AR Rahman pays emotional tribute to Lata Mangeshkar; reveals why his father had kept her picture near his bed

Lata Mangeshkar, the Nightingale of India, passed away today due to multi organ failure after over 28 long days at the hospital. Soon after she tested positive for novel coronavirus and was diagnosed with pneumonia in January, the legendary singer was admitted to Mumbai’s Breach Candy hospital. She was reportedly recovering but yesterday her health deteriorated and she breathed her last this morning. It is an incredibly emotional day for the people of our country. AR Rahman, who had the honor of working with the Swar Kokila, feels this void that her demise has left us with, will remain forever.

In a special tribute video that he shared on the internet, Rahman remembered, “In my experience with her, it goes back to my dad, who I believe passed away when I was very young. He had a picture of her near his bed so he would wake up with her face, and get inspired to go to recordings. So it starts there. Coming to me also, I was lucky to record a few songs with her, sing along with her. Be a part of a show where I learnt probably one of the most important things about performing on stage.”

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Rahman shared that he had never taken his singing seriously because he imagined himself as a musician and a composer, but one day he heard Lata ji practicing and it changed his life. He went on to add, “The void.. I think about it, it’s like a huge void is going to happen. Even though we have the wealth of her songs, I think not having her physically is a void which can be very difficult to fill in.” Rahman concluded that all we can do is celebrate and learn from this legend who left us.

It truly is a sad day for all of us. But we are extremely grateful for all the memories Lata ji left us with to remember her by for the rest of our lives.