Part 33

The next day we all assembled at the recording studio. Tom had extracted the twenty tracks required from the CDs and made a new one with just those needed. He had also sorted them into his idea of difficulty level.

Aganee was with us to check the Hindi numbers and she took a copy of the CD and the lyric sheet with the English to Hindi translations then left us to it to sort out the music. Some of his early songs were much simpler and less orchestrated than the ones we had first worked on. However, the biggest problem was that his voice was younger and much more agile than it is now. If he tried to sing like that on tour he would become a laughing stock.

The other problem was that an early Bollywood had embraced another culture and most of the songs from that period were in a disco style. I made a decision and rang Janet. When she asked me what the problem was I told her that we needed permission to change a lot of the early work and she said she would call Lajpal to get his OK with it. We took a break and twenty minutes later she rang back to say that we could do whatever we needed to do to make it work.

I then rang Aganee to see how she was getting on with the translations and she told me that they had used the modern language and that she was reworking it with the older version that tended to suit Anus’ voice now. That led to me realising that we could not keep his voice on the new masters as it would not fit what we had to do with the songs. I told her this and wondered how we could work it with him being back in India and she said “Why not let Gaurav sing in his place, he used to sing in the school choir and has a good baritone. They can always replace his track on the masters in India when they get them.”

We discussed it and Tom said it was not a problem as he could work the masters so that there was a spare, unused, track that they could use. The band said they would carry on reworking the material in a more acceptable way and I left to find Gaurav and tell him that his time will be needed in the studio. I phoned him and he told me that he was in the supermarket and we arranged to meet for lunch. I explained our problem and his likely involvement and he protested that he had not sung for ages and certainly was no artist. It took me two complete explanations before I got it through his head that his track was only there to provide Anu with the base that he would follow when he overdubbed the masters and he finally relented to help out.

This all led to a hectic few weeks as we ended up recording a complete set of new masters with Gaurav singing with the smoother tunes that we had worked out; in a different version of the Hindi, and it all became a new Gaurav album and we all had a laugh about that. As we worked through the numbers he really got into the groove and it was like recording with a proper singer. We made the duets with me and him singing really sizzle. We did a complete set in Hindi and then another in English and Tom made a number of CDs. We sent them and the masters off to Lajpal to comment on and then sat back waiting for the explosion from India. We all had copies to remind us of the experience and Birgitta had hers on repeat in the house at high volume, much to Guptars’ dismay. He started to go out a lot while she was in that phase.

The year was drawing to a close and we were preparing to go to India as soon as we got the word. Things had been strangely silent and I wondered if we had overstepped the mark. Janet rang me in a state of excitement one day and told us to gather at the studio for a meeting, she said that the whole band was to be there. When we arrived we found her, her husband, Jack and Sheila already drinking champagne with Tom. On the table in front of them was a box of CDs. The cover showed Anu on stage with us during the London show and the title was “Anudeep Dhawan, the Dhawanees and friends, in a Reflective Mood.”

I had a look on the back and it listed the band but it had Gayle and Gaurav Hidjeet as featured singers. Aganee Hidjeet was listed as Hindi language tutor. When the whole band was gathered, Tom put the CD on the speakers and we listened to it with amazement. There were the tracks we had recorded with Anu now replacing Gaurav in Hindi and English. Then there were tracks where he and I did our duets in Hindi. And then there were three tracks where Gaurav and I did our duets untouched in English and, finally, another three tracks where they had managed to mix Anu singing with Gaurav and I and the two guys doing alternate verses, all in Hindi. It was a double disc album and Janet showed me the note that was with the box. It was signed by Anu and Lajpal and they thanked us for the work and saying that the CD was already on the Indian market and racing up the charts.

Gaurav had to sit down while we all congratulated him on becoming an instant star. It was a lot for him to take in but we plied him with enough champagne to deaden his jitters. Janet then produced a sheaf of airline tickets for a flight on Boxing Day, all first class and there was one each for Jill and Joyce the salon girls, Bill and Aganee. Jack said that Sheila would review the disc in their next magazine and that he would organise its release as soon as possible. Janet took advantage of Gauravs’ slower wits to get his signature on a contract and I got him into a cab with a few of the CDs and we went to see his parents.

When we got there he was a little better but still in a state of denial. Birgitta let us in and asked if he was ill and I told her he was just in shock. I showed her the CD and when she read the names on the back she let out a scream that brought Guptar and Aganee rushing up. She had to go and put it on her player and while Gaurav and Guptar sat in the lounge with her, I helped Aganee make some tea. We sat there and Birgitta got more and more excited as she heard her son and daughter-in-law on record and she came over and hugged us both with each of our duets together. When she asked about Aganee being listed I told her that it was her work with the language that made the songs sound better and that I believed that Anu had taken to Aganee as almost a mother figure, having lost his own when he was very young. They had certainly had lots of chats during the tour.

Jack had given me copies of the tour videos that had come back from post-production in India a couple of weeks earlier and he had told me that they were being shipped as we spoke. Birgitta rang Grette to come around and then rang to order an Indian take-away delivery for later in the day. Grette and Guntaj arrived and we all settled in to see what we had managed to achieve. Grette was totally amazed as she had never seen it and was jumping up and down as I went on singing the first duet. The cameramen had done a great job and the editing turned it into an experience. I got tingles myself as I watched it unfold and there was a group hug when it finished.

The food arrived and while we ate, Birgitta put the new CD on and Grette nearly fell off her chair when she heard her brother singing. Our sizzling duets got her standing up and enveloping us in a huge hug each time they came on and, when it was finished we sat there with a sense of wonderment all over again. Guptar then said “Didn’t they film the first half of the show as well?” and I pulled out the ‘Gayle and the Four Winds Live’. We went back into the lounge and sat to watch that one a lot more quietly. Gaurav cuddled me close as it went on and was eager to take me home when it finished. We gathered our stuff and Guntaj drove us home were we did not take long getting into bed.

The next day I had a text from Tavleen to meet at a café we knew so we went along to see what she wanted. When we walked in the whole band was there and we sat down with them. Tavleen announced that she and Balnoor were going to marry in a civic ceremony the following week as they did not want to go to India as an unmarried couple. Then Jenianna said that she and Bill would tie the knot straight after as a double ceremony. This gave them a week for a honeymoon before we headed off. The girls would be having a joint bridal shower and the guys had planned a joint stag night on the weekend. It was all very rushed but it did fill up the period before Christmas. I nearly fainted when I realised that I had not bought any presents yet and now there were so many. When we left them I dragged Gaurav to the city where I shopped until I dropped.

We did most of our shopping in an up-market store where we could get everything wrapped and delivered to the apartment. We did joint gifts to the band, the Four Winds, his family and others for Christmas as well as wedding gifts for the two couples. Of course, spending on this scale came to the attention of the management and I had to let them take my credit card to get approval from my bank. My account manager was, I was told, effusive in his answers and they apologised for doubting me. Actually, I arranged it so the store manager found us at the record section when he came back. I was standing next to a life-size cut-out of me in the evening dress on stage. By it was a display of the various CDs as well as a batch of the two live DVDs. Not one to flaunt my fame, no!!!!

Marianne G 2021