MUMBAI: Known as the Nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar has enthralled listeners throughout her career with myriad melodies. Continuing her long and illustrious career at the age of 82, the melody queen has recorded a track for a Nepali movie in Mumbai.
The song ‘Phool banchi phool’ is composed by Nepali composer Santosh Sharma and is crooned in Nepali language by the legend. The melody queen comprehended the Nepali words within half an hour and the song was recorded in the next couple of hours.
Speaking about the track with Radioandmusic.com, Mangeshkar says, “I enjoyed recording for the track and it was great experience to work with Santosh Sharma. The song has been recorded for a film made by a Nepali gentleman Ram Krishna. He recorded the song in his own voice and sent it to me in Mumbai. Later, I heard the track, rehearsed and we recorded it in Mayuresh Pai’s studio. It wasn’t the first time that I have sung in Nepali, earlier I had recorded a track in 1966 for a Nepali film called Matighar. “
Mangeshkar, who has sung in 38 regional and international languages, possesses an affinity for grasping languages within no time. The vocal genius has also rendered a track for Canadian Country singer Anne Murray’s ballad ‘You Needed Me’.
“Singing in varied language is like a new experience, a new challenge which I enjoy thoroughly. Whenever I sing in regional language I make a point that I understand the language and get the tone right. It’s hard for me to choose a particular language, every language has some or other similarities and its own sweetness,” states the singer.
Lately, the singer has become quiet choosy when it comes to singing tracks for Bollywood, the last track Mangeshkar had recorded was for Jail in 2009. “I have recorded various songs for Bollywood film industry, and at this age, I am looking forward to record some good meaningful tracks. For me, it doesn’t matter to which genre the tracks belong to. I have sung various numbers ranging from devotional to regional,” the melody queen adds.
Recently, Mangeshkar released a devotional album ‘Shree Gayatri Mahamantra’, comprising of Gayatri Mantra and three shlokas of the Suyra Mantra. The album, composed by her long time associate Mayuresh Pai, was the singer’s way to pay tribute to her late father Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar. Earlier, the singer in association with Pai had also released two albums ‘Saadgi’ and ‘Sarhadein’. Sarhadein was a collaborative album between Indian and Pakistan based artistes and was conceived by Saregama India. The album includes a ghazal which was crooned by Mangeshkar along with late legendary ghazal singer Mehdi Hassan.