Mehdi Hassan

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Mehdi Hassan (Urdu: مہدی حسن) "King of Ghazals" is a well-known Pakistani Ghazal singer.

Mehdi Hassan was born in the village of Luna in Rajasthan, India in 1927 into a family of traditional musicians. He claims to be the 16th generation of hereditary musicians hailing from the Kalawant. Kala means "Art" and Want means "teacher" so he is from family of teacher who taught Kings and Royal families the art of music. Mehdi Hassan received his musical training and grooming under his father, Ustad Azeem Khan and his uncle Ustad Ismail Khan who were classical musicians, well-versed in dhrupad singing. They instructed him in classical music and voice production within the framework of classical forms of thumri, dhrupad, khayal and dadra, from the young age of eight. After the Partition of India, 20 year-old Mehdi Hassan and his family migrated to Pakistan and suffered severe financial hardships.

To make ends meet, Mehdi Hassan began working in a bicycle shop and later became a car and diesel tractor mechanic. Despite the hardships, his passion for music didn't wither and he kept up the routine of practice on a daily basis. His struggle ended when he was given the opportunity to sing on Radio Pakistan in 1952, primarily as a thumri singer, and this earned him recognition within the musical fraternity. At the time, Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, Begum Akhtar and Mukhtar Begum were considered the stalwarts of ghazal gayaki. Mehdi Hassan also had a passion for Urdu poetry and began to experiment by singing ghazals on a part-time basis. He cites radio officers, Z.A. Bukhari and Rafiq Anwar as additional influences in his progression as a ghazal singer. They gave him ample opportunities to display his mastery over the ghazal on radio. He sang ghazals of all the renowned Urdu poets and his innovative style was soon appreciated by both masses and discerning audiences.

Mehdi Hassan has now made Karachi his permanent residence and whenever he visits Lahore he spends most of his time with his children and other family members.

Mehdi Hassan’s voice and unique performance skills in ghazal singing were unmatched in the world of South Asian music. The 60s and 70s can be named Mehdi Hassan’s decades’, as there was hardly any hero of the Pakistani musical scene on whom Mehdi Hassan’s songs were not filmed. Mehdi Hassan hails from a family with a rich music tradition. Talat Aziz is one of his famous disciples.

He is universally acclaimed as the finest ghazal singer of his time, perhaps of all time. His unsurpassable vocal range and his mastery over even the most difficult of raags makes him the undisputed emperor of ghazals. His popularity amongst the masses, appreciation by the masses, and continued success over five decades makes him on par with Noor Jehan and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in the league of the greatest Pakistani singers of all time. The ultimate tribute to his greatness was from the eternal nightingale, Lata Mangeshkar, who compared his songs to " Voice of God " .^[1]

1 Trivia
2 Discography
3 Ghazals
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Trivia

While he was singing in the Court of Nepal's King Shah Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, he forgot the lines of his song "Zindagi mein to sabhii pyar kya kerte hain". Shah, then stood from his seat and start singing the next line. This was really a tribute to him.