JULY 2007 …WHEN STALWART GAZAL SINGER FARIDA KHANUM VISITED KASHMIR

                                                                 

                          ( Being honoured with Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Award in 2005 )

                                                                            

                 
                             (Farida Ji  being interviewed by Ravinder Kaul  from Jammu for Guftagoo ) 

JULY 2007, WHEN STALWART GAZAL SINGER FARIDA KHANUM  VISITED  KASHMIR

 Farida Khanum has a strong Kashmir connection . First, she happens to be the sister of Mukhtar Begum (wife of Agha Hashr Kashmiri ) known as Shakespeare of Indian drama. Agha Hashr was son   of  Agha Mohammad Ghani Shah, a wealthy  Kashmiri  shawl trader  from Awadh who later settled in Varanasi  .  And then her mother was from a  poor family of Pulwama in the Kashmir valley . Mukhtar Begum,the elder sister of Farida Khanum  was a dazzling beauty and  an accomplished actor , dancer and singer . She was a well known dancer  from Amritsar . After her marriage   in 1930, she moved to Kolkata   to live with Agha Hashr . In Kolkata , she also acted as heroine in some plays written by her husband . In fact Farida Khanum was a little girl who also accompanied them and lived with her sister in Kolkata for many years. In an interview to Ravinder Kaul, Farida Khanum has said this:-

" In 1947, we left home because it was announced that India and Pakistan were to be partitioned and so was the state of Punjab. We took just enough stuff for a month, but we could never come back after that. We started living in Pindi and then moved to Lahore.  For many Years , we in our family have been discussing our roots in Kashmir. My sister and my brother would always wish to visit Pulwama,  the birth place of my mother . You don’t know what it actually meant . You don’t know how happy I was  to be there . Yes it was an invitation  from Jammu And Kashmir government in 2007 that thrilled me. I was invited to sing in the Sufi Festival   organized by the government . After 60 long years, I was  there to trace my roots and to perform. My mother was very simple and never demanded anything. I am   fortunate to have my  roots in the paradise. What a  beautiful and scenic place ? I had never thought that I would be able to visit my mother's place but the invitation from the state government made my dream come true. This was the place where my father Rasool Sheikh first met my mother. I used to pray and urge Almighty to fulfill my wish of a visit to Kashmir.“

 Trained by Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan, Khanum’s most famous ghazal, "Aaj jaane ki zid na karo’, is one of the best known numbers in the subcontinent. In 2001, she appeared in Mira Nair’s movie ‘Monsoon Wedding’, in which she sang the crowd’s favourite ‘Aaj jaane ki zid na karo’. Farida khanum has her own style of singing usually waving her left hand
in the air for portraying the ups and downs of the “lay and Taal”. Farida khanum also travelled to Kabul, Afghanistan in the 60s and 70s of the last century  and sang many Persian language Gazals in musical concerts .About her singing , noted music critic , Shanta Serbjeet Singh writes this :-

“ After Begum Akhtar, Farida Khanum’s voice has got the character suitable for Ghazals. It is sensuous but not earthy. It is honey sweet but not cloying. Her wizardry lies in her high-speed taans and sargams (note patterns). She picks up a poetry stanza and takes it to a height, where it touches the borders of the classical singing, and then brings it back to the sublime level of the Ghazal. This layakari (rhythmic wizardry) in khayal tradition has earned Farida Khanum, the title Mallika-e-Ghazal, (queen of Ghazals).”

 Along with her daughter , Farida Ji visited Kashmir in  July 2007  at the  invitation  of the then Government . She sang at the Sufi Festival  that had a galaxy of artists like  Chand Afzal Qawwal, Adil Barki (Pakistan), vocalist Rita Ganguli,  Kathak dancer Prema Shirmali, Kashmiri Sufi singer Abdul Rashid Hafiz and the  Egyptian troupe Tanoura  . The three day festival was  organised by , Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in collaboration with Shree Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).  The then Governor , Chief Minister and Dr Karan Singh also participated in the  gala event.  The moment Farida Khanum entered  the  Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre  (SKICC)   located  on  the banks  of  the serene  Dal Lake  that day , crowds sitting inside the jam packed hall cheered  lustily in welcome. The venue reverberated with thundering applause  the moment she competed  scintillating delivery of  Fayaz Hashmi’s Gazal “ Aaj Jaane Ki zid Na karo “. She also sang  Faiz ‘s  "Woh ishq Jo hum se Rooth gaya" that sent  her audience into   nonstop clapping  .She also sang  “ Mohabbat  karne wale kum na honge “ and  many more Ghazals that day.It was something unusual  for  people in Kashmir to have  witnessed after  many years of turmoil and suffocation. Many happy memories of that gala event keep lingering in the minds  of not only the audience but  the performers as well.

 

Always draped in some colourful Sari that she likes  , Farida Khanum commands  enormous goodwill and respect  in the subcontinent  . She has a  huge fan following   the world over . As and when  she  visits   India , she spreads goodwill and love through her music  . The venues where she performs   are always   packed to capacity  .

  

 ( Avtar Mota)

                              


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