By Hindustan Times
General Ayub Khan honoured him with the Tamgha-I-Imtiaz, General Zia-ul-Haq with the Pride of Performance and General Pervez Musharraf with the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, but Mehdi Haasan was not only a ‘shahenshah’ in his country. As singer-composer Lalit Pandit says, “He was Pakistan’s biggest
contribution to the arena of music for his soulful renditions, perfect pronunciation, ‘hatke harkats’ in his ‘gaayki’ and bold personality. Like Lataji (Mangeshkar) is to female singers, Mehdi saab was a job model to male singers.”
Lalit, born into the Mewati gharana of Jodhpur, is the son classical exponent Pandit Pratap Narayan and the nephew of Pandit Jasraj. “I met him several times and once he performed all night at our Ganpati baithak. In 2004, my brother Jatin and that i were on the press conference in Pakistan he addressed after almost a year,” says Lalit.
Hassan was born within the village of Luna in Rajasthan into the Kalawant clan. He learnt music from his father Ustad Azeem Khan and uncle Ustad Ismail Khan, traditional Dhrupad singers. Post Partition, he migrated to Pakistan where after working in a bicycle shop and as a car and tractor mechanic, he moved from ‘thumri’ to more commercial ghazals to support his family. “Even after he came to be referred to as ‘ghazal king’, he continued to have a high regard for classical musicians and loved Rajasthan,” says Lalit.
Sukhwinder Singh was with him yesterday they usually discussed him coming to India for treatment. “Today, he’s gone and can always be missed,” sighs the singer-composer. “He gave ghazals its soul while Jagjit Singhji made the genre more approachable to the comman man. With both gone, Ghulam Aliji should carry the weight alone unless another Madan Mohan is born.”
Singer-composer Nikhil Kamat who grew up taking note of Hassan’s records within the college library insists that the void can’t be filled: “Who can sing ‘Ranjish hi sahi…’ like him. I'VE tunes in my music bank composed for him for you to now remain unsung.”
The maestro passed on to the great beyond on June 13 at Karachi’s Agha Khan Hospital after a 12-year war against lung, chest and urinary tract diseases. Shantanu Moitra lauds him as one of the vital greatest Indo-Pak ambassadors who popularised ghazals. Says the composer, “It’s been a tragic year with Jagjit Singh passing away and now Mehdi saab. Hope they join up there and make great music.”
‘It was the least I MAY do’ Says Ali Zafar from Lahore, the singer-actor-composer’s tweets had helped sponsor Hassan’s treatment back home
Eighty-five year-old Mehdi Hassan was admitted to Karachi’s Aga Khan Hospital on January 11 following respiratory trouble. In not up to a week, Pakistani actor-singer-composer Ali Zafar dedicated a song to him in his album Jhoom, ‘Jaane man…’ This, with his tweets wishing Hassan a swift recovery, turned the spotlight at the ailing singer.
Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister of Rajasthan, offered financial help and the Indian High Commission in Pakistan got in contact together with his family. The guidelines Minister of Sindh, Shazia Marri, visited him in hospital and offered to bear the expenses, adding that if need be, he’d be sent abroad.
“I’m happy to listen to that the federal government have taken charge. I’ll pray for his health,” Ali had said a couple of months ago. Today, he’s mourning the loss that’s too big to specific in words.
“His music transcended to our generation and beyond,” says Ali who as a 10-year-old heard Hassan sing in a small room on the house of his first ustad who was a proper shagird. “I later met him at an award function and got his blessing.”
He refuses to take credit for making Hassan’s last days tension-free insisting he only used social networking to create social awareness: “It was the least I'LL do for this type of towering personality. Is also some day I WILL pay a tribute to him through a composition or concert. There never was and not could be a singer like him.”
