Sunday, 8 December 2024

Najma, Dil Laga Ya Tha and the Face of Love


Najma (pronounced Nahj-mah) Akhtar najmaakhtar.com is a singer, musician and artist, born on 18 September 1962, in England. She's a pioneer in mixing South-East-Asian traditional music with jazz and many other musical styles.  
I believe that Najma was firstly and truly known by her participation in Philip Glass's 1986 album Songs From Liquid Days. Back then, the British Musical Scene was embracing many different exotic styles. For example, in 1983, Sheila Chandra became notorious with the song Ever So Lonely  
In 1987, Najma released her first album ‘Qareeb’ (Closeness) with this song Dil Laga Ya Tha.

Dil Laga Ya Tha (possibly meaning: I felt Like It) is not very different from another song which became very famous in 1996 due to Eddie Vedder who sang it with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The song is the Face of Love.

And now, the reason why I'm posting this, is: I have a cassette recording with a radio show from António Sérgio and I was never able to identify Dil Laga Ya Tha. But now, there's a new tool from Google helping me. Much better than others existing long ago but unable to identify Dil Laga Ya Tha. 

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