This post is a way to pay homage to all three.
, of course, was an icon of Pakistani film music - rivaled, possibly, only by . But what many people forget is that , too, was closely associated with the Pakistan film industry when it was at its zenith.
Indeed, some of his most memorable works first became famous as film songs.
Nothing is as symbolic of this combination of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Mehdi Hassan and Pakistani movie music as the ghazal gulouN mein rang bharay, baad-i-nou bahar chalay. It is widely considered to be amongst the most popular as well as the very best of Faiz Sahib s ghazals.
Indeed, as many would consider it to also be amongst the best of Mehdi Hasan s ghazals.
There is a story that I have never been able to confirm (maybe can shed light on this) that suggests that Faiz Sahib liked Mehdi Hassan Sahibs rendition of the ghazal so much that he used to say that the ghazal no longer belonged to him (Faiz) but now belonged to Mehdi Hassan. has joked that this may have been Faiz Sahib s way of disowning the song rather than praising it.
I prefer the original interpretation.
For me at least, this is one of the most beautiful of ghazal s, most beautifully sung.
What is interesting is that this was a movie song (for the film Farangi).
Yes, this is what movie songs used to sound like once. Can you imagine today a song with such depth of meaning, such elegance of poetic craft, and sung with such musical mastery being a movie song!
Here is a of the movie song.
The video quality is not very good; nor, I must admit, is the picturization or the acting by Allauddin. It is, nonetheless, a rare and amazing treat. Enjoy!
Faiz seems to have been a generous man, in the version that I heard, he gave away mujhse pehli si mohabbat na maang to Noorjehan.
Difficult to say which one of Faiz s ghazal s MH has sung best, but like Naveed, my favourite is ayay kuch abr kuch sharab ayay .
In the version of Guloun main rung bharaye sung by Runa Laila, the last sheyr was messed up YLH, I agree that the social decay and this quiet resignation of savagry inflicted upon a fellow being is depicted graphically.
i do wish to point out that this is a nazm and not a ghazal not nitpicking just correcting..i hope you do not mind .
when there are rays of the sun beaming down on a prisoner in a jail cell, then it is only Faiz that sees this beacon as a ray of hope; any other mortal being would have perished mentally and emotionally if not physically agar aaj aoj peh hay tala-e-raqueeb to kya, yeh chaar din kee khudaee to koee baat naheem even forgiveness for those inflicting pain on the prisoner
in a morbid macabre fantasy world, i would have loved to be Faiz s fellow prisoner..because his was a world where principles mattered; his was a world full of innocent idealism .
hum jahan bhee gayay kameeyab ayay, with this self-belief who can go wrong
coming back to mujh say pehli see mohabat, a totally different version is done by noor jehan in a private mehfil as he sang for faiz. this will cost those who are ardent noor jehan and faiz fans a little bit of money (Rs. 1800) the Faiz collection released by the Mohatta Palace Museum Requiem for an unsung messiah “Requiem for an unsung messiah is a priceless collection of Faiz most famous poetry and ghazals sung by some of Pakistan s best.
Although the audio on some of the tracks is not upto par it still is the best investment I ever made 
Nayyara Noor, Firdausi begum and other stalwarts such as Mehdi Hassan, Iqbal Bano, etc.
are brilliant in this collection.
Every time I hear Aaj ke naam it takes me into another world. Gar mujhe is ka yaqeen ho is one of my all time favorite poems in any language.
Faiz was a divine gift to the people of Pakistan. It is a shame he is not studied more comprehensively in schools and colleges in his own country. There are no national memorials to remember and discuss some one who felt so deeply and eloquently for his people.
A humanist whose social poetry still has the power to bring change in this society as an alternative to the mindless cacophany of fascist and pseudo-religous hogwash being fed to the masses. ahmed faraz. who also wrote some good poetry, but was i think mostly a romantic poet, and not in faiz s league.
faiz is awesome. not just in the themes he addresses (social justice etc), but also in the amazingly vivid imagery he uses. i can think of few other urdu poets whose verses are so evocative.
and finally, addressing those themes using the traditional metaphors of urdu love poetry, and keeping that ambiguity of meaning / interpreration just adds to its beauty
Leave a Comment:
You have 3 minutes to edit comment after first 'submit.' Reload page if you do not see Edit option. Keep comments on topic; no personal attacks; don't submit indecent, inflammatory, slanderous, uncivil or irrelevant comments; flamers and trolls are not welcome; inappropriate comments will be removed or edited.if you won't say it to someone's face, then don't say it here! We have noted a recent inflation in the size of comments. Except in a few truly exceptional cases, please keep your comments SHORT so that they are actually read.
If you need to, please link to longer elaborations elsewhere on the web rather than cutting-and-pasting them here. Thanks, and keep the comments coming!
News RSS