Sunday, October 24, 2010

Tribute to Late. Ms. Iqbal Bano [Ghazal Maestro of Pakistan]

Iqbal Bano was a master of both classical and popular forms - Renowned Pakistani singer Iqbal Bano died on Tuesday in the eastern city of Lahore aged 74, it has been reported. Ms Bano was best known for her semi-classical Urdu ghazal songs and classical thumris, but also sang easy-listening numbers in 1950s films. Few singers of classical music matched the brilliance of her voice and her command of musical notes, critics say.

Iqbal Bano sings Baqi saddiqi- Daagh-e-dil ham ko yaad aane lagay (Complete version) PTV Live


URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar9sosycYUA&feature=related

Courtesy: Mr. Tauseef

داغِ دل ہم کو یاد آنے لگے
لوگ اپنے دئیے جلانے لگے

کچھ نہ پا کر بھی مطمئن ہیں ہم
عشق میں ہاتھ کیا خزانے لگے

یہی رستہ ہے اب یہی منزل
اب یہیں دل کسی بہانے لگے

خودفریبی سی خودفریبی ہے
پاس کے ڈھول بھی سہانے لگے

اب تو ہوتا ہے ہر قدم پہ گماں
ہم یہ کیسا قدم اٹھانے لگے

اس بدلتے ہوئے زمانے میں
تیرے قصے بھی کچھ پرانے لگے

رخ بدلنے لگا فسانے کا
لوگ محفل سے اٹھ کے جانے لگے

ایک پل میں وہاں سے ہم اٹھے
بیٹھنے میں جہاں زمانے لگے

اپنی قسمت سے ہے مفر کس کو
تیر پر اُڑ کے بھی نشانے لگے

ہم تک آئے نہ آئے موسمِ گُل
کچھ پرندے تو چہچہانے لگے

شام کا وقت ہو گیا باقی
بستیوں سے شرار آنے لگے

باقی صدیقی

She became a cult figure under the rule of Gen Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s when she sang songs banned by the government. She violated the ban by singing revolutionary works by Pakistan's critically acclaimed poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The chants of the audience in the 1985 recording of a concert at which she performed Faiz's inspirational anthem, Hum Dekhenge (We Will See), have become a symbol of resistance, says the BBC Urdu service's Arif Viqar in Lahore. He says she transformed several other Urdu verses with her exceptional singing skills and command of the language.

Hum Dekhein gay, Lazim Hay kay Ham Bhi ( Iqbal Bano )

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQBr7m0n0Zo&feature=related

Hum Dekhenge ( Iqbal Bano )
Poet : Faiz Ahmad Faiz
(English Translation)

We shall see

It is a must that we shall see
The day that has been prophesized
The one written on the Tablet of Fate

We shall see

When the insurmountable mountains of oppression
Shall blow as if cotton flakes
And beneath the feet of us common folk
This land will throb with a deafening sound
And upon the heads of the despotic folk
Lightening will strike a thundering pound.

We shall see

When from the Palace of our Lord
All earthly gods will be taken out
We, righteous ones, outcasts of church,
shall don a glorious robe, no doubt.
All crowns will fly
All thrones will fall

We shall see

Only the name of the Lord will stay on
who is unseen, yet ever seeing
who is the sight, as well as the scene
The shout of "I am The Truth"* shall rise
which is true for you and I
and the creation of the Lord will rule
which is true for you and I.

We shall see
It is a must that we shall see
We shall see.

Iqbal Bano in PTV Pogram Nikhar - Dasht e tanhaii main aye jaan e jahaN

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98tc9GQmlVg

Courtesy: Mr M Tauseef Amin

Poet: Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Program : Nikhar (70's)
Tabla: Muhammad Alvi
Audience: Nayyara Noor, Sheheryar Zaidi, Kishwar Nahid, Amjad Islam Amjad, Ahmed Faraz, Ayub Roomani. Yusuf Kamran and Others
This program was arranged in house of Ashfaq Ahmad

******
دشت تنہائی میں اے جان جہاں لرزاں ہیں
تیری آواز کے سائے، تیرے ہونٹوں کے سراب
دشت تنہائی میں دوری کے خس و خاک تلے
کھل رہے ہیں تیرے پہلو کے سمن اور گلاب
دشت تنہائی میں اے جان جہاں لرزاں ہیں
تیری آواز کے سائے تیرے ہونٹوں کے سراب

