer of modern times Kumar sanu. Sanu himself confessed that Jagjit singh offered him the first chance to sing. In addition to cultivating his own successful career, Jagjit Singh has been involved in guiding many new, talented singers such as Abhijeet, Talat Aziz, Ghanshyam Vaswani, Ashok Khosla, Siza Roy, Vikram Singh, and Vinod Sehgal. He also lends active support to several philanthropic endeavors such as the Library at St. Mary's (Mumbai), Bombay Hospital, CRY, and ALMA (an organization that adopts under-privileged students for further education and development). He assisted Peta India in asking the Minister of Railways to enforce speed restrictions to prevent further elephant deaths from collisions with speeding trains.

Death

Jagjit Singh underwent surgery after he suffered a brain hemorrhage. Doctors at the hospital performed an emergency surgery on Singh. Dr Ajit Menon, a cardiologist, Lilavati Hospital, said, "He suffered a brain hemorrhage and underwent a surgery to remove clots in his brain. His condition is critical". The doctors continued to monitor him in the intensive care unit. He was breathing with the aid of a ventilator. Singh, who was scheduled to perform with Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali at a concert at Shanmukhananda Hall on Friday, had a history of heart ailments. In January 1998, he suffered a heart attack, which led him to quit smoking. In October 2007, he was hospitalised following blood circulation problems.

Before this illness, his last major concert was held on 16 September 2011 in Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai. His last concert was held on 20 September 2011 in The Indian Public School, Dehradun. He died on 10 October 2011 at the age of 70 in Mumbai at Lilavati hospital.

Music career

Ghazals

There are many many ghazals composed by Jagjit Singh. Some of them are listed below:-

• Yaarian Rab Kar Ke (Sang for Shiv K. Batalvi)
• Umr Jalwon mein basar ho
• Der lagi aane mein tumko
• Apni aankho ke samundar mein utar jaane de
• Koi paas aayaa sawere-sawere
• Apne hothon par sajaana chaahta hoon
• Meri zindagi kisi aur ki, mere naam ka koi aur hai
• Apne haathon kee lakeeron mein
• Sadma to hai mujhe bhi ke tujhse juda hoon main
• Aadmi aadmi ko kya degaa
• Haath chhooten bhi to
• Garaj baras pyaasi dharthi par phir paani de maula
• Apni marzi se kahan apne safar ke hum hain
• Ik barahman ne kaha hai
• Main na hindu na musalmaan mujhe jeene do
• Kaise kaise haadse sehte rahe
• Wo jo hum mein tumme qaraar tha
• Patta-patta boota-boota haal hamaara jaane hai
• Chak jigar ke see lete hain
• Main bhool jaaoon tumhe, ab yahi munaasib hai
• Jaate jaate wo mujhe achchhi nishaani de gaya
• Shaam se aankh mein namin si hai
• Tere baare mein jab socha nahin thaa
• Tere aane ki jab khabar mehke
• Tamanna fir machal jaaye agar tum milne aa jaao
• Ab main ration ki kataron mein nazar aata hoon
• Tujhse milne ki saza denge tere shehar ke log
• Patthar ke khuda, patthar ke sanam
• Huzoor aapka bhi ahtraam karta chaloon
• Din aa gaye sabaab ke aanchal sambhaaliye
• Gulshan ki faqat phoolon se nahin kaaton se bhi zeenat hoti hai
• Baat saaqi ki na taali jaayegi
• Roshan jamal-e-yaar se hai anjuman tamaam
• Tera chehra kitna suhaana lagta hai
• Tum nahin, gham nahin sharaab nahin
• Sarakti jaaye hain rukh se naqaab aahistaa-aahista
• Ae khuda ret ke sehra ko samandar kar de
• Yeh daulat bhi le lo, yeh shohrat bhi le lo
• Hoshwalo ko khabar
• Honthon se chhoo lo tum
• Koi yeh kaise bataye
• Tere khat
• Bahut khoobsurat hai
• Kiska Chehera
• Kal chodvi ki raat thi
• Baat niklegi to
• Der laagi ane mein tumko
• Main nashe mein hoon
• Pyar mujhse jo kiya tumne
• Tera chehera hai aaeene jaisa
• Chitthi na koi sandesh
• Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho
• Jab se kareeb ho kay chale zindagi se hum
• Koi fariyaad
• Kahin duur jab din
• Kehta hai baabul
• Jhuki jhuki si nazar
• Tumko dekha to yeh khayal
• Sehma sehma
• Yaad kiya dil ne kaha ho tum
• Aap ko dekh kar
• Jab saamne tum
• Hazaron khwaishe aisi
• Ya to mit jaaeeye ya mita deejiye
• Tere aane ki jab khabar mehke
• woh khat ke purje jala raha tha
• tum ye kaise khafa ho gaye
• hum to hai perdes mein desh mein
• Jeevan Maran Chhe Ek (in Gujarati)
• Woh kaaghaz ki kashti
• Badi Najuk he ye manzil mohabbat ka safar he
• Zakhm jo aapki inayat hai
• Ab mai ration ki qataaron me nazar aata hun

