By Maesam Khan
The classical playback singer, composer, a legendry harmonium player, an institute of musicology, King of Ghazals Ustad Mehdi Hassan Khan finally left the world with sorrows this June 2012, but we believe that ‘legends never die’. His great work for music world will stay him alive among us and he will live for good in the hearts of his millions of fans and the coming music loving generations around the globe. Mehdi Hassan was born on July 18, 1927 in a village Luna, India, in a family of classical musicians. Ustad Azeem Khan, his father and a traditional Dhrupad singer, groomed his talented son for music and singing. Mehdi started singing practice ‘riyaaz’ in his early years of life under the supervision of his father and Uncle Ustad Ismail Khan. He had his debut concert of ‘Dhrupad and Kheyal’ at darbar of ‘Maharaja of Barodah’, with his elder brother Ghulam Qadir Khan. Few Months back in January 2012, rumors broke out about the death of Mehdi Hassan but luckily at that time those were just rumors, unfortunately it comes true this time that he is not amongst us anymore. He suffered from Lungs Cancer and other multiple organ failure. Mehdi Hassan was under treatment in Agha Khan Medical University Hospital Karachi and was under intense care and special treatment. The last and early days of his life were really painful for him and his family. Struggling hard to earn living after partition and migration to Pakistan with his family, Mehdi started working in a bicycle shop that leads him to become a car and diesel tractor mechanic. Facing a lot of financial crises and hard times, Mehdi didn’t give up from his inherited singing talent and continued ‘riyaaz’. His dedication to music turned up his fortune and young Mehdi landed his first musical performance on Radio Pakistan in 1957, singing Thumris.
Ustad Mehdi Hassan Khan was a university of classical music; he set standards in the world of music and left a number of renowned classical singers and harmonium players. Ustad Tari Khan and Pervez Mehdi are amongst the best students of Mehdi Hassan. Several World famous singers, leaders and politicians took to social media Web sites and Twitter and expressed their deepest gratitude on the sad demise of Mehdi. World’s popular Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar expressed her feelings talking to The Express Tribune of Pakistan at his death, “A voice like his may never be heard again.” The former cricketer, politician Imran Khan wrote on Twitter, ‘Saddened to hear of the death of our legend Mehdi Hassan. His music will live on but we are poorer with his passing away.’ ‘RIP Mehdi Hassan saab, huge loss to the world of music … your Voice is immortal though,” wrote the Indian musician Shankar Mahadevan on Twitter. The Indian actor Anupam Kher remembered how he had “gate crashed” into the Pakistani embassy as a student to listen to Mr. Hassan, ‘his favorite ghazal singer,” he wrote on Twitter.The office of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a Twitter post, ‘Shri [Mr.] Hassan brought the sub-continental Sufi sensibilities to life through his songs.’ Shreya Ghoshal tweeted, ‘Mehdi Hassan sa’ab is no more. The voice, who made many music lovers n lovers to find an expression of their heart’s stories, is gone. R.I.P. Saddened beyond comprehension. Jagjit ji, now Mehdi Sa’ab. The voices who kept the legacy of ghazals alive and how, are gone. This void can never be filled ever again.’
Time Line
Chronology of some major events from the legend’s life:
1927: July 18, 1927, Mehdi Hassan was born in a village Luna in Rajasthan, India in a family of traditional musicians.
1948: Migrated with family to Pakistan and settled in Cheecha Watni, Sahiwal district, Pakistan.
1948-1956: Worked in District Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan at a bicycle shop, later on became car and diesel tractor mechanic.
1957:Debut performance at Radio Pakistan, sang ‘Thumris’.
1957-1963: Mehdi Hassan sang his first film song “Nazar Miltay Hi…” for the film Shikar. His all-time hit ghazal “Gullon Mein Rang Bharay” in the film Farangi gave him a breakthrough as a playback singer in 1962. Hassan collaborated for the first time with Madam Noor Jehan for the song “Eik Deevanay Ka Is Dil Ne Kaha Maan Liya” in film Qaidi.
1965: Mehdi Hassan sang for the first time for Waheed Murad for a mega hit song in the film Saz-o-Awaz.
1967: Mehdi sang one of his most popular Punjabi songs “Dukh Labba Tay Ba Aaway” for the film Mehndi.
1969: Hassan sang for the first and last time for a Bengali film.
1971: Hassan was at the peak of his film career and sang 71 songs, the highest number of film songs in a year in his film career.
1979: Received the ‘Saigal Award’ in Jalandhar, India.
1983: Mehdi Hassan received the ‘Gorkha Dakshina Bahu Award’, one of the highest awards given by the president of Nepal.
1985: Mehdi received ‘Pride of Performance’ Award by Govt of Pakistan.
1983-2000: He sang 38 songs in these 17 years; seven in 1983, eight in 1984, 10 in 1985, four in 1986, two in 1987, two apiece in 1988 and 1989. After a five-year gap, he sang two songs in 1994 and a single in 1995. He then sang for a Punjabi film Chann Puttar which was screened only for two shows in Lahore in 2000.
2010: His first and last duet song with Indian legend Lata Mangeshkar “Tera Milana” was released.
2011-2012: June 13, 2012, Mehdi Hassan died at the age of 84 by Lung Cancer and multiple organ failure.