اٹھ رہی ہے کہیں قربت سے تیری سانس کی آنچ
اپنی خوشبو میں سلگتی ہوئی
مدھم مدھم ۔۔
دور افق پار چمکتی ہوئی
قطرہ قطرہ۔۔
گر رہی رہے تیری دلدار نظر کی شبنم
دشت تنہائی میں اے جان جہاں لرزاں ہیں
تیری آواز کے سائے، تیرے ہونٹوں کے سراب

اس قدر پیار سے اے جان جہاں رکھا ہے
دل کے رخسار پے اس وقت تیری یاد نے ہاتھ
یوں گماں ہوتا ہے گرچہ ہے ابھی صبح فراق
ڈھل گیا ہجر کا دن آ بھی گئی وصل کی رات
دشت تنہائی میں اے جان جہاں لرزاں ہیں
تیری آواز کے سائے، تیرے ہونٹوں کے سراب
فیض احمد فیض

Dasht-e-tanhaee main ai jaan-e-jahaan larzaaN haiN
Teri aavaaz kay saaey, teray honton kay saraab
Dasht-e-tanhaee main dooree kay khas-o-khaak talay
Khil rahay hain teray pehlou kay saman or gulaab

Uth rahee hai kaheen qurbat say teri saaNs kee aanch
Apnee khushboo main sulagti hooee madham madham
Door ufaq paar chamaktee hooee qatra qatra
Gir rahee hai teri dildaar nazar kee shabnam

Is qadar payaar say ai jaan-e-jahaan rakha hai
Dil kay rukhsaar pay is waqt teri yaad ne haath
YooN gumaan hota hai gerchay hai abhee subh-e-firaaq
Dhal gaya hijr ka din aa bhi gaii wasl ki raat.
--------------------
Translation
In the wasteland/desert of solitude, my love, shivers
shadows of your voice, illusions/mirages of your lips.
In the desert of solitude, from the dusts/waste of parting
Blossoms the jasmines and roses of your presence.

From somewhere close by, rises the warmth of your breath
and in its own fragrance glowing/smoldering, very slowly
Far-off, across the horizon, drop by shimmering drop
falls the silken dew of your glance.

With such affection, O my love,
your memory has placed its hand on my hearts cheek,
that it looks as if (though its still the dawn of the departures day)
the sun of parting has set; the night of union has arrived.

Iqbal bano in program Nikhar PTV - Payal main geet hain chham chham ke

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S5jYH2Maw8&feature=related

Pride of Performance

Iqbal Bano was born in Delhi in 1935. She moved to Pakistan in 1952, where she married into a land-owning family. Her first songs were recorded at All India Radio in Delhi, says Arif Viqar. She was a star by the 1950s, with several hit film songs that have since become classics in their own right. But her natural talent was towards semi-classical music, such as thumris, dadras and the classical rendition of ghazals, a genre of Urdu poetry. She was given the Pride of Performance award by the Pakistani government in 1974. She also sang Persian poetry, which became popular in Iran and Afghanistan. In pre-1979 Afghanistan, she was often invited to the annual cultural fair, the Jashn-e-Kabul. REFERENCE: Pakistani singer Iqbal Bano dies By M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Islamabad Page last updated at 10:32 GMT, Wednesday, 22 April 2009 11:32 UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8011930.stm

IN a country where frightening things are happening on a daily basis, and where one has stopped expecting to hear anything that could lessen the pervading sadness, the news of the passing away of yet another icon of music has come as one more rude shock. Iqbal Bano, the darling of lovers of ghazal, thumri, dadra and kheyal, passed away in Lahore on Tuesday. For a number of years now, we have been living with the tension of Mehdi Hasan’s debilitating illness – and now this heart-breaking realisation that Iqbal Bano is no more with us. As I write these lines to mourn her death, her powerful and passionate voice rendering Faiz’s “Hum dekhen ge, lazim hai ke hum bhi dekhen ge” rings in my ears and I cannot help feeling a tinge of irony in these lines!

