by Peeyush Sharma (via Ashok Vaishnav) Main Kya Janoon Kya Jadoo Hai: K L Saigal’s Magical Music Excerpts:
"My mother said, “When I start a song session my tabla player and other orchestra sits and tunes together with a note played on my harmonium first. This is how we are in harmony. Mostly done on shadaj or pancham, first or 5th note. This is a common practise. Many a singers do it with veena or taanpura. In case with Saigal’s recording session, he would sing out a note and the musicians would match or set their instruments accordingly. It was the other way round. It was a natural gift to him that his voice was always in tune and in perfect tune”.
"My mother said, “When I start a song session my tabla player and other orchestra sits and tunes together with a note played on my harmonium first. This is how we are in harmony. Mostly done on shadaj or pancham, first or 5th note. This is a common practise. Many a singers do it with veena or taanpura. In case with Saigal’s recording session, he would sing out a note and the musicians would match or set their instruments accordingly. It was the other way round. It was a natural gift to him that his voice was always in tune and in perfect tune”.
A few months later on Doordarshan Calcutta this was confirmed by Kanan Devi, in almost similar words. Later I spoke about this to my classical music teacher at the Birla Academy, Mr. Nandy and again with Mr. V G Jog (the Violin maestro). They both confirmed that they had heard about this and believed it was one in a million phenomena, as no vocalist could possibly be more perfect than an instrument. This is one unique quality that Saigal’s voice had."
"Kidar Sharma had mentioned that Saigal suffered from acute sciatica and that lead to his consuming alcohol trying to subside pain. But eventually both stuck with him all through his life only growing to fatal heights."
Check also the Pran Neville interview mentioned there
