The Pop Corporation

To simply refer to Asha Bhosle as an iconic singer doesn’t quite capture the influence and reach of her towering voice in Bollywood and Indian culture – she is one of the defining voices of any generation, and she has passed away aged 92.

Spanning eight decades, Bhosle recorded tens of thousands of songs and became one of the voices for households who tuned into to Bollywood movies across all ages, providing the playback tracks which actors would lip sync to.

For anyone with even the most passing interest in Bollywood music, they will have almost certainly heard Bhosle sing, who tackled classical Indian music as well as songs that incorporated Western disco and pop.

India’s home minister, Amit Shah, responded to the news of Bhosle’s passing, saying she had left “an indelible mark not just in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati and many other languages but also in folk songs”.

Asha navigated a turbulent life before becoming one of India’s most celebrated musicians.

Outside of Bollywood, she’d be name checked in Cornershop’s ‘Brimful of Asha’, as well as starring on the Gorillaz album ‘The Mountain’, as well as a 90s collaboration with Boy George.

Such is the breadth of Bhosle’s career, it is difficult to pin down just where she was great, but the music world and Indian cinema has lost one of its most treasured voices.

Bhosle embodied a version of Indian that was bold and dynamic through her songs, and her musical partnership with RD Burman made for some of the most revolutionary creations in Indian cinema, eclectic and bursting with life.

She will not be matched.