____________ "I am a dreamer,I collect all the smiles from My yesterday,
Neatly pack them into words and hide them in my heart,
I call them "MEMORIES" Music has no boundary.
____________ "I am a dreamer,I collect all the smiles from My yesterday,
Neatly pack them into words and hide them in my heart,
I call them "MEMORIES" Music has no boundary.
Joined: November 2006
Posts: 10620
Location: Virginia
Re: Tribute To The Legend : Mehdi Hasan
Mehdi Hasan: The Shah of Ghazals
Classical music has been, in recent years, elbowed aside by loud, brash tunes and remixes. It is therefore wonderful to experience classical music in all its glory and magnificence. And it is doubly gratifying to know that there are still people who do appreciate such music without turning up their noses and terming it 'old-fashioned. Mehdi Hasan is one of those artists whose name is synonymous with Indian classical music. While music fads come and ago, Hasan's music has an enduring quality to it.
Hasan was born into a musically inclined family and inherited his love for music from his father, Ustad Azim Khan, who was patronized by the Maharaja of Jaipur. Born in Luna, a small town in Rajasthan, Hasan was trained by his uncle, Ismail Khan, an exponent of Indian classical music. Hasan was an adept singer even as a child and began his career as a radio artist. Later, he started singing ghazals. He struck gold with his very first ghazal Mera khayal in the film Shikaar (1962). Coupled with his soothing voice and perfect rendition, his rise was meteoric. There was no looking back after that.
Hasan's success is also lies in the fact that he chose his ghazals with great thought and care. His deep knowledge of music helped him render any raga meticulously and in a range of styles like Dhrupad, Thumri or Dadra.
For instance, none but Hasan could have rendered classics like Mujhe tum nazar se gira to rahe ho in Doraha (1967) or Yeh wafaon ka diya aapne in Phir Chand Nikle Ga (1970). His songs from Jawab Dua (Zindagi ja, chod de peecha mera) or Daagh (Tum zid to kar rahe ho) are but some examples of his memorable songs.
His much-awaited latest album, Sada-e-Ishq, has Hasan and poet Farat Shahzad coming together for a second time. Known for his passionate poetry, Shahzad has written eight delightful ghazals in this album. The tunes have been composed by Altaf-e-Haider. This promises to be a memorable album not just because of beautiful ghazals like Humse tanhai ke mare or Pyaar karne ki is dil ko but because age is catching up with Hasan and this just might be his last album.
However, the Shahenshah-e-Ghazal (as he is popularly known) could spring a surprise and shower us with many more memorable ghazals and delight his audience.
____________ "I am a dreamer,I collect all the smiles from My yesterday,
Neatly pack them into words and hide them in my heart,
I call them "MEMORIES" Music has no boundary.
Ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan struggling to foot medical bills
Karachi, March 22: Mehdi Hassan, the legendary Pakistan Ghazal singer, is struggling to foot his medical bills while undergoing treatment in the port city of Karachi.
Arif Hassan, one of the ghazal maestro’s sons looking after him during his treatment for sepsis (generalised infection) at the Aga Khan University Hospital, said the costs of his treatment and maintaining his father’s health were piling up.
"My family, which has exhausted even its `rainy day securities`, is now badly failing to foot the treatment bills," Arif was quoted as saying by a news website.
The ‘Shahenshah-i-Ghazal’ will need monetary assistance for the rest of his life if he is to survive at home, the report said.
Arif said he will still have to pay an amount to the tune of about half a million rupees to the private hospital on account of accommodation and treatment, in addition to meeting other expenditures incurred on Khan Sahib and his family.
82-year-old Hassan, who was born in the village of Luna in Rajasthan into a family of rich traditional musicians, began his career as a radio singer.
After Partition, 20-year-old Hassan and his family migrated to Pakistan and suffered severe financial hardships.
Mehdi Hassan is universally acclaimed as the finest ghazal singer of his time. His unsurpassed vocal range and his mastery over even the most difficult of raags makes him the undisputed emperor of ghazals.
The ultimate tribute to his greatness was from the eternal nightingale, Lata Mangeshkar, who compared his songs to "voice of god ".
