Lucknow, April 16: The hall was jam-packed. Chitra Singh, the popular ghazal singer of the '70s and '80s, was to perform in public for the first time in 27 years since going into early retirement following the death of her young son in a street accident.

In the end, however, her emotions got the better of her.

"I won't be able to sing. It seems I can't make a comeback," Chitra, her voice choking and eyes welling, told a stunned audience last evening at the Sankat Mochan Sangeet Samaroh, Varanasi's famous annual music and dance festival, before getting off the stage.

She, however, held out hope for next year. "If possible, I would try to perform here next year," was her parting comment.

Chitra had been the star attraction at this year's six-day event, which kicked off last evening and is to feature many leading Indian and foreign artistes.

Minutes before climbing onto the stage, she had given reporters a hint of why she had decided to end her self-imposed exile from the music scene.

"This performance is meant to ask the government to award the Bharat Ratna to my late husband ( ghazal legend Jagjit Singh, who died in 2011)," she had said.

Thunderous applause had broken out as she stepped onto the stage with her team. The organisers felicitated her and recordings of some of her ghazals were played in the background. Eventually, the recordings were all that the audience got to hear of her music.

Later last night, when The Telegraph was able to contact Vishwambhar Nath Mishra, head priest of the Sankat Mochan temple and organiser of the festival, he said: "I'm with madam (Chitra) and am showing her around the city."

Asked why Chitra had declined to sing at the last moment, he said: "Her health is more important to us than her performing on stage. But I have already invited her to Varanasi for next April's festival, and her fans are confident that she would fulfil their dream of hearing her sing live again."

Chitra had arrived in Varanasi on Friday with Arman Chaudhary, son of her daughter from her first marriage, and prayed on the Ganga's banks yesterday morning in memory of her husband.

"I salute this lively city and I regret that I never came to Varanasi when my husband was alive and used to perform here. I thank Sankat Mochan that I have got this opportunity now," she had said.

She later visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple and told reporters she had prayed for the Bharat Ratna for her husband.

The festival began with a kuchipudi presentation by Padmaja Reddy of Hyderabad, followed by a rendition of classical music by Pandit Vishwanath of the Kirana gharana. Chitra was to be the next singer.

American saxophonist George Brooks and Afghan rabab player Ustad Gulfam Ahmad are scheduled to perform at the festival. Mishra said this year's theme was Banaras (Varanasi).