HYDERABAD, Pakistan: At musical gatherings, there is one request Muhammad Waseem has gotten quite used to receiving: being asked to sing like Lata Mangeshkar.
Waseem, who comes from Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, has acquired the alias of Waseem Lata for his ability to mimic the singing voice of the legendary Indian singer. He told Arab News he was heartbroken he would not be able to fulfill his “utmost desire” to meet his idol, who died on Feb. 6 due to complications from COVID-19.
Mangeshkar, who died at the age of 92, was best known as one of the great Bollywood playback singers, lending her vocals to generations of actors who lip-synched the lyrics. With her distinctive voice and wide range she helped to define mainstream Hindi cinema.
Muhammad Waseem holds Lata Mangeshkar's photograph at a studio in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on Feb. 7, 2022. (AN photo by Zulfiqar Kunbhar)
Forty-year-old Waseem, based in the southern city of Hyderabad, first heard Mangeshkar’s songs as a young man and soon realized he could imitate her singing voice. At the time, he did not even know the name of the singer.
“It’s been around 20 years since I began singing Lata Ji’s songs and this has earned me the title of Lata,” Waseem told Arab News. He said that people liked his singing and said it sounded just like Lata Ji. “Only then I came to know for the first time that the voice which I had admired for years was of Lata Mangeshkar.”
Waseem, who has performed in cities across Pakistan, hopes to find a financier to record an album of songs. He recalled occasions at concerts when people demanded the sound system be shut down and the singer perform without a band to prove this was his real voice.
“Although a lot of people know me, even then at many concerts we needed to stop the playback music system because people thought that I may only be lip-synching Lata Ji’s songs,” the singer said.
“After that I have to stop the music and perform without music so that people can be guaranteed that the voice belongs to me.”
Waseem knows around 60 Mangeshkar songs by heart and says he wants to triple that number so her songs can “last forever.”
