There are 4 songs in this post.
While surfing on YouTube, I was happpily surprised to find followng songs by Runa Laila. Many of you may know that she is the world famous singer from Bangladesh. She has a huge contribution of singing Urdu songs in Pakistani movies. She has also sung Punjabi, Pashto and Bengali songs in Pakistan. Infact, she has sung in 17 different languages of the world.
In Pakistan, Runa Laila has won 2 Nigar Awards, 2 Graduate Awards, 1 Critics Award and a National Council of Music Gold Medal. Besides Pakistan she as won numerous awards in her native Bangladesh as well as in India. There is a large collection of her songs available on YouTube but I picked the 4 that I like the most. I hope you like them too.
(1 of 4)
Song Title: ranjish hi sahih, dil hi dukhanay ke liyay aa
Movie: Mohabbat, 1972
Music: Nisar Bazmi
(2 of 4)
Song Title: humeiN kho kar
Movie: Ehsaas, 1974
(3 of 4)
Song Title: kaaTay ne kaTTeN rattiyaaN, sayyaaN intzaar meiN
Movie: Umrao Jan Ada, 1974,
Music: Nisar Bazmi,
(4 of 4)
Song Title: un ki nazroN se mohabbat ka jo peghaam mila
Music: Nashaad
Salam to all of you … this is really wonderful to know that pakintani bros and sisters still remembered Runa Laila. To my
surprise some people mentioned ‘Shehnaz Begum’ and ‘Firdousi Begum’ – both of them are equally talented artists. But in Bangladesh, they are known as Shahnaz Rahmatullah and Firdousi Rahman .
I remember when i was a kid, growing up in a suburb of Bangladesh, i spent a great deal of my time listening Runa, Shahnaz and Firdousi. All of them are so talented, anybody can distinguish their voices – one from the other, each of them has a distinct, melodious way of singing their song -which is simply unique.
In Bangladesh, we love ghazals. Ustad Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Abida Parveen, Farida Khanum, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – these are some well respected names. Among them – Ustad Mehdi Hassan is my all time favorite. Even today, at the age of 36 – i become so emotional when i listen to his ghazals.
In 1971 , my ancestral home in Sylhet was burned and destroyed by Pakistani Army. This is such a bitter incident for my family – it costed my father a great deal of money to raise part of it. If you study the history of Sylhet, you will notice – we, Sylheti people, chose to join Pakistan, instead of India during the Partition. …And beloved Pakistani Army ruined our ancestral homes … in return !!
Today, i don’t have any hatered on Pakistani bros and sisters. ( …Perhaps Ustad ji, Nazia and Zoheb helped me to heal a little bit :) …… ). May Allah bless both Pakistan and Bangladesh ! Amin !!
( Adnan, Hamtramck )
I was wondering who was Shehnaz Begum. I did a little search, then found out, you guys were talking about Shahnaz Rahmatullah. Thanks for honoring these bengali singers! Its really amazing to see how music crosses ethnic boundaries and reach out every where.
Naveed is right. Runa Laila was definitely a gem of singer. Runa has sung many songs for Sindhi movies . Specially her album ‘Runa sings Talib ul Maula’ comprises of he renderation of Makhdoom Talibul Moula’s (Makhdoom Amin Fahim’s father who was one of the biggest Sindhi poets) poetry is a classic in Sindhi music. She has an unmatchable voice and a gift to sing in different languages. She made frequent visits to Pakistan after her creation of Banglades. She never lost her contacts with Pakistani people. I also remember her performance that she gave in Neelam Ghar ( Tariq Aziz fame). Her sister Dina Laila was also a good singer. She was married to PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim. She died after giving birth to son named Najeeb who now lived in Dubai.
Dear Runa:
I am a fan of your music. I don’t speak bengali but in india when I was growing up I was given Rabindranath Tagore plaque for 1st prize for Veena in a competition at Jawaharlal Bal Bhavan.
I am a singer myself. Had training in Hyderabad style at very young age. I happened to bump into her bengali songs at my University music library and couldn’t stop listening everafter. I live in U.S.
My voice resembles her style – but I have myown style of singing. So no I am not jealous in listening to her voice at all. I think I am the best singer of them all.
I happened to listen to a tape of urdu songs by Runa but the voice does not match hers. It’s more like Salma Agha (but she is not proficient in that style as far as I know. I could be wrong.)
So I want to thank Bangladesh for producing such a singer. I admire her talent.
Hope to meet with her one day – maybe I am her daughter’s generation. So what!
Madhavikha
Dear Saniat
IÂ am glad that you stopped at our website and gave us your comments. plz continue to do so.
Also do you know of a website where we can find Runa Laila’s song in Bangla language. A friend of mine once sent me one of her Bengali songs and it was beautiful. Eventhough I don’t understand the language, I would love to listen to it.
Owais