Written by: Haroon Shuaib
Posted on: February 2, 2022 | 
| 中文
Farida Khanum, the Queen of Ghazal
Khawaja Najamul Hassan, Pakistan Television’s (PTV) pioneering and legendry music producer’s bond with Farida Khanum, arguably the subcontinent’s best ghazal singer, remain strong to date. In his detailed interview to Youlin, Khwaja sahib has argued that the legacy that started with Amir Khusrau, continues through the excellence achieved by Pakistani singers, in particular the female singers. Khusrau, was an Indo-Persian musician, singer, poet of 12th century Delhi Sultanate and is considered the pioneer of subcontinent’s classical music as we know it today.
Khawaja Najamul Hassan with Farida Khanum
‘The music landscape of Pakistan has been ruled by excellent vocalists such as Malika-e-Mauseeqi (Music Queen) Roshan Ara Begum, Malika-e-Tarannum (Melody Queen) Noor Jehan, Iqbal Bano, Malika-e-Sehra (Dessert Queen) Reshma, Malika-e-Kohsar (Mountain Queen) Zarsanga, Sufi Queen Abida Parveen, and the Queen of Ghazal, Farida Khanum. These maestros immortalized music in their own respective genres during the 70s. These singers understood classical music well and the Queen of Ghazal, Farida Khanum heads the list. Farida Khanum was born in 1929 in Calcutta, though she hails from Amritsar. She is the younger sister of another great songstress of the subcontinent, Mukhtar Begum. Farida learned the art of singing khayal, thumri and dadra from Ustad Ashique Ali Khan of Patiala Gharana’, Khawaja sahib said.
Mukhtar Begum, Farida Khanum's elder sister
‘Farida went through a rigorous training for singing from a young age. She recalls how her Ustad and her sister would throw a bucket of cold water on her, regardless of the weather, if she did not wake up to rehearse at 6:00 am every day. She often says that her Ustad perfected her vocal base through a rigorous training of over 10 years. She is a master of arhi gaiki , which is the art of singing off beat. Despite her ability to sing off beat, she is never out of tune. No one has been able to pull off this level of excellence in this unique vocal tradition’, Najam sahib emphasizes.
Farida Khanum was awarded the Silver Disc by EMI (other recipients were Roshan Ara Begum and Noor Jehan)
He recalls that ‘Farida was launched as a film actress and singer in the 50s with the name of Farida Neeli. In 1953 she acted in a film Sailab . The film flopped and ended her acting career, but she went on to gain prominence as a ghazal singer. My first music program as producer on PTV was ‘Sukhanwar’ . It was based on the poetry of the legendry poets of Pakistan. One episode was on Athar Nafees, an exponent of a new style of ghazal. Farida Khanum was to sing in this episode. She came to the studio wearing a beautiful chiffon sari, goggles perched on her head and car keys dangling in her hand as she loved to drive and drove very fast. The composer had set a tune for ‘Wo ishq jo hum say rooth gaya’ , and Farida Khanum started humming it to grasp the composition. Initially, she was not satisfied and wanted the composer to add more to it, but he was adamant not to modify it. She eventually relented, and it became a raging hit the moment it was put on air. In the same series we did an episode on Munir Niazi, another prominent poet. She sang Munir Niazi’s popular ghazal, ‘Chaman main rang-e-bahar utra tou main nay dekha’ and gave a new meaning to Munir Niazi’s words. If Munir knew the art of poetic expression, Farida brought those emotions to life with vocals.’
(L to R) Saira Naseem, Khawaja Najamul Hassan, Munir Niazi, Farida Khanum and Anwar Maqsood
‘Farida also sang numerous ever-green ghazals of Dagh, Faiz, and Sufi Tabassum. In fact, it seems that Dagh, a poet of the 18th century, had written his poetry to be sung only by Farida Khanum. Dagh’s famous ghazal ‘Kahiye kahiye mujhay burra kahiye’, sung by Farida was so popular that when famous Bollywood actor Sharmila Tagore came to Pakistan in 2009 to attend a conference, her first request was to meet Farida. Farida invited her over for dinner and sang it on her special request’, Najam sahib recalled.
