Tum Ko Dekha.
तुम को देखाReinterpretation. After Jagjit Singh. Out now.
A note from the studio.
When I recorded this song, the intro felt like it was being played inside an aangan, the courtyard of a traditional Delhi home. The sarod took me there. The concert took its name from that room. Tum Ko Dekha opens the catalogue because it opens the room.
When I'm writing original songs, I'm careful about what I listen to. Jagjit Singh Ji's records started coming back during that phase. There's an overlap of simplicity and composition in his writing that felt close to what I had in mine. I kept returning to Tum Ko Dekha. After a while the thought landed that I could carry it to a generation who haven't heard it.
I was clear about what the recording had to hold: the actual reverb of the room, the natural timbre of the instruments, the simplicity of the voice, all the way they sit inside an aangan. A humble re-creation for those who already love the original, and the voice of a melody this beautiful for those who haven't heard it yet.
The words.
ज़िंदगी धूप, तुम घना साया
zindagī dhūp, tum ghanā sāyā
आज फिर दिल को हम ने समझाया
āj phir dil ko ham ne samjhāyā
हम ने क्या खोया, हम ने क्या पाया
ham ne kyā khoyā, ham ne kyā pāyā
वक़्त ने ऐसा गीत क्यूँ गाया
waqt ne aisā gīt kyūṅ gāyā