Lata Mangeshkar cuts an album for Jain community

Mumbai: Lata Mangeshkar has recorded an album of bhajans and chants for the Jain community and she got herself a linguistic teacher to guide her through all the traditional devotional chants.

Lata says doing album was a special challenge. "Somewhere they felt that their religious teachings and mantras have so far not been properly articulated. I am happy and relieved that they think my rendition does justice to their sacred teachings," she said. The process was time-taking but for the 84-year-old it is never too late to learn. "It wasn`t easy, I can tell you that. But getting the pronunciation and diction absolutely right has always been important for me. Early in my career, I had got myself Sanskrit and Urdu teachers who would come to my recordings at studios to sit and teach me the languages during the breaks," Lata said. "Years later when I recorded the `Bhagavad Gita` for my brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar, I hired another Sanskrit teacher to make sure that I got the nuances correct," she added. Lata feels it`s very important to be 100 percent correct in articulating religious and spiritual thoughts. "Centuries of thoughts go into these teachings. One can`t be careless with religious sentiments. I am happy to learn languages through my singing and to polish up my diction. Every artiste remains a student all her life. I am no exception," she said.