My Friend Mukesh 

                                                     By :  Raj Kapoor        

The man called Mukesh Chand Mathur is no more with us but the legend , the great singing phenomenon continues to live. The world holds his voice in the form of tapes, records etc. and we the near ones intimate and human memories of him too. He died in alien land on this very day of previous year. The whole world of music lovers who shocked by the great loss, and we all were in a sort of vacuum.

      My association with him starts from the year 1946. It was a brief meeting which changed in to a lasting bond of  love and friendship. The mystic somewhere hidden in the schemes  of things brings about communions on all levels, and out of such communions the great light of Art is born. He sang for me -- and filled my soul with his deeply rich melodious voice.

                              He was the singing spirit of my films. It was a dynamic contact between the two of us in which the professional approach never took and upper hand. He was a part of me, in a sense he was my alter - ago.

                                   While he sang for me he never experienced any kind of tensions or a nerve  rattle. We became one with his creative process  and thus came the great music gushing out from the fountain of his soul. The whole process assumed an inspirational mode  - even the most delicate subtleties in Gawai ( singing ) he rendered with an ease and comfort. 

          He had a innate pathos in his voice a touch of the classic which was one of the reason that he could not take to latest types of singing ,the yelling or a sort of free style exhibition of voice etc. He sang the good music of India , the songs , the Bhajans - Ghazals and light Classicals. In the world of nature vacuums are created only to be filed sooner or later. Today his son Nitin Mukesh  is following in the footsteps of his great father and I have no doubt , one day , he shall reach the glorious heights of singing and bring fame and glory to the world of Sangeet.

                 Mukesh is no more yet his presence  I feel always when I am doing my music. In short, ours was an intense search ti creating the beautiful in art. Sangeet is a darpan (mirror) in which the singer can see his soul. How true it was in the case of Mukesh. I still see him standing on the microphones singing the ' Satyam Shivam Sundaram ' the beautiful song :-

                      Chanchal - Sheetal Nirmal Komal , Sangeet Ki Devi Swar Sajni .

             To Mukesh  life was a very dedicated thing : The aspect of the devotional was deep in him. He was a distinguished singer of the glorious Orchestra of life and he sang with a rare pathos , on in - depth which is a part of the divine grace. The invisible composer composes , his invisible fingers touch the chords , and the streams of music flow down to the earth and the best men are sent with a divine will to sing to the people. He was a conqueror and his conquest was glorious in the domain of music.   

                    You feel the impact of his singing everywhere , and it is here we feel the sense of immortality of men in the creative fields. Let us all sing with him :

         JINA YAHAN MARNA YAHAN,  IS KAY SIVA JANA KAHAN ...

         JI CHAHE JAB HAM KO AWAZ DO , HUM HEN VAHIN HUM THEY JAHAN       

Long Live Mukesh :                                                                      Long Live His Sangeet.