Once, Mehdi Hassan was singing in the Court of Nepal’s King Shah Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and he forgot the lines of his song “Zindagi Mein To Sabhii Pyaar Kiya Karte Hain..”. Shah, then rose to his feet and sang the next line. This was a true tribute and honor for the Ghazal maestro.
For those of you who have not heard of Mehdi Hassan and Ghazals, which is usually not the case as he is a household name in both India and Pakistan, or if you would like to know more about him, here are a few lines.
Mehdi Hassan, affectionately called Khaan Saahib, was born in Rajasthan in a village called Luna in the year 1927 into a family of rich traditional musicians. Mehdi Hassan’s early life was marred by Indo-Pak partition and the family had to struggle to earn livelihood. After migrating to Pakistan in the wake of Partition, the 20 year-old Hassan had to work in a bicycle shop and later become a car and tractor mechanic. Despite his hardships, his passion for music did not wither and he kept up the routine of practice on a daily basis.
Mehdi Hassan studied and mastered Hindustani classical music under the able guidance of his father Ustad Azeem Khan and his uncle Ustad Ismail Khan who were classical musicians. Hassan’s struggle ended when he was given the opportunity to sing on Radio Pakistan in 1952, primarily as a thumri singer, which 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.
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 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’ . Talat Aziz is one of his famous disciples.
Here is one of his famous renditions and the one he performed in the Court of Nepal’s King.
Zindagi Mein to Sabhi Pyaar Kiya Karte Hain » Download [6.49 MB]
