Nightingale of India

People often wonder about the Nightingale of India. Nightingale being a whole species of bird, how was it possible for just one bird to be declared and considered the Nightingale of India? Well, here, this title had been given not to a bird, but to a beautiful singer in India. Shrimati Lata Mangeshkar was given this honorific title.

Lata Mangeshkar; Image Source: The Guardian

Lata Mangeshkar was not Lata since the beginning. She was first named Hema and then made to change names by her father. Lata lost her father when she was 13 years old; heart disease was the culprit for taking her father away from her. Being the eldest amongst her other four siblings, Lata started working in plays when she was just 5 years old.

Her career span was a total of 8 decades where she sang melodiously, bringing out songs for more than 2000 films. Her voice was remarkable and commended everywhere she showcased her talent. Her singing was noted for her distinct voice and the variations in her voice that she could do. Lata Mangeshkar had a vocal range of more than three octaves.

Known for her melodious and astounding singing, Lata Mangeshkar had become the ‘Queen of Melody’ and her voice came to be recognized as the Voice of the Millennium. As incredible as she was with her singing and the career that came with it, Lata was also a producer as well as a composer.

Not only that, but Lata has a remarkable number of songs that she had sung. It was said that all together combined for singing solo, chorus, or duet, she crossed the number of singing no less than 30,000 songs between 1948 to 1987. However, no one knows for sure if the number is the correct one or perhaps just a hoax.

For the same reason, Lata’s name appeared in the Guinness Book of World Record for having sung a myriad of songs. It was later taken out from there when the number started getting attention and was said to be rumoured. Not agreeing with her having sung that many songs, the number was later claimed to be around 5000.

Lata Mangeshkar had a career that one could kill for. She had such golden opportunities in terms of acting as well as singing. It could be said that she was really lucky to have gotten a chance to sing or collaborate with these people, however, it can surely be said that those people were the lucky ones.

Some of the great personalities that got to do a duet with India’s nightingale were Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey, Mahendra Kapoor and many others. Coming a little later in the years, she also sang duets with Pankaj Udhas, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu and others.

Besides singing, Lata Mangeshkar composed music for the first time in the movie Ram Ram Pavhane. She was not only skilled in singing but also directing music. This was evident when she received the Maharashtra State Government’s Best Music Director award.

Singing and composing sure were two things that Lata Mangeshkar excelled at, however, this wasn’t it. She didn’t stop and continued to produce films as well. She produced four films in the timespan of her entire career.

Lata Mangeshkar gave India some terrific songs in not just one language but 20 different others. There wasn’t a single song to which people did not groove or raise their hands up to swing with the melody. Sadly, the whole nation of India recently lost its gem of a singer and its Voice of Millennium when Lata Mangeshkar succumbed to the Covid-19 virus.

Lata Mangeshkar; Image Source: Pagal Parrot