Condolence ceremony: Friends, admirers remember ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan

ISLAMABAD:

Rich tributes were paid to legendary singer Mehdi Hassan at a condolence reference organised by the Rawalpindi Arts Council on Sunday.

Senator Najma Hameed was the chief guest and Al-Fankar Academy President Shahzad Sanam was the host for the event.

Senator Hameed said Hassan’s passing away came as a terrible shock to the world of music.

“We have lost and a precious asset of the nation. A man of manners, and a great singer who was so versatile his range extended over ghazals, songs and all raags,” she stated.

Many at the event termed Hassan an unparalleled singer — a true maestro when it came to ghazals, singing them with a semi-classical touch.

Dr Shuja, a close friends of Hassan, revealed some facts from Hassan’s life narrating how, to make ends meet, Hasan started working at a bicycle shop and later became a car and diesel tractor mechanic.

Despite the hardships, his passion for music did not wither and he kept practicing on a daily basis and went on to start his singing career at Radio Pakistan in 1957.

Mehfooz Khokhar ran through some of Hassan’s accolades, noting he was honoured with the ‘Tamgha-e-Imtiaz’, the ‘Pride of Performance’ and the ‘Hilal-e-Imtiaz’ by the government of Pakistan, along with the ‘Gorkha Dakshina Bahu’ from the government of Nepal, the Nigar Film and Graduate Awards and the ‘Tamgha-e-Sehgal’ in Jalandhar, India.

Later, singers Jahangir Baber, AM Qureshi, Musarat Jabeen and Shahanshah Niazi sang some of Hassans most famous ghazals to pay tributes to the celebrated singer.

Published in The Express Tribune, 25^th, 2012.