4 min readApr 10, 2026 10:50 PM IST
Near-perfect is not a promise that a live album ever gets to make. Even at its best, the precision in most live albums, barring some exceptional classical ones, surfaces in flashes of those rigorously practised sections. And if one is lucky, there may be some unanticipated moments that may just align well when one least expects them.
Even though playback singer Shreya Ghoshal’s voice, for years now, has carried a certain studio-like clarity in her live presentations (her stripped down, acoustic versions of Sun raha hai (Aashiqui 2, 2013) and Lata Mangeshkar’s Rasm-e-ulfat in MTV Unplugged remain great lessons in how technical command can seamlessly merge with the emotional core of a song), a stage concert in auditoriums and stadiums with numerous factors at play can place even the most seasoned performers at the mercy of uncontrollable variables. That she has chosen to release recordings from her recent ‘The All Hearts Tour’ and put them out as a nine-track album is lion-hearted. That she is also the first woman playback singer in about three decades to do so makes this all the more compelling. Mainly because live music brutally exposes what the insulated studios smooth over with careful production and corrections for many sub-par yet often popular artistes.
What to me is also of interest is that Ghoshal takes some of her more tuneful melodies — Saibo (Shor in the City, 2011), O saathi re (Omkara, 2006), O Rangrez (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, 2013) and Samjhavaan (Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya, 2014), among others and does her blazing versions of them. She lingers on a note when she wants, adds alaaps that aren’t originally there, improvises and takes these songs to newer dimensions. They often deviate from how they appear in their respective films and that’s remarkable.
A lot of these songs are originally duets, built on the interplay between two distinct voices. But Ghoshal sings both parts and owns the pieces, creating the dialogue with a single voice. That she recently spoke of gender inequality in the film industry in an interview is resonant here. As mentioned by other women singers too, they have been overshadowed in collaborative formats in the last few decades, unlike the older days when the Mangeshkar sisters dominated the space.
In the album, the distinction between live and studio fades from the word go. While the slower melodies soar easily, the item numbers like Nagada (Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela, 2013) and Chikni Chameli (Agneepath, 2012), even though ably delivered, do not feel as settled. One can sense the breath working harder, all of it going into the functional domain. An exception is Radha (Student of the Year), where a chorus for some part of the song allows Ghoshal to play off the collective energy and retain massive clarity in the briskly moving notes. The upshot is that Ghoshal doesn’t treat the stage as a litmus test to be passed. One can hear her genuinely enjoy the music she has worked on, an extension of her craft. She plays the piano live along with some of the songs in her concerts, as if she is rehearsing in her living room and the audience has been invited to her private space. From an Indian film music singer of today, that is heartening. Even if she still has to jostle for space with male singers on the cutting table, at this point, Ghoshal is inhabiting the stage on her own terms. And she is knocking it out of the park.
ARTIST: Shreya Ghoshal
LABEL: Sony Music
Rating: Four stars
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