Jump to content

Is Lata Mangeshkar really the best ever Indian female singer for you?


Cricketics

Recommended Posts

I hever heard many of her songs, and I feel her voice isn't the greatest how its made out to be. I know everyone has their own taste, but i feel people get offended in India if someone mentions another female artist is better than her. Same used to be the case for someone mentioning artists better than Kishore Kumar/Mohd. Rafi

 

But do you think Lata Mangeshkar for you is really the best ever female vocalists from India?

 

I sometimes prefer listening to other female singers. It also could be that Lata Mangeshkar's best work was in her younger days and the ones he sang in 90s and early 2000 and later is not her best work due to her age. I haven't enjoyed her singing as much a from those years at least. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, nikred said:

I find her voice too high pitched to my liking.

Sent from my SM-M315F using Tapatalk
 

Yes, same thing I felt. I am glad there more people who think the same.

 

I wish Alka Yagnik had sang that song "Tere liye" of Veer-Zaara, it would have sounded even better. Or even some other Indian female artist. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Cricketics said:

So you like her high pitch in the songs?

 

She is capable of such high pitch and sings with her natural voice. Her natural voice itself is high pitched. She can reach scales that even male singers like MRafi couldn't match. You should not listen to her songs after 1975 or so. The problem is all her songs beyond her sell-by date is what you hear and gets passed around. She was the queen of the 50s and 60s. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lata Mangeshkar is a very good singer. But the last decades of her career, voice became too high pitched and shrill. She, Asha Bhosle, Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamoorty, Sunidhi , Shreya etc are some of the best female playback singers.

 

I don't want to dwell into classical singers such as Carnatic and Hindustani as some of them had better range and vocals, but it's difficult to compare playback with classical I feel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, I6MTW said:

Lata Mangeshkar is a very good singer. But the last decades of her career, voice became too high pitched and shrill. She, Asha Bhosle, Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamoorty, Sunidhi , Shreya etc are some of the best female playback singers.

 

I don't want to dwell into classical singers such as Carnatic and Hindustani as some of them had better range and vocals, but it's difficult to compare playback with classical I feel.

 

Exactly, both sisters  sang more than their golden period, hard to let go legacy, ego etc. In the 80s, even with inferior voice quality, she took away chances from singers like Runa Laila, Hemlata, Anuradha Paudwal etc. who were sounding fresher and younger. If you are comparing the voice quality of Lata/Asha in the 80s, 90s to modern autotuned singers, they would sing in their natural voice than somebody who would sound like a synthesizer (Neha Kakkar or Sunidhi Chauhan), Even singers like Shreya would sound better with technology in mics, rehearsed songs, while in one of the shows I attended she sounded atrocious. Maybe had a bad day.

 

I wouldn't compare classical singers with playback singers, while classical singers wouldn't get takes or retakes, they wouldn't have had to be emotional with all kinds of moods. Sad/Happy/Melancholy/Sarcasm etc. So, it's best not to compare different art forms.  I wouldn't say Lata is much better , even classical singing wise than say Parveen Sultana or others. They are good in their own styles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Gollum said:

I know very litlle about music but my fav is Shreya Ghoshal, dunno how critics rate her. 


big fan. For me among Indian women movie singers it is in that exact order.

 

Chitra (South Indian legend)

Shreya Ghoshal

Asha Bhonsle

Alka Yagnik

Kavita Krishna Murthy


I don’t want to rate Lataji, she is a legend and though not my personal favorite will respect her by not ranking her.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Gollum said:

Better than MS Subbulakshmi? Janaki, Susheela or even her sister Asha Bhosle? 

 

I think we should leave out MSS in the playback singing comparisons. SJanaki and PSusheels were queens on South India, while Lata was predominantly in Hindi, Marathi and some Bengali maybe. Yes, comparing her voice quality only, Lata is above these two, but diction is a cultural thing, the south Indian ladies are too good in south indian languages. I like all three equally, but respect Lata more for maintaining her voice from late 40s till late 70s - 30 years is huge , Deserving Bharat Ratna. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, maniac said:


big fan. For me among Indian women movie singers it is in that exact order.

 

Chitra (South Indian legend)

Shreya Ghoshal

Asha Bhonsle

Alka Yagnik

Kavita Krishna Murthy


I don’t want to rate Lataji, she is a legend and though not my personal favorite will respect her by not ranking her.

 

Chitra is too Nasal and she can't sing any other song other than Mallu/Tamil diction.

My list would be:

 

Asha Bhonsle/ SJanaki

P Susheela

Shreya

Chitra

Sadhna  Sargam

Anuradha Paudwal

Kavita Krishnamurthy

...

...

Alka Yagnik 

 

And others. I rate Alka lower because of versatality. She sings all her songs the same way, no difference in range/emotion etc. Quite flat for my taste.

She sounds like Ek Do Teen .. in all her songs 

 

 

Edited by coffee_rules
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Another soul piercing song is mere naina sawan bhado .... it could be based on Raag Shivaranjani

 

Though I like Kishore Kumar's version better (it is said that Kishore, not as versed in ragas as Rafi and Lata, asked RD to make Lata sing first so he could listen to the song and practise. Kishore practised for a week and sang a gem too)  .... the genius of RD .... I like the film Mehbooba mainly for its songs 

Edited by zen
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, zen said:

 

Another soul piercing song is mere naina sawan bhado .... it could be based on Raag Shivaranjani

 

Though I like Kishore Kumar's version better (it is said that Kishore, not as versed in ragas as Rafi and Lata, asked RD to make Lata sing first so he could listen to the song and practise. Kishore practised for a week and sang a gem too)  .... the genius of RD .... I like the film Mehbooba mainly for its songs 

 

Yup Muahh. Shivranjani is my fav too. There were like dozens of songs based on it.

 

On the topic, I would add my 2 cents. Most of their songs both Asha and Lata sung without any auto tuners, in 1 take. Sometimes they even rehearsed over the phone and came to studio and recorded it in first take. I consider myself too small in terms of knowledge and ability to judge any of these great singers. I hate to rank them because they are all different.

 

Based on Bhimpalasi by Lata

 

 

Based on some form of Todi by Shreya

 

 

Based on Marwa by Asha

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...