There is an awesome thread in RMIM in which a few people have asserted that music directors did a disservice to Lata and music lovers by making her sing at a pitch higher than what was necessary or pleasing. Just because she could. One guy actually edited a song and tweaked it to a pitch which was 1/2 a note lower. To my ears, the version with the lower pitch is far more pleasing. I have felt this not only about Lata but also others like Chitra, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shankar Mahadevan and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Glad to see there are others who feel the same.

I have nothing against high-pitched vocals per se. They convey strong emotions of angst and passion – O Duniya Ke Rakhwale (Baiju Bawra) is a great example. My only problem is with music directors overdoing it just because they have a singer who can carry it off (and sometimes even with singers who can’t). When overdone, such vocals can sound contrived, jarring and downright unpleasant. This fascination for high-pitched vocals also ends up typecasting and underutilizing talented singers.

I attended a couple of Anup Jalota concerts when I was a kid. One of the common features of these concerts was Jalota sahab letting out a taan and not taking a breath till the audience clapped. I don’t think people clapped because they enjoyed the taan. I think they clapped because they were kind and they knew that while Jalota sahab did have a tremendous lungs, not clapping could result in a medical emergency. In a way, these long taans were not really meant for the audience, they were meant for Anup Jalota to feel good about himself. Overdone high-pitched vocals are something like that.

Check out these clips from an RMIM member:

Actually, since two people liked the reduced pitch version, I thought I will upload a third version where we simply reduced the playback speed of the DVD by 5% and recorded the audio. So this third clip is slightly longer duration (1:53 instead of 1:48) and the reduction is pitch is due to slower play back. I liked the pitch reduction without slowing down the speed better. Your preference may be different and I am fine with it. So here are the three links again –

Original from DVD – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koDVVdUcUfo

Half note lower version without speed reduction – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvlbpweaEwU

Lower pitch due to speed reduction (DVD play back at 95% of normal speed) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFSSyFeB-xk

Enjoy!!

What is your take? Which clip do you like?