Javed Mughal
Mehdi Hassan was one of those epoch-making classical kings whose name and fame as a matchless singer will be preserved in the golden history of classical Music and stamped on the portals of universe forever. After K L Sehgal, Mehdi laid the foundation of a different trend in classical singing. I was about 8 year old when I first came to know about this musical stalwart from my father since my father most often whimper or recited the lines of Mehdi Hassan and Ghulam Ali. Mehdi was a man, who never compromised his standard of classical music for monitory consideration, who never compromised for wealth and money and a man who never craved for reputation but all these over-coveted attraction ran after him. He would hardly care whether the world has changed the taste of music. He never went according to the demand of time and circumstances. He sang for his own satisfaction and worshipped music and really made it the food of soul. Mehdi Hassan was born in the village of Luna in Rajasthan, India in 1927 into a family of rich traditional musicians. He claimed to be the 16th generation of hereditary musicians hailing from the Kalawant. Kala means “Art” and Want means “teacher” so he is from family of teachers who taught Kings and Royal families the art of music. Mehdi Hassan received his musical training and grooming under his father, Ustad Azeem Khan and his uncle Ustad Ismail Khan who were classical musicians, well-versed in Dhrupad and Khayal singing. They instructed him in classical music and voice rendition within the framework of classical forms of Thumri, Dhrupad, Khayal and Dadra, from the young age of eight. After the Partition of India, 20 year-old Mehdi Hassan and his family migrated to Pakistan and suffered severe financial hardships. To make both ends meet, Mehdi Hassan began working in a bicycle shop and later became a car and diesel tractor mechanic. Despite the hardships, his passion for music didn’t wither and he kept up the routine of practice (Riyaaz) on a daily basis.
He came into the limelight in the early 1950s when he sang Gulon mein rung bharey baad-e-naubahar chaley by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. His elder brother, Ghulam Qadir, composed that ghazal and Hafeez Hoshiarpuri’s Mohabbat karnewale kum na honge, which became synonymous with his concerts across India. Mehdi Hassan has left behind countless fans grieving with those same words he made famous, Ranjish hee sahee…dil hi dukhane key liye aa, words that, alas, seem to epitomise the whole relationship between India and Pakistan. The struggle ended when Mehdi Hassan was given the opportunity to sing on Radio Pakistan in 1952, primarily as a Thumri singer, which earned him recognition within the musical fraternity. At that time, Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, Begum Akhtar and Mukhtar Begum were considered the stalwarts of Ghazal Gayaki (genre). Mehdi Hassan also had a passion for Urdu poetry and began to experiment by singing ghazals. He cites Z.A. Bukhari and Rafiq Anwar, renowned broadcasters and producers of radio Pakistan as additional influences in his progression as a ghazal singer. They gave him ample opportunities to display his mastery over the ghazal on radio. He sang ghazals of all the renowned Urdu poets and his innovative style was soon appreciated by both masses and discerning audiences. Mehdi Hassan’s voice and unique performance skills in ghazal singing were unmatched in the world of South Asian music. He is universally acclaimed as the finest ghazal singer of his time, perhaps of all times. His unsurpassable vocal range and his mastery over even the most difficult of raags makes him the undisputed emperor of ghazals. His popularity amongst the masses, appreciation by the masses, and continued success over five decades makes him the top-most ruler of the music. The ultimate tribute to his greatness was from the eternal nightingale, Lata Mangeshkar, who compared his songs to” Voice of God”. Talat Aziz as well as Indian ghazal singer Jagjit Singh are amongst his famous disciples. Jagjit Singh, another icon of sober, calm and touching music who ruled the hearts of all who listened to him even once, also held Mehdi in great esteem. Following a severe illness in the late 80s, Mehdi Hassan stepped down from playback singing. Later due to severity of his illness he completely departed from music. He then lived a secluded life in Karachi which he had made his permanent residence. Nevertheless he often visits lahore where he spent most of his time with his children and other family members. He was been the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions: the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz granted to him by Gen Ayub Khan; the Pride of Performance bestowed on him by Gen Ziaul Haq; and the Hilal-i-Imtiaz conferred by Gen Pervez Musharraf. Besides the Nigar Film and Graduate Awards from Pakistan, he was presented the Saigal Award in Julandhar, India, in 1979, whereas the Gorkha Dakshan Bahu Award was given to him in Nepal in 1983. Recently, he travelled to Dubai to receive yet another award. Mehdi Hassan, who died in a Karachi hospital after a prolonged illness, will be remembered for bringing Indians and Pakistanis together in a shared passion for his songs of unrequited love. Hassan, 84, died of multiple organ failure at the Aga Khan hospital, where he had been admitted a few days ago. Known as the Ghazal King, Mehdi Hassan was a basically a Rajasthani Indian who was gifted by India to Pakistan at the time of partition. So to say he belonged only to Pakistan is fertile hallucination of a futile mind because the roots of Mehdi Hasan’s music, which inspired generations of ghazal singers, lay in the ancient tradition of dhrupad. A representative of the 16th generation of the Kalavant clan, Mehdi Hassan went from dhrupad, through thumri to ghazal and popular film music, retaining the purity of the medium until the end. Hindustani classical music pre-dates the Partition of India; it stems from the soul of the subcontinent and it is to this shared past that he belonged. His own family roots were in Rajasthan. He may have made his home in Pakistan but Rajasthan stayed with him. Mehdi Hassan has left behind countless fans grieving with those same words he made famous, Ranjish hee sahee…dil hi dukhane key liye aa, words that, alas, seem to epitomise the whole relationship between India and Pakistan.
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