Accolades heaped on Mehdi Hasan

Music is a sublime heritage and musicians, maestros, and writers must make all efforts to preserve the music of their era for posterity. This not only expands the vista of the coming generations but also helps them be better acquainted with their cultural heritage. The tradition of writing books on music and musicians must continue.

These views were expressed by noted poetess Zahra Nigh while speaking as chief guest the launch of the book, “Mehdi Hasan: the man and his music”, by noted senior journalist Asif Noorani at the Karachi Club (Annexe) Monday evening.

She praised Noorani for his determination and hard work in putting together such a volume. However, while lauding his effort, she remarked that Noorani had written the book in English which was fine but it would be even more welcome if such books were written in Urdu as that was the language of the overwhelming majority and books in Urdu would go a long way in popularising the arts and passing our heritage on to posterity.

She was all praise for Mehdi Hasan and his inimitable style of Ghazal rendition. In her opinion there should be such books highlighting the talent of vocalists like Iqbal Bano and Farida Khanum too.

Former BBC Urdu service broadcaster Raza Ali Abdi, said that Mehdi Hasan was leaving the future generations a priceless legacy in his vocal talent. He said musical notes when sung in a particular manner have been known to break glasses or set things vibrating. “Musical notes may break glasses but they unite hearts”, he said, adding that music of the likes of Mehdi Hasan was the common precious heritage of the people of Pakistan and India, but said that in Pakistan the outlook towards this most sublime pursuit was quite different from what it was in India. In this context, he narrated an incident pertaining to the visit by a group of Pakistan musicians to India. He said that as they were boarding a PIA aircraft at the New Delhi airport to head back home, they were being seen off by their Indian counterparts in the most honourable and sentimental of manner but as they boarded the plane, they put their musical instruments in the aisle, much to the annoyance of the air hostess, who shouted in a tone of undisguised contempt, “Kaun hain yeh mirasi? Uthao apne sare saaz yahan se”. The common musical heritage, Abdi said, could actually go a long way in bringing the two neighbours closer and in wiping out this atmosphere of acrimony.

Noted TV personality Arshad Mehmood spoke of his long association with the author dating back to the time when the latter was the editor of Eastern Film. He praised Noorani for his dedication to the profession His speech was punctuated with a whole lot of quips and humorous remarks.

Asif Noorani, thanked the organisers and the speakers for their tributes. He lamented that while there were so many books on Indian singing legend Lata Mangeshkar, there were none on Mehdi Hasan. He said that Mehdi Hasan’s style of Ghazal rendition was absolutely matchless. Mehdi Hasan, he said, was not as much bothered about the writer of the lyric as he was about the quality of the poem, or Ghazal. His rendition of words and syllables was so articulate which made the piece all the more poignant, he said.

Others who spoke were Mr Saleem of Liberty Books, and Mr Omar Sheikh of EMI Sultan Arshad compared the programme.

Mehdi Hasan could not come to the function as he was indisposed (again).

This article is written by Anil Datta and was published in The News.

Mehdi Hasan: The Man and His Music is available at all leading bookstores – ordering details available here.

Mehdi Hassan’s biography: Music ‘recorded’ in history – The Express Tribune

KARACHI: “Music is my first love, the second is who I am married to and literature [is] my third [love],” said author Asif Noorani, which explained why he wrote a biography on the King of Ghazal, Mehdi Hassan.

The biography Mehdi Hassan: the man and his music was launched at a ceremony organised by Liberty Books and EMI Pakistan on Monday, where artistes, composers, poets and writers gathered to pay tribute to the ghazal maestro.

Noorani in his address said that while there were many books in English on Lata Mangeshkar but none on Mehdi Hassan. He shared how he received support from peers and loved ones for writing the book and how he met Hassan’s biggest fans.

While his previous book on Shahid Afridi is as famous as Hassan’s biography, he expects the former to surpass the sales of the latter. “People will stop buying my book on Afridi when he loses a match or chews the ball. But for Mehdi Hassan sahab, it’s a win-win situation.”

The launch session was conducted by musicologist Sultan Arshad, who is also a contributor to the book. The speakers included Saleem Hussain, who spoke about how the book’s publishing came about, and Umer Sheikh from EMI Pakistan who shared his views about the CDs enclosed with the book.

Sharing his views about the author, Arshad Mehmood, a senior actor and music composer, said he is a man who loves his work. “He has special devotion for music and nobody but him could have written on such a subject,” he said. “Asif not only wishes to write a book, but to document history and our legends.”

Mehmood said that although the book will be bought by older people, this knowledge about Mehdi Hassan will spread among the young generation of their families when they pick it up. “Music is the most recognised performing art in our country. Therefore, this book is of immense value.”

Urdu poet Zehra Nigah was the chief guest of the launch and spoke about the need for acknowledging local artistes more often. “We have a legacy of singers and great musicians. This book will ensure that one of our greatest singers is remembered.”

Praising Mehdi Hassan, who could not make to the launch due to his illness, she said that he is one of those artistes in history who established a separate school of art. “All of his ghazals are complete and comprehensive pieces and are the best amalgamation of music and singing,” she said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Sameer Hussain, the strategy and business development director at Liberty Books, said the book has received a tremendous response at the stores.

Out of the initial 2,000 copies published, some 1,500 have already been sold and they plan to publish another 2,000. “The unique thing about the book is that it has even been sold from restaurants and cafes.”

This article was written by Samia Saleem and was published in Express Tribube [Karachi].