The Score Magazine - Archive February 2015 issue! | Page 26

&
Sunali
After a five-year hiatus, the dynamic
duo Roop Kumar and Sunali Rathod are
back with a brand new album ‘Zikr Tera’.
The release of this album also marks
the 25th year of their togetherness
as a couple. Score got a chance to sit
down with them and talk about music,
love, and more!
24
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S: I have been learning Indian Classical Music since the age of 12 under
Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar but I never intended to make
Ghazal as my sole genre of singing. For any kind of genre you intend
to sing, you need to know the nuances of Indian Classical Music. But
at one point, in 1985, during the golden era of Ghazals, I was offered
to do a concert in Gujarat. I had learnt Urdu as a language when I
was young, so was well versed with Ghazal singing. The concert was
much appreciated and I was offered to do a solo Ghazal album by the
music company Music India (Polydor). In those times, as students
of music, we never planned our careers. I released my first ever
Ghazal album Aagash in 1986 and after that there was no looking
back. The company promoted the album very well and I started
performing and that’s how my Ghazal journey began.
R: I fell in love with Ghazals in 1979 when I was 19 years old. When
I heard Mehdi Khan Sahab’s cassette, I wondered what kind of
music it was. Before that we had heard only two types of music
– Classical Music, which does not emphasize much on poetry
and second was film music. From 1970 to 80, action films were
getting made and disco songs ruled the charts. I wasn’t interested
in that music. It was in 1979-80, when some cassettes
from Pakistan arrived that I heard Hussain
Bakshi, Ghulam Ali, Mehdi Hassan and was
awestruck. In 1985, my first double album
Parvaaz as a Ghazal singer was released on
Music India (Polydor). I played tabla and
sang Ghazals on that album.
"
Roopkumar
Where did your love for Ghazal singing begin?
Zikr Tera marks the
completion of our 25
years of marriage, our
journey together as
artists. And to say that
Zikr Tera is the new
beginning of our Ghazal
journey would not be
wrong.