On World Music Day, Asia’s nightingale Lata Mangeshkar offers tips to upcoming singers

When asked to give suggestions to new upcoming singers the Goddess of all melodious things demurs, protesting that today’s generation doesn’t take advice kindly. When I persuade her she finally agrees and gives these invaluable tips.

1. Be a shishya all your life: “Even at my age I consider myself a student of music, Music is an unfathomable ocean. The more you learn, the less you seem to know. I’ve always been a learner. Every one of the great music composers whom I worked with taught me how to better myself. And I am forever indebted to all of them.”

2. Riaz every morning: “The one thing I truly regret is not practising my music every day. Riaz each morning is very important. It is by honing your skills that you better yourself. In my heydays I was so busy recording songs, going from studio to studio that I never got a chance to sit every morning and just practise.”

3. Focus on the diction: “Not enough attention is paid nowadays to the pronunciation of words. This must be rectified. The only way that a song comes alive is if the singer feels the words. And the only way you can feel the lyrics is to know them in and out.”

4. Be Original: “Singing re-mixes may get you instant fame. But it is the original compositions that are remembered in the long run. By all means sing the songs from the golden era. But don’t make them your passport to instant fame. Follow your idols, but find your own path.

5. Don’t let success get to you: Success and failure can be equally toxic and damaging. Don’t let either of the two get to you. Never stop to count your blessings or curse your setbacks. Just continue doing your work honestly. Leave the rest to the One Above.”