Jagjit Singh passed away on October 10, 2011.
I am indebted to Jagjit Singh for connecting me with Urdu shairis, “poetry”, in ways that I know I would never have otherwise. He made Mirza Ghalib’s shairi a common parlance even for the Bollywood crowd.
Here’s one of his renditions of Majaz Luckhnawi’s
Taskeen-E-Dil-E-Mehzoo Na Hui
http://youtu.be/mElOF0eYIFY
taskiin-e-dil-e-mehzoo na hu’ii vo sa’ii-e-karam farmaa bhii gaye
is sa’ii-e-karam ko kyaa kahiye behlaa bhii gaye taRpaa bhii gaye
(taskiin-e-dil : calm of heart; sa’ii-e-karam : efforts of generosity)
hum arz-e-vafaa bhii kar na sake, kuch keh na sake, kuch sun na sake
yaaN humne zubaaN hii kholii thii vaaN aaNkh jhukii sharmaa bhii gaye
(arz-e-vafaa : tale of love)
is mehfil-e-kaif-o-mastii meN, is anjuman-e-irfaanii meN
sab jaam-bakaf baithe hii rahe hum pii bhii gaye chhalkaa bhii gaye
(kaif : intoxication; anjuman-e-irfaanii : gathering for gnosis; jaam-bakaf : waiting for wine)
Thanks to http://mohib.net for putting up this translation for this memorable ghazal.