Affectionately referred to as Khan Sahib, the legendary singer suffers from disorientation.
`I, along with other physicians, have been attending to Khan Sahib since 2001. This time we diagnosed him with sepsis (generalised infection) and treated him dedicatedly, and we are optimistic that though he remains weak, he will be returning to his home in two days or so,` said neurologist Dr Aziz Sonawala.
Sonawala said that the legendary singer was admitted to the hospital on February 12, 2009, for weakness, fever and chronic infections in his lungs.
"Overall he is showing good signs, but he will need 24-hour nursing care at home, even if his respiration is stable. He suffered paralytic strokes in the past and thus has lost his physical mobility," Dr Sonawala added.
Arif said though the government had given some assistance to the family of the legendary singer, it was not enough. Arif said that the Mehdi Hassan Foundation (Trust) had been set up some time ago with a view to generating funds.
Bureau Report
____________ “Simplicity. What turns me on.” Please enlighten me.
Joined: November 2006
Posts: 10620
Location: Virginia
Re: Tribute To The Legend : Mehdi Hasan
Ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan struggling to foot medical bills
It is sad when a legend like him has to suffer like this.
____________ "I am a dreamer,I collect all the smiles from My yesterday,
Neatly pack them into words and hide them in my heart,
I call them "MEMORIES" Music has no boundary.
Villagers in Luna in Rajasthan where ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan was born, have expressed concern over his serious health condition.
The 84-year old singer was admitted to the intensive care unit of a private hospital in Karachi after he had difficulty in breathing.
Priest Mohan Nath said that the whole village was praying for Hassan's good health. "Since the time we villagers came to know about the ill-health of Mehdi Hassan we are very worried. We just hope that God showers his blessings upon him and he is fine soon," Nath said.
Narayan Singh Shekhawat, another native of the village and also a childhood friend of Hassan, said that he would pray to God to give Hassan a long life. "I actually thank the Almighty that a great person like Mehdi Hassan is from our village. It is indeed our good fortune. When I heard about his illness it really saddened me. I pray to God to give him a long and healthy life ahead," said Shekhawat.
According to reports, the Rajasthan government had offered to bear all medical expenses of Hassan in India.
Hassan was born into a family of musicians in 1927. His family migrated to Pakistan during the Partition of India.
Hassan still has a huge fan following in the subcontinent, though he reduced his performances in the late 80s due to ill-health.
____________ Music forms a part of me again It gives Shape to my faceless Expressions...To my Thoughts. {Alochana}
Rajasthan offers help to ailing India-born Mehdi Hassan
Mehdi Hassan is immensely popular
in India and Pakistan
Pakistani music legend in India
The government in India's Rajasthan state has offered to help to ailing Pakistani singer Mehdi Hassan if he wants treatment in India.
Chief minister Ashok Gehlot spoke to the singer's son, Arif Hassan, and offered help with medical expenses.
Hassan, 84, was put on a ventilator at a private clinic in Karachi after he collapsed with respiratory problems.
Born in Rajasthan's Luna village, the singer is immensely popular on both sides of the border.
Reports from Luna say the villagers are praying for his recovery.
Officials in Rajasthan said Mr Gehlot had ordered Chief Secretary S Ahmad to keep in touch with Hassan's family and provide any help they may require.
The singer last visited Rajasthan in 2000 when the state government invited him for a convention of non-resident Rajasthanis.
During the visit, he offered prayers at the graveyard of his late grandfather, Imamuddin, in Luna.
Villagers say Hassan visited the sleepy village three times after he migrated to Pakistan as a child.
He also helped in the construction of two rooms at the government school in the village.
Hassan has been ill for the last few years with a serious lung condition. He was treated in India in 2005.
Mehdi Hassan's music is highly regarded in both India and Pakistan. Legendary Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar once likened his songs to the "voice of god".
He started his career more than 50 years ago but had to wait for several years before getting his first big break.
Once in the limelight he was crowned by the subcontinent's music elite as the "king of ghazal". Ghazal is a genre of music specific to South Asia and parts of the Middle East
____________ Music forms a part of me again It gives Shape to my faceless Expressions...To my Thoughts. {Alochana}
One of Pakistan's most renowned singers, Mehdi Hassan, has left for India for medical treatment.
