Monday, October 15, 2007

The Greatest & The Most Popular

Well, what a river, a lake or a watering hole is to forest, a coffee machine is to any software company. Strange encounters often happen here.

The other day,
I was helping myself to a booster dose of caffeine, when I heard two people conversing.
"Kuchch bhi kaho yaar, Kishore-da ka jawaab nahi... Truly the greatest singer of all times!"

Now, there happens to be some topics in which I forget the mandate about minding one's own business.
"Excuse me," I interjected, “you can perhaps call Kishore the most popular singer, but not the greatest."
"Huh? Then who?"
"Rafi," I shrugged matter-of-factly.

They tried to argue.
I asked them to come up with a Kishore devotional to match "Mann Tarpat" or a Kishore classical to outclass "Madhuban mein" or a Kishore qawwaalli of real quality. They couldn't. I walked away in triumph.

This is not to put down Kishore.
He is definitely my favourite singer, after Rafi. There are indeed some songs that I wouldn’t wish to hear in anyone's voice other than Kishore. Rafi v/s Kishore fight is as futile & fruitless as Lata v/s Asha.

The objective is..
... to draw a distinction between Greatest & Most Popular. The two need not be the same.
Yuvraj Singh may hit six sixes in an over, people may hail dashing Dhoni.... but if you want to see batting at its classical best, you would look at Sachin.