A 70mm voice is missing for many years now, feels Mika
As we slowly move towards reopening things after an almost three-month-long nationwide lockdown, singer Mika Singh says he is very excited that life is getting back to normal. “Everyone knows about the dos and don’ts of going out, so if they continue to follow the rules of social distancing, etc., I think we will be fine,” he says.
During the lockdown, Singh had released a single titled Quarantine Love, and yesterday he released another single titled Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho (Lockdown). With this remake of the popular song, Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho (Hanste Zakhm; 1973), the singer has attempted to remake a Mohammad Rafi song for the first time. “I have sung remakes in the past but I never tried Rafi Saab’s songs. Thankfully and luckily, none of my remakes got trolled,” says Singh, who has sung recreations such as Poster Lagwado (Luka Chuppi; 2019) and Aankh Marey (Simmba; 2018), among others.
He adds, “All these songs became hits by God’s grace, but most importantly, no one said anything bad about them. Meri hamesha koshish rehti hai ki in gaano ki kabhi taang na todi jaye, unke lyrics kharab na ho, so that people like the song.”
The 43-year-old singer feels we have extremely talented young singers in the industry but there’s a problem with the way they sing remakes. “They give the old songs a certain kind of sound jisse gaana kharab ho jata hai. For example, Kumar Sanu is the tiger of the music industry, and when I sang Aankh
Marey, I had to match his voice. I took a week to listen to all of dada’s songs, to understand how he has such a brilliant voice — the kind of voice that we call a 70mm voice, a voice that suits the big screen. Woh bade parde wali awaaz hi gayab ho rakhi hai pichle kayi saalon se,” shares Singh.
“When you remake a legend’s song, you have to be very careful because you can never compare yourself to them. Aapko yeh maan ke chalna hai ki main uske ird gird nahi gaa paunga, na hi better ga paunga. But because the song is maybe 20 years old, there are a lot of young people who may not have heard it. So it is important to remake these songs for them,” he explains.
When you remake a legend’s song, you have to be very careful because you can never compare yourself to them. MIKA SINGH SINGER