Rubon Saproo
As we all know by now, the renowned singer Vijay Malla has left this world on 9th of May, 2012- Wednesday, at the age of 57, due to massive heart attack, triggering shock and tributes among his music fans. He is survived by his wife, son and a daughter.
He will be remembered and missed always by thousands of his fans across the world for having one of the greatest singing voices in music history of the state of Jammu and Kashmir as who will no longer be able to hear or listen to his new songs then now.
Vijay was born in the Mallapur locality of Habbakadal in the district of Srinagar on the 27th February, 1956 in a prosperous Kashmiri Brahmin family. His father Srikanth Malla was a Government employee and mother, a housewife. As a student, he was very hardworking, honest and brilliant. After receiving secondary level education from his native school, he continued his education and passed intermediate examination in science stream. He was selected for one of the medical course training but he give up the thought and decided to dedicate his life for the world of music. Later, he got job in song and drama division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.
Though Malla did not hail from a musical family of Kashmir, but he inherited singing from his mother who had a sweet voice in her youth. He was keen to learn music from early childhood and usually used to sing old movie songs of those days. At the age of 10, he learnt classical vocal music from Prem Sangeet Niketan, Kashmir and later trained under the guidance of Pt. Brij Krishen Shair. Vijay also learnt music from Pt.Jagar Nath Shivpori, who was known as the ‘Martand of Kashmiri Classical Music’.
He achieved expertise in ghazals from a well-known ghazal singer of Kashmir Pt. Vishnupuran Dhar.He gained acclaim in 1980s when he sang ghazals like ‘zinda rozan bapat ch maran luk’, ‘ na drav hawes kanh’, ‘nazar loosim temis charan’ etc. He has sung many ghazals together with reputed singers like Anwar, Manhas, Anup Jalota, Pankaj Udhas, Ahmad Hussain, Mohd. Hussain and Peenaz Masani.
However, Vijay Malla continued to sing and his songs have gained popularity with each passing day. He mesmerised fans by his resonant voice by singing hits like ‘ darshan dukh chalay tribawan lalay-pomposh malay traveh nael’, ‘har mokh bar tal’ , ‘rosh rosh chukh chalan paay’e kar ma’yon’, ‘ vasiya su aadunuk yaar kot gum’ etc.Vijay Malla sang Urdu gazals, Kashmiri leelas, bajans and traditional songs in several languages including Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi etc. One of his popular bajan in praise of Lord Ganeshya ‘Aaysai Sharan Kartam Daya Om Shri Ganeshayee Namh…’ will surely remember people forever.
He started out as a teen model and then made a dazzling contribution to music. He remained associated with song and drama division in 80’s and later got opportunity of singing on radio and television. He was frequently booked by various A.I.R and Doordarshan Kendras as an active ghazal singer in Sham-e-Ghazal. He has performed in almost whole of the country. He has also staged many items in Kalyanji-Anandji’s and Ravinder’s Jains nights in Mumbai. The music maestro’s tuneful voice impressed the famous singers like Kavita Krishnamurty and Shoba Mudghal at a function held recent times in New Delhi where the singer duo could not limit themselves without lauding Vijay for his superb talent.
He was signed as an Artist Music India Ltd. (MIL). MIL has also launched his cassette titled Justaju (Search) which has received good commendation. The ghazals of album justaju such a ‘khawab bankar jo teri ankh se’ and ‘usne meri wafa ka’will certainly go down in public memory. He also sang for albums like Bajan Sidhi, Shri Guru Gita, Saandya Vandana, Belltay Madal and Sharddha.
He served the music industry for 40 years and his death has created deep void in the industry. His death was widely mourned by his music lovers who will miss him physically forever then now.
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