Iqbal Bano (PTV Recording) - Ulfat ki nai manzil ko chala

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMHdvl7vGqs&feature=related

Courtesy: Mr Tauseef

Singer: Iqbal Bano
Poet: Qateel shifai
PTV Recording
originally sung by Bano in movie Qatil (1955)

Ulfat ki nai manzil ko chala, tu banheN dal key banhoN mein
dil torne wale dekh key chal, ham bhi to pare haiN rahoN mein

kya kya na jafayeN dil pe sahin, par tum se koi shikwa na kiya
is jurm ko bhi shamil kar lo, merey masoom gunahoN meiN

jahaN chandni ratoN mein tum ne khud hamse kiya iqarar-e-wafa
phir aj haiN ham kyoN begane, teri beraham nigahoN meiN

ham bhi haiN wohi, tum bhi ho wohi, ye apni-apni qismat hai
tum khel rahe ho khushiyoN se, ham doob gaye haiN ahoN meiN

الفت کی نئی منزل کو چلا تو باہیں ڈال کہ باہوں میں
دل توڑنے والے دیکھ کہ چل ہم بھی تو پڑے ہیں راہوں میں
الفت کی نئی منزل کو چلا
کیا کیا نہ جفائیں دل پہ سہیں پر تم سے کوئی شکوا نہ کیا
پر تم سے کوئی شکوا نہ کیا
اس جرم کو بھی شامل کر لو میرے معصوم گناہوں میں
دل توڑنے والے دیکھ کہ چل ہم بھی تو پڑے ہیں راہوں میں
ہم بھی تو پڑے ہیں راہوں میں
الفت کی نئی منزل کو چلا

جب چانرنی راتوں میں تو نے خود ہم سے کیا اقرار وفا
خود ہم سے کیا اقرار وف
پھر آج ہیں کیوں ہم بیگانے تیرے بے رحم نگاہوں میں
دل توڑنے والے دیکھ کہ چل ہم بھی تو پڑے ہیں راہوں میں
ہم بھی تو پڑے ہیں راہوں میں
الفت کی نئی منزل کو چلا

ہم بھی ہیں وہی تم بھی ہو وہی یہ اپنی اپنی قسمت ہے
یہ اپنی اپنی قسمت ہے
تم کھیل رہے ہو خشیوں سے ہم ڈوب گئے ہیں آہوں میں
دل توڑنے والے دیکھ کہ چل ہم بھی تو پڑے ہیں راہوں میں
ہم بھی تو پڑے ہیں راہوں میں
الفت کی نئی منزل کو چلا

Nature has been quite generous in sending all the wrong characters to this tumultuous world but, strangely enough, She has been tight-fisted when it came to gifting us with artists! Take ghazal singers, for example – only a few names come to mind: K.L. Saigal, Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, Talat Mahmood, Akhtaribai Faizabadi, Mehdi Hasan, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, Iqbal Bano, Farida Khanum in a crowd of more than a billion souls inhabiting the subcontinent. Of these greats, only Mehdi Hasan and Farida Khanum survive today. Iqbal Bano was born and brought up in Delhi. She studied under Ustad Chand Khan of the Dehli Gharana who trained her in classical and light classical genre of music. After her training, she started to sing on the All India Radio, Delhi. Came partition, and the family migrated to Pakistan where in 1952 the 17-year-old girl was married to a zamindaar. He made her promise to him that she would never stop singing! What a strange thing to happen in the Islamic Republic! The husband stood behind her until his death in 1980. Iqbal Bano made her presence felt in a public concert in 1957 at the Lahore Arts Council before an elite crowd. In due course she generated more and more public appeal and became a specialist in singing the kalam of Faiz Ahmad Faiz. Her rendering of dasht-e-tanhai mein aye jan-e-jahan larzan hai, donon jaahan teri mohabbat mein har ke and many other nazm and ghazals are masterpieces. In the realm of light classical, her presentation of Thumris in raags Khammach (kahay sataey mohe), Tilak Kamode (sautan ghar na ja), Des (Naheen parey mohe chaen), Peelo (gori torey naina karaj bin kalay) and others are renderings which have become all time great. There are similarities in the style of Iqbal Bano and Begum Akhtar in that both stuck to the classical style that lays stress on raag. She could also sing Persian ghazals with the same fluency as Urdu and was quite popular in Iran and Afghanistan. “Before 1979, there was a festival of culture called Jashn-e-Kabul every year in Afghanistan. Iqbal Bano regularly received a warm invitation to this annual event. She was known for singing a new Persian ghazal each time she appeared. The King of Afghanistan liked her recital very much. Once, on such an occasion, the king was so pleased with her ghazals that he presented her with a golden vase in appreciation of her music.” Iqbal Bano also sang many memorable songs for Pakistani films. To name a few: Gumnaam (1954), Qatil (1955), Inteqaam (1955), Sarfarosh (1956), Ishq-e-Laila (1957), and Nagan (1959). REFERENCE: Iqbal Bano — ghazal personified By S.M. Shahid Wednesday, 22 Apr, 2009 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/iqbal-bano-ghazal-personified

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