Awards

• In 2003, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honours, by the Government of India
• In 2006, he was also presented the Teacher's Achievement Awards

Ghazal albums

* The Unforgettables (1976)
* Birha Da Sultan(Shiv Kumar Batalvi) Jagjit & Chitra (1978
* Live in Pakistan (1979)
* A Milestone (1980)
* Main aur Meri Tanhaayee (1981)
* The Latest (1982)
* Ae mere Dil (1983)
* Live at Royal Albert Hall ª(1983)
* Ecstasies (1984)
* A Sound Affair (1985)
* Echoes (1985–86)
* Beyond Time (1987)
* Mirza Ghalib (Two Volumes) (1988), TV Serial Directed by Gulzar
* Passion / Black Magic (1988)
* Ghazals from Films (1989)
* Emotions
* Man Jite Jagjit (1990)
* Memorable Ghazals of Jagjit and Chitra (1990)
* Someone Somewhere (1990)
* H O P E (1991)
* Sajda (Two Volumes with Lata Ji) (1991)
* Kahkashan (Two Volumes) (1991–92), TV Serial Directed by Jalal Agaa
* Visions (Two Volumes) (1992)
* In Search (1992)
* Rare Gems (1992)
* Face to face (1993)
* Your Choice (1993)
* Chiraag (1993)
* Desires (1994)
* Insight (1994)
* Cry for Cry (1995)
* Mirage
* Unique (1996)
* Come Alive in a Concert (1998 (CD))
* Live at the Wembley
* Love is Blind (1998)
* Silsilay (1998) (Lyrics by Javed Akhtar)
* Marasim (1999) (Lyrics by Gulzar)
* jaam utha(1999)
* Saher (2000)
* Samvedna 2002 (Atal Behari Vajpayee's poetry))
* Soz (2002) (Lyrics by Javed Akhtar)
* Forget Me Not (2002)
* Muntazir (2004)
* Jeevan Kya Hai (2005)
* Tum To Nahin Ho (Lyrics by Bashir Badr) (2005)
* Life Story (2006)
* Best of Jagjit & Chitra Singh (includes Mere Darwaaze Se Ab Chand Ko Ruksat Kar do by Ali Sardar Jaffrey)
* Koi Baat Chale (Lyrics by Gulzar)
* Jazbaat(2008)
* Inteha (2009)(Promoted on Banoo Main Teri Dulhann)
* Aeena (2009)
* Vakratunda Mahakaya (2009)

His Nepali Ghazal 'Kun Maya Sadar Bho, Mero maya badar bho...' [which love has been granted, my love has been disproved] is a big hit... some other songs in the same album are romantic songs sung with Sadhana Sargam which are 'not his type.'

Vakratunda Mahakaya

The album Vakratunda Mahakaya was released on December 4, 2009 and was published by Times Music, a subsidiary of The Times Group. The album contained 3 tracks, each about 30min in length.