Ghazal King Mehdi Hassan remembered

Islamabad: The sixth death anniversary of Lollywood ‘ghazal’ King late Mehdi Hasan Khan was observed with tributes paid to his contribution in music field.

Mehdi Hassan was born on July 18, 1927 in a village called Luna, Rajasthan in Jhunjhunu district in India into a family of traditional musicians. He was awarded KL Saigal Sangeet Shehenshah Award by the government of India, Private news channel reported.

He was honoured with Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Pride of Performance and Hilal-e-Imtiaz by the government of Pakistan. In 1983, in the court of King Birendra he was awarded Gorkha Dakshina Bahu by the government of Nepal.

He remained a leading singer of film industry along with Ahmed Rushdi. The highest civilian honour of Pakistan, ‘Nishan-e-Imtiaz’' is conferred on him.

In 1957, Mehdi Hassan was given the opportunity to sing on Radio Pakistan, primarily as a ‘thumri’ singer, which earned him recognition within the musical fraternity. He had a passion for Urdu poetry, and therefore, he began to experiment by singing ‘ghazals’ on a part-time basis.

He cites radio officers ZA Bukhari and Rafiq Anwar as additional influences in his progression as a ghazal singer. His first song was ‘Jis Ne mere dil Ko dard diya’ film ‘Susral’ in 1962 and popular ‘ghazal’ ‘Insha ji ab kooch Karo is shar me dil Ko lagna Kia’ made him immortal.

Later, Lata Mangeshkar said compliments for him that ‘Bhagwan’ talks in his throat. In October 2010, HMV released Sarhadein in which probably the first and last duet song ‘Tera Milana’ featuring Mehdi Hassan and Lata Mangeshkar was released. Mehdi Hassan was died on June 13, 2012 after a protracted illness, in a private hospital in Karachi.