Adil Najam
For many of us the 1980s talk-show Silver Jubilee was the very best of all of Anwar Maqsood’s television shows. And that is saying something given the many brilliants endeavors he was been part of. That the other maestro of Pakistan Television(PTV), Shoaib Mansoor, was the producer of this memorable series is another reason why.
The PTV show is memorable, most of all, for its selection of guests; especially for bringing back people from a bygone era of greats (Naeem Bokhari’s Yaadesh Bakhair was memorable for the same reason).
Another reason why it is memorable is because it launched the Benjamin Sisters phenomenon. This earnest trio was essentially brought in to simply re-render the great songs related to whoever was the guest that week. Over time, it was not just the songs but the Benjamin Sisters themselves who became the sensation.
There are some lessons to be learnt – not just about the performing arts but about life – from their success.
- First, and most important, they sang really really well; moreover, by just looking at them singing you can see that they worked really hard and were very serious about singing well. The lesson here is that performance matters, talent matters, and hard work matters.
- Second, in Anwar Maqsood and Shoaib Mansoor, they had two nurturing mentors. In a society where we are generally so insecure and unsure of ourselves that we are threatened by everyone else’s talents, here is a an example which shows that mentoring the talent of others not only gives them a break, it also makes you look better.
- Third, the selection of the songs they sang was truly remarkable. I do not know for sure but my sense is that Anwar Maqsood might have had the largest role in this selection. It is too simple to say that they pulled at our nostalgia chords. For some, they did. But for many, especially in my generation, they introduced the great music of an earlier generation. And, lo and behold, it plucked at our hearts as much as it had at our parents. The lesson here is that things that are crafted properly (in this case, songs) are timeless. This lesson – I would like to think – is applicable well beyond songs.
Since then, the sisters (at least two of them) disappeared. One heard they got married. I do not know where they are and Google did not give me any clues. If you know, do share. But wherever they are, I hope they are well and prosperous and happy.
All of this was triggered by a stash of recently-loaded Benjamin Sister songs I found on YouTube.
Included in this post are two particularly catchy melodies. Note also the other guests sitting there. A young Javed Miandad and an ageless Shabnam in the first, and an older Waheed Murad in the other.
I think they seem rigid because they are just lip synching. And their songs were awesome, so they did work hard..
Bilal, interesting point. Maybe I am taking reviewers liscence … maybe because I wanted to come to the conclusion I did ;-)
Having said that, the one thing I had heard from some PTV hands is that this was one program and one set of singers that did rehersals like no others.
More importantly, what you see as ‘rigidity’, I saw as earnestness and concentration. I may well be wrong. On a larger point, I was never much of a fan of the ‘hilna julna’ style of singing and at least some how distrated from their less-than-good singing by their more-than-needed amount of moving around. I know their is a place for ‘performance’ and it is part of the whole; there are even some whose ‘performance’ is really the thing you are attracted to them for. However, I sometimes do wonder if – first with TV and tehn with music videos – the ‘performance’ aspect became more important than the song itself.
Again, all of this is a matter of personal taste; so we can disagree. There are some songs that are meant to be ‘seen’; some only to be ‘heard’; and some do not deserve to be either seen or heard ;-)
I just want to add one observation. They sang in course and it seemed like one voice. to achieve that all three must have perfect coordination and that means all 3 have perfect knowledge of sur and tal of the song and very good traiing in singing.
Bilal
Alamgir and Mohd Ali Shehaki were the trend-setters before Nazia-Zohaib
Adil-
A delightful memory – from days when the entire family enjoyed the same sets of songs (minus those who liked the classical raags).
But here’s a question: how did you ever get a sense from there videos that they are working hard to sing? They seem rather rigid and cold in their delivery, frankly both in their on-TV performance, and to some exten tin their vocals. I think it was mostly driven by the way TV presented those singers. We needed our own elvis to break that mold, and dare I say it was the Nazia-Zoheb duo who did that?