Article About Jeet Singh Negi Ji.
Source:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080520/nation.htm#22Veteran Garhwali singer yet to get his due
Umesh Dewan
Tribune News Service
Dehra Dun, May 19
Highly critical of vulgarity in Hindi songs as well as those from other Indian languages, the first artiste from Uttarakhand to have Garhwali songs recorded by His Masters Voice (HMV) and Angel New Recording Company in the 1940s, Jeet Singh Negi, is a "broken" man today.
During an interview with The Tribune at his residence here, a grim-looking Negi said successive state governments had failed to recognise his six-decade-long contribution towards promotion of Garhwali folk songs.
Born in 1927 in Ayal village in Pauri Garhwal, octogenarian Negi feels that it is high time the government woke up and put a check on the increasing vulgarity both in lyrics and videos of songs. Negi is the first Garhwali singer whose compilation of six Garhwali folk songs was recorded on gramophone by Young India Gramophone Company of Bombay in 1949.
Negi did not receive any formal music training. With the broadcasting of Garhwali songs from AIR Delhi in 1954, it was Negi's songs that were the first to be aired. His popular number “Tu holi oonchi dandyon ma ghasyari ka bhes ma” (She must be on high mountain paths working as a grass-cutter) became so famous that it found special mention in the Uttar Pradesh Rural Survey report, 1961.
Credited with training many musicians, who later became popular folk singers in Uttarakhand, Negi says, "I never thought of making money. My aim was to promote Garhwali songs in the entire country. But what hurts me is that today singers who do not even knows the basics of singing are making lakhs, besides enjoying benefits offered by the government. And a singer like me who devoted his entire life for Garhwali music is living in misery. Not getting recognition from the government, has really pained me."
Negi has demanded that there should be a censor board for a check on “vulgar” video albums.
What is noteworthy is the fact that Negi's work is not restricted to singing only. A multifaceted personality, Negi has penned down several songs, plays and also worked as assistant music director in the National Gramophone Recording Company in Mumbai. Besides, he was also assistant director of Hindi movies like “Khalifa” by Movie India Company and “Chaudhayi Raat” by Moon Art Picture. Currently, Negi is associated with several national and international cultural organisations.