Honey-soaked voice

At the beginning of this millennium, when hindi film-music industry was falling apart due to lack of good female singers (wokay I think I am exaggerating a bit) and when most of us were deafened by Alka ji’s, sadhna ji’s, Kavita ji’s, Sunidhi’s monotonous vocal torment and not to forget, once amazing, unbeatable sisters asha tai’s and lata ji’s shaky vocal torment, there entered a voice that left us all enthralled; a voice that charmed us; a voice that captivated our hearts; a voice that sometimes felt like a cool breeze and sometimes like a deep ocean. When we heard her for the first time, we all exclaimed at once- "ah! whatay"

Okay, I am talking about Shreya Ghoshal.
Twenty something Shreya has a voice that’s difficult to replace. I don’t think any of her contemporaries can sound as good as her. Maybe few, but not all. And please let's not talk about few singers whom I am not too “fond of”. Can Alisha howtospellherastname sing a note without going flat? Or can Sunidhi-falsetto specialist-Chauhan for once sing without murdering a tune? I do feel Sunidhi, Kavitha, Alka and Sadhna sargam are better than most of the talent show winners; like that moaning-groaning singer and that other aggh sounding singer. These girls are better off doing moaning-groaning numbers (alright alright I know it sounds errmm.. somewhat crude, but don’t they sound horrible with their ooh’s, ahh’s and mmh’s?).
Anyway in my opinion Shreya is a fabulous singer. Period.

I thought of sharing two of her songs today:

Bhor Bhaye (Delhi 6): I haven’t stopped listening to this wonderful album (Delhi 6) since its release. And thanks to ARR this thumri in Raag Gujari Todi is neither remixed (like what Imsail darbar did to Albela sajan in Hum dil de chuke sanam) nor murdered. It is kept as it is. And mind you it's not easy to sing this fabulous thumri, what with it's complicated sargam and taans, you'll go crazy. Shreya does a commendable job. Well, few of them might compare this to the original piece, sung by Ustad Bade Ghulam ali, which is unfair I tell you. Coz this man is God. Nobody can sing like him.
Enjoy the song.

Tere Naina (Chandni Chowk to China): With a movie name such as this, one can hardly expect a nice soothing number. But Shankar, Ehsan & Loy give us a sweet romantic number with Tere Naina. Not their best though. Shreya matches Shankar Mahadevan with ease. Not only that, she also out-performs him this time. A sweet cute SEL-ish song.

Here are a few other songs by Shreya I recommend listening to:
Dheemi Dheemi si (Shiva), O Saathi re (Omkara), Silsila yeh chahat (Devdas), Chalo tumko lekar (Jism), Tumhe jo maine dekha (Main hoon na), Barso re (Guru), Naam ada (Yahaan), Wada raha (Khakhee), Ishq hua (Aaja Nachle), Mere Dholna (Bhulbhulaiya), Thode Badmash (saawariya) and Teri ore (Singh is King).

Let me know how you liked these songs :)