“What a sad day for me,” said Tina Sani in a rather distressed tone. She had just heard the news of Habib Wali Mohammad’s demise.
The thought of losing an icon had still not completely sunk in as she took time to gather herself before speaking further to The Express Tribune about the memories associated with the maestro. The globally acclaimed ghazal singer went on to say that “if Wali Sahib had not been there than nobody would have taken me seriously.”
A few decades ago, Wali had approached Sani to compile an album together which was supposed to be composed by Nisar Bazmi. She could barely absorb the fact that such a great musician wanted to collaborate with her. “The album turned out to be really good and that is how people started taking my work seriously but that is not the only reason why it was a memorable experience. That collaboration made me realise that Wali had no background in music, just a teacher, and yet he went on to add his own style to the world of ghazal of singing,” recalled Sani.
Habib Wali Muhammad passed away on Thursday at the age of 90, after being treated for his illness in Los Angeles for the past few days, Express News reported.
Born in 1921 in Rangoon — Myanmar, Habib’s family later moved to Mumbai. Despite hailing from an industrialist family, he always had a keen interest in music. He once won a singing competition in Mumbai which had more than 1,200 participants. His family later moved to Pakistan in 1947.
Habib was trained in classical music by Ustad Latafat Ali Khan in formal singing and rose to fame after the release of his song Lagta nahi hai dil mera ujray dayaar mae which was composed on a poem by Bahadur Shah Zafar.
“He was a true businessman not only by profession but also in his approach towards music. He knew that he will not be able to stand among the many greats of that time such as Mehdi Hasan Khan, so he treated his voice in a particular fashion because of which he was able to carve his own niche.”
Famous for rendering the much unsung (literally) poet Bahadur Shah Zafar’s poetry, Wali went on to offer some of the finest songs to ghazal world. Aaj Janay ki zid na karo, became an instant hit right after it was released as part of the music album of the 1973 film Badal or Bijli. The music of the film was composed by Sohail Rana.
“He had a very strong association was with Sohail Rana which was evident in their creative collaborations “veteran musician, Arshad Mehmud informed The Express Tribune.
“That also translated into some play back singing for films though his voice was such that it wouldn’t suit every actor. But he himself wasn’t very fond of singing for other faces and that is one of the major reasons why you’ll see most of his memorable work coming out of PTV” said Mehmud.
Mehmud thinks that Wali’s career arc is worth analysing as the way he improved himself as both, a ghazal and geet singer was simply phenomenal.
Apart from various popular ghazals , Wali also sang the very famous patriotic song Roshan-o-Rakhshan Nayyar-o-Tabaan Pakistan rahay along eith the chorus of Benjamin sisters. Salman Alvi, the ghazal singer known for his rendition of Ajnabi Shheher ke Ajnabi Raaste considers Wali a true trendsetter, not only in terms of ghazal singing but also how ghazal singers were perceived in Pakistan.
“Wali broke the myth that if you don’t belong to a gharana you can’t sing” said Alvi.
“He came from an educated background and made a mark in a field which would have never been considered for someone like him, before him. At the same time you can’t ignore the role Sohail Rana played in making melodies that took his name beyond borders.”
Additional input by Saadia Qamar
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2014.
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