India, April 12 -- If Indian music were a vast night sky, filled with constellations of discipline and devotion, Asha Bhosle would be a restless comet that refused to follow a fixed orbit. She flashed across eras, styles, and expectations, leaving behind a luminous trail that others can only admire.

Versatile is a word often used to describe her conveniently. But it may be important to understand where the versatility came from. I feel it was her instinct for emotional truth, even in the most stylised compositions. She could enter a song and inhabit it fully, whether it required mischief, seduction, melancholy, or abandon.

Her voice carried an elasticity that allowed it to bend enough but not really break. It could be playful, sensual, ...