(L to R) Khawaja Najamul Hassan, Farida Khanum and Farrukh Bashir at a Mehndi in Sargodha
‘Over time Farida became a very good friend of mine and my colleague Farrukh Bashir. Together we regularly watched films, theatre plays and dined together. She is very fond of lassi and always knew the places to get the best lassi in Lahore. A very humble, down to earth, and a kind hearted lady, but who has no concept of time and punctuality. If we told her that the recording was at 2:00 pm, she arrived at 6:00 pm and if we asked her to come at 6:00 pm, she would show up at midnight. She once came to the television studio and said that she had cooked ‘qeema matr’ for Ustad Daman, a once famous lyricist of Punjabi films (who authored “tere mukhray pai kala kala til wey) , and who lived in a derelict house at the time. She wanted us to accompany her to his house in the old city. When we reached his house she swept his courtyard, arranged for a table, and laid out food and utensils that she had brought from her house. She fed the old poet with her own hands as tears rolled down his cheeks. Similarly, I remember that in the 80s, when another song writer, Tasleem Fazli’s career in films had finished, he came to me with lyrics for a song. I was doing a program “Andaz Apna Apna’ at the time. Khalil Ahmed composed the tune and we asked Farida Khanum to sing it. The song was Mein nay pairon main payal tou bandhey nahin . Farida suggested that we get a younger singer like Naheed Akhtar to sing it. I told her that it was Fazli’s last wish that she sing this song. Given her generous spirit, she agreed. That song became one of Pakistan’s most well-known songs.’
A rare video of Farida Khanum singing ‘Mein nay pairon main payal tou bandhi nahin'.
‘In 1974 Islamic Conference held in Lahore, all prominent singers were invited for a music program arranged for foreign dignitaries. Farida turned down the offer to sing at the event. It was only after Faiz called her personally that she agreed to participate. She sang Faiz’s ghazal ‘Sab qatal ho kay teray mukabil say aaye hain.’ This was composed by Sohail Rana for a 1969 film ‘Qasam uss waqt ki’, and she had sung it first for the film at the auditorium of the Airforce Academy Risalpur. They had filmed her live performance and used it in the film. In 1982, Satyajit Ray, an Indian filmmaker considered one of the greatest of all time directors, was making a period film, ‘Shatranj kay Khilari’ (The Chess Players). He especially called Farida Khanum to sing a ghazal for his film and also perform it on screen. She unfortunately did not get approval from the government to travel to India, but it shows that her recognition was beyond our borders”.
Lata Mangeshkar and Farida Khanum
‘In 2005 Farida travelled to India to receive an award named after the maestro Sarod player Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan. No one in the subcontinent had been honored with this prestigious award. On the plaque it is written that this award is for Farida Khanum, the ghazal queen of the century who knows the art of singing ghazal in a way that listeners can understand the essence of the poetry, just through her vocals. In 2008 she was again invited to Bombay for a concert, where all big singers and composers were present. The hall was packed and she got a thunderous applause. Next day Lata had her over for dinner and requested her to include, ‘Aaj janay ki zid na karo’ in her repertoire for concerts. This was a composition of Sohail Rana set in Raag Ayman that was originally sung by Habib Wali Mohammad. Farida made it immensely popular by singing it in a concert in 2000 that I had arranged in Islamabad. Much later, I got a call from Mira Nair, another prominent filmmaker from India, as she wanted to use it in her film ‘Monsoon Wedding’. Asha Bhosle had also attempted to sing this number. However, Farida Khanum and Noor Jehan are deeply entrenched into classical music, the skill of singing from the diaphragm, and had perfect pronunciation. Lata and Asha both sing from the throat and they could never sing the way Farida Khanum or Noor Jehan could.’ Khawaja Najamul Hassan concluded.
Khawaja Najamul Hassan with Farida Khanum
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