She croons to conquer. At 71, singing diva Asha Bhosle has just recorded her own songs composed by R.D. Burman for an American jazz band called Cronos Corner.

"I've just recorded with them in San Francisco. It was such a pleasure re-living Pancham's (R.D. Burman) songs in such a unique way," she dimples shyly.

"There were Pancham's film songs like 'Piya tu ab to aaja' and 'Dum maro dum'. They also selected Pancham's Bengali songs and selections from his non-film album 'Dil Padosi Hai'. They called Pancham the Mozart of popular music.

"They said Pancham's arrangements couldn't be done by anyone except Mozart. The album's release will be accompanied by my live concert when I'll go on stage with four members of the jazz band and sing Pancham's songs like never before."

This isn't the first time that Asha has recorded with international groups.

"But this one is special because it has to do with one of my favourite composers. Cronos Corner got in touch with me through a British source. They were interested in Indian popular music.

"They went through a list of composers in Mumbai and finally zeroed in on Pancham. They've made me sing Pancham's songs without changing the beats or the language.

"The American listeners are enamoured of our music. This album will be targeted at a foreign audience. And guess what they told me? If there's a good music director in India after Pancham it's Hridaynath Mangeshkar.

"Next they'll be recording the songs of Hridaynath. On hearing the compositions of Pancham and Hridaynath they wondered how these composers could create such tunes! They want to do Hridaynath's Marathi songs next."

Back home, Asha is all set to release her first album of non-film songs, and that too ghazals by Farida Khannum, Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh.

"It's the requirement of the times I guess. I know some purists will come down heavily on me for daring to tamper with these greats. But when have I ever been daunted by challenges?"