Lata, Javed Akhtar team up for ghazal alb

In a historic coming together, Lata Mangeshkar fan Javed Akhtar, who started his career as a film lyricist with Lata's "Yeh kahan aa gaye hum" and "Dekha ek khwab" in "Silsila", has teamed up with the indomitable singer for an album of ghazals.

"It's something I look forward to," Lata Mangeshkar told IANS.

"I had already recorded some ghazals by other poets for the album, and my composer, the young Mayuresh Pai, and I, had kept aside three tracks for Javed saab. He came up to us with such enthusiasm."

"He said, 'You take four of my lyrics and use any three you like'."

Lataji recalls her long association with Javed Akhtar.

"I have sung right from his 'Sagar' and 'Silsila' days to his recent songs in 'Lagaan' and 'Zubeidaa'. His words are simple and yet poetic. The album called 'Swaranjali' will be my first non-film collaboration with Javed saab. To that extent, I'm sure it will be very special."

The legendary singer hasn't done a ghazal album in quite a while.

"The last non-film album I did was also with Mayuresh Pai. It was an album of Atal Bihari Vajpayiji's poems. My last ghazal album was, I think, 'Sajda' with Jagjit Singh. Let's see how this one finally sounds."