India mourns 'Nightingale' Lata Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar, a singer who defined music and melody for generations of Indians, has died at 92.

They called her "the Nightingale", and her voice has rung out of television sets, on crackly airwaves and from movie theatres for most of the three quarters of a century since India's independence.

Mangeshkar died on Sunday morning (February 6) of multi-organ failure. She'd been in hospital with COVID-19 for nearly a month.

"I am anguished beyond words," Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter.

One of India's biggest cultural icons, Mangeshkar will receive a state burial, and the government will fly the flag at half-mast through Monday.

Born in 1929 in pre-independence India, Mangeshkar began singing in her teens, and in a career spanning 73 years sang at least 15,000 songs in 36 languages.

She enthralled music-mad Indians with her lilting voice and sheer range.

Mangeshkar cut her teeth in Bollywood and dominated the industry for nearly five decades.

Her influence was such that Mumbai authorities in 2006 scrapped a planned highway flyover after she objected that it would disturb her privacy.

Mangeshkar received India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2001, and in 2009 was awarded France's Legion of Honour.