Talat Aziz believes there is no point in following same old world

Singer Talat Aziz in a recent interview expressed his feelings about the old music and how it can never be remade. He remembered poets like Bashir Badr, Nida Fazli, Qateel Shifai and others.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, he said, “In modern times I don’t see any lyricist (of their calibre) in the field of ghazal. It’s a very specialised form of poetry which has bandish, misra, beher, kafia. It’s said that do misre mein sari kainath sama jaati hai so writers who understand Urdu and ghazals to its best are very few now.”

Talking about his career, he said, “I also did a show in Bhopal and met him. He is 88 now and suffering from Alzheimer’s. In last 40 years I must have recorded over 30 ghazals penned by him. So, I selected six of them and after re-recording will release them digitally titled Yaadein with Ujaley apeni yadon ke humesha saath rahe...as the title track. I am reprogramming them with the same melody but new age treatment and arrangement so that younger generation can relate with ghazals.”

He concluded, “It has been over 40 years since I have been coming here and now, I have lost count of how many shows I have done in Lucknow. This one was special as it was to receive the Naushad Samman.”