Mr Hassan suffered a stroke a few months back but is now recovering, family members say.
He says he will try to perform in public during his three-month stay if his health permits.
Mr Hassan's visit to India comes amid improving relations between Delhi and Islamabad over the past year.
A few months back, Mr Hassan was barely able to talk but spoke to journalists in a strong voice at Karachi airport shortly before his departure on Friday.
"They [India] have better methods for treating my ailments," he said.
Mr Hassan will be admitted to a leading hospital in Delhi known for its excellence in traditional or Ayurvedic medicine.
Many admirers
Many Pakistanis have started going to India for medical treatment since travel curbs between the nuclear neighbours were eased last year.
Mr Hassan said some performances have been scheduled for him in Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay) although he was not sure if he would be up to fulfil them.
He has not performed in Pakistan for a long time because of his health.
Mehdi Hassan's music is held in high esteem in both India and Pakistan. Legendary Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar once likened his songs to the "voice of god".
He started his career more than 50 years ago but had to wait for several years before getting his first big break.
Once in the limelight he was crowned by the subcontinent's music elite as the "king of ghazal". Ghazal is a genre of music specific to South Asia and parts of the Middle East.
Leading Indian stars, film-makers and music directors are expected to visit him during his stay.
____________ Music forms a part of me again It gives Shape to my faceless Expressions...To my Thoughts. {Alochana}
Ravaged by ill health, legendary ghazal singer is today struggling to regain normal breathing in a hospital in Karachi. Connecting hearts through mellifluous voice overarching borders, Mehdi belongs to the generation of Manmohan Singh, Khushwant Singh, Pervez Musharraf and numerous others who migrated from one part of the Indian sub-continent to another and became aliens in their own places of birth. But they never forgot what their common heritage has been.
In Pakistan's critically acclaimed movie 'Khuda Ke Liye' the protagonist is a singer who goes to the US to study music further. When the teacher there asks him to give a sample of his singing talent, he begins with lines that come from the rich Hindu mythological background-Neer bharan kaise jaaon-indicating the yearning of Radha for Krishna. That song perhaps drove home the point of a common heritage of people of India and Pakistan, especially in Hindustani classical music. Mehdi Hassan is a symbol of that tradition that has survived the partition and flourished.
When news reached India that the ghazal maestro has been put on a ventilator, the first reaction came from Rajasthan, the state of his birth. Chief minister Ashok Gehlot picked up the phone, spoke with the singer's son Arif and offered to treat him in India. The health condition of the singer, Arif said, does not permit him to be disturbed. Gehlot was expressing concern for one of the greatest sons of Rajasthan.
Mehdi Hassan's family comes from Luna, a village in Jhunjhunu district of the Shekhawati region in Rajasthan. He migrated to Lahore couple of years before India was partitioned. He was 12 years of age then. The singer is said to still have some close buddies in Luna which he visited three times in the last six decades.
It is not just in Luna that he has friends. TOI has discovered at least three persons in Hyderabad who have spent considerable time with Mehdi Hassan. Mohan Hemadi of Sur Mandal remembers how the singer came to his residence in 1978 and spent the entire night singing and talking. Abdul Mughni, a noted ghazal singer who began his career with cloning Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh, recalls the suggestions the maestro had given him to improve his singing. "He showed me how to move from one sur to another, all the while enhancing the beauty of the song," says he.
May be there is no other person like the Hyderabadi Rashed Abdul Qayoom who after meeting Mehdi Hassan in Toronto in 1977 entered into a life-long relationship. "One day Talat Aziz (the popular ghazal singer from Bollywood hailing from Hyderabad) phoned me to inform that Mehdi Hassan, his guru, has agreed to joint performances in North America. That was a rare honour for Talat Aziz. It was also rare for the music lovers to listen to two singers-one from India and another from Pakistan from the same stage. I tagged along. They gave performances in 25 cities in the US and I attended all of them. The Indian-Pakistani diaspora loved it," he recalls.
____________ Music forms a part of me again It gives Shape to my faceless Expressions...To my Thoughts. {Alochana}
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