Adil Najam
Last year the mobile phone company Mobilink had released a wonderful tribute to Mehdi Hassan on the occasion of Independence Day, conceived and produced by actor Shaan; now of Khuda key Liye fame. We had carried a number of posts on that wonderful tribute (here, here and here) and have recently featured it again on our sidebar. This year, Mobilink released a similar tribute, this time to Farida Khannum.
It is done equally tastefully and although the song itself does not have the gravitas and passion of ‘Yeh watan tumhara hai‘, the visuals and the sentiments are very moving. I, at least, have been listening to it repeatedly over the last many hours.
Of course, the ghazal and geet maestro Farida Khanum deserves - nay, demands - a separate and detailed post. She is in a class by herself and some of the most memorable renditions of Urdu ghazals and geets have been from her. To even think of writing about her music overwhelms one. She is a giant. Truly a giant of her craft. But more than that she is also a wonderful person and the big smile and welcoming demeanor that you see in this new video is not an act. It is very genuine. I have had the pleasure (in an earlier life) of interviewing her and spending some time with her. Her sense of humor and her sense of compassion are legendary … and real.
I hope to write a real post on her when I can do justice to it (unfortunately my list of posts-to-write keeps growing longer), but right now I wanted to at least share some of her greatest musical gems with our readers.
For me, to think of Fareeda Khannum is to think of ‘woh ishq jo hum say rooth gaya‘. This is not the best recording to that song, but listening to it still gives me goosebumps. Powerful poetry, rendered with amazing poignancy.
Although her forte has always been the ghazal, Farida Khanum’s geet have been equally memorable, including some Punjabi folk songs such as Balle Balle Tor Punjaban Di. But probably the signature geet fromFarida Khanum is ‘Mein nay paaon mein payal tou pehnay nahiN.’ Again, this is not the best recording of the song, but it is memorable nonetheless.
This post was great.
We all need to treat these people with more respect. I am only 22 years old and people from my generation don’t even know who people like Farida Khanum, Iqbal Bano and Nayyara Noor are. If there was more awareness raised in the media the perhaps the youth wouldbe aware of these people and respect them more. The govt. also needs to treat them with respect.
I wish these new music channels would have segments on the great singers we have had from our country in the past.
Adil Bhai,
Excellent post, the lady is a living legend alongside the greats of Pakistan namely Madam, Ustad Mehdi saab, Ustad Nusrat saab and Ustad Ghulam Ali. We have only three left, lefts savour them and especially pray and fight for Ustad Mehdi’s plight as his health is poor and the government of Mush doesnt give a damn even after endless emails from me to the famed President requesting his help to help the Ustaad.
Maybe someone who knows someone can raise the profile, adil bhai could you say a word or two in an article or in an interview or even contact some journalist friends. I would love to see Capital Talk or some program of that kind dedicated to how we treat our legends come about as a result of a phone call, stranger things have happened!
Feimanallah and Pakistan Legends Zindabad
Wasim
… The second verse is:
maen chaman mayN KHush nahIN hUN …
I regret the typo.
Wonderful piece. I wish someone at ATP could put a similar piece together about here elder sister Mukhtar Begum. Looong time ago, I heard her sing a ghazal of Agha Hashr Kasmiri in a function at the Arts Council.
mere AshyiAN mayN kyA hae mera AshiyAN jalA dE
maen chaman mayN KHudh nahIN hUN mere aur haeN irAdE
It was really something else. Would give anything to find a recording of it somewhere.
watching her live is such a magical experience. she starts off her performance with an alaap that is unique; she actually hums and gets her voice ready before the actually alaap is unleased by which time you are help spell-bound not only by the authority of her voice but her beauty; yes she looks beautiful in her crimson sari. at the APMC annual concert in karachi where finding space during the inaugural session was difficult, we saw her coming towards the place which my wife and i thought we had secured. we made room for her and she sat on the floor just infront of us; thereupon hordes and hordes of people queued up to pay their respects and if she was in conversation with anyone, she made sure she returned the compliments showered on her by people and she was a picture of complete humility. no wonder that people sat patiently till 3am because she was singing aaj jaanany kee zid na karo, what mortal being will even dare think of leaving when farida khanum implores you to stay a’la chend ghareeyaan yahee hain jo aazaad hain, tum ko apnee qasam jan-e-jan, rook lo aaj kee raat ko, aaj janay kee zid na karoo
adil, do you remember the crowd responding to her when she first sang balay balay nee tor punjaban dee during the black-n-white days…what is PTV doing sitting on these golden archives i wonder. was it not on Zia Mohuydin show? how i wish the replay that whole series of stage music show
Athar Nafees’s ghazal and Farida Khanum’s voice…..I am spellbound…………..
Thanks to these great artistes, Urdu has managed to flourish and survive in India. Classical singers and all such mughannis and mughannias deserve a salute.
Adil Bhai: thanks for this post.
Farida Khanum’s voice is majestic - she is a living legend.