Narendra Kusnur writes in memory of Mehdi Hassan

The Nehru Centre auditorium in Worli was packed on June 9, as veteran singer Hariharan took the stage. Besides the fact that he is one of the most popular live singers in India today, the audience knew the show would be special for another reason. The maestro was playing tribute to his mentor Mehdi Hassan, as part of Banyan Tree’s Humrahi series.

It was the second tribute to the Pakistani legend in a week. On June 2, a show was held at the Mini Theatre at Prabhadevi’s Ravindra Natya Mandir. The line-up consisted of Alap Desai, Gayatri Asokan and Mohammed Vakil, who sang four compositions each. Here too, the Mehdi Hassan fans had their dose of nostalgia.

These shows came a few days before Mehdi Hassan’s 11th death anniversary on June 13. Clearly, the audience response showed how much the singer’s music still created that sublime impact. This wasn’t the normal crowd., where people often request Hassan’s popular ghazal Ranjish Hi Sahi without knowing it was written by poet Ahmed Faraz, or understanding the depth of the words. A large chunk comprised serious and devoted fans, who even shouted out requests for rarer songs like Farhat Shahzad’s Konplen Phir Phoot Aayee, Muneer Niyazi’s Kaise Kaise Log and Mir Taqi Mir’s Dekh To Dil Ke Jaan Se Uthta Hai, and were disappointed they weren’t sung.

It’s impossible to please everybody. But over the two evenings, there was a good representation of Mehdi Hassan’s oeuvre, with a balance of popular tunes and rarer gems. On June 2, while Mohammed Vakil sang the popular Ranjish and Qateel Shifai’s Zindagi Mein To Sabhi, he also presented Parveen Shakir’s Ku-Ba-Ku Phail Gayee and the Rajasthani folk number Kesariya Balam. Gayatri Asokan presented Ghalib’s Dil-e-Nadaan and Tasleem Fazli’s Rafta Rafta. Yet, the rarities came in the form of Wajih Irfani’s Guncha-e-Shauq and Aal-e-Raza’s Jo Chahte Ho So Kehte Ho, which has the amazing lines, “Alfaaz kahaan se laaoon main, chhaale ki tapak samjhaane ko, izhaar-e-mohabbat karte ho, ehsaas-e-mohabaat kya jaano”.

The reason one is mentioning the poets each time is that it is the writer’s expression that gets presented by the singer. The moment Alap Desai mentioned Hafeez Hoshiarpuri, fans guessed he would sing the classic Mohabbat Karne Wale. He also sang fan favourites Shola Tha Jal Bujha Hoon (Ahmed Faraz) and Mujhe Tum Nazar Se (Masroor Anwar), besides Hasrat Mohani’s lesser-performed Kaise Chhupaoon Raaz-e-Gham.

From the above set list, many readers would be familiar with Ranjish, Mohabbat Karne Wale and Zindagi Mein To Sabhi. Yet, each song has a class of its own. Besides the choice of effective poetry, Mehdi Hassan was known for his use of classical ragas. For instance, Zindagi Mein To Sabhi is in Bhimpalasi, Shola Tha Jal Bujha Hoon in Kirwani and Jo Chahte Ho in Nat Bhairav.

As such it was a delight to hear Hariharan at his June 9 show. He’s one of the singers besides Talat Aziz and the late Rajkumar Rizvi to be deeply inspired and guided by Mehdi Hassan. He didn’t digress from the basic melodies, whether it was the opening couplet or the subsequent shers. Yet, one admired those embellishments and flourishes that are typical of his style. Beginning with Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s Aaye Kuch Abr Kuch Sharaab Aaye, he moved on to Bahadur Shah Zafar’s Baat Karni Mujhe and Saleem Gilani’s Phool Hi Phool. He gave an individual touch to Ranjish and Rafta Rafta, songs sung too often by many singers. There was magic in the way he sang Mir’s Patta Patta Boota Boota and Ahmed Faraz’s famous ghazal which began, “Ab ke hum bichde to shayad kabhi khwaabon mein mile, Jis tarah sookhe hue phool kitaabon mein mile”.

One noticed that five songs were featured at both shows — maybe because they are more in demand. Strangely, none of the singers rendered Faiz’s Gulon Mein Rang Bhare, the ghazal that actually propelled Mehdi Hassan to fame on radio in 1955. But there’s always a next time… chale bhi aao ke gulshan ka karobaar chale.