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Malika Pukhraj Her Style Summed Up Her Times Te past is another country. But a country within the realm of the planet called nostalgia! Those who get the visa to visit that country appreciate it as much as Utopia! Meeting Malika Pukhraj was an experience: An experience I can only savor now because she is now in a country that is not situated on our planet. Malikajee was standing amidst a group of stars, with TV artistes and musicians all around her, including her own celebrated daughter, Tahira Syed. Malikajee didn't know who I was, and which periodical I belonged to, but the moment we met, 1 said something that caught her attention, and she smiled. I mentioned two songs to her, one Zahid na keh burl and the other Woh baatein teri woh fasaney tere. I said I am a great fan of those numbers, and she said in her heavy Punjabi accent that the poetry was enough to inspire people to compose thus. I asked her about Hafeez Jallandhari, because 1 had never met him, and the way he recited his kalaam. I asked if she ever read Hafeez Sahab's Shahnama?e?Islam? `She sniggered and said she had, and asked if it sounded something like this, "Salaam ae aatashein zanjir?e-batil torne waley". Unfortunately, I only had this pleasure in a music function held some years ago, in Lahore, and that curtailed the chances of discussion in depth. A journalist friend, who was extremely nervous on her feet, and was beseeching me to jump into the crowd and cordon off the film actresses, diverted me. If not for her, I would have had a good interview with Malika Pukhraj, who died last week. Malika Pukhraj, who is literally internationally popular for her famous rendition of Hafiz Jallandhari's Abhi to main jawan hoon, was born in Jammu, on October 17, 1912. She was 90 years and 96 days when she passed away on February 4 2004. She grew up at a time when legends of their time like Mushtaribai, Zuhrabai Ambaleywali, Anwaribai Aagreywali, Rasoolan bai, Ustad Fayyaz Khan, Ustad Barrey Ghulam Ali Khan, and later, Akhtaribai Faizabad were very popular, while Indian society was getting acquainted with first the silent movies and then the talkies, eventually giving way to such tutelage of Ustad Allah Baksh, the father of Barrey Ghulam Ali Khan. She worked hard at her vocal delivery and soon became the favorite female pupil of the Ustad, becoming a known child prodigy of the time. So, the Ustad praised her talent in various darbars and palaces he was called to, and took her to a couple of programs. She sang beside him and at one such function in Maharaja Hari Singh's court, she rendered such a good semi?classical piece at just 8 years of age, that the Maharaja asked Ustad Jee to let her sing at the darbar more often. Her command over ghazals, semi?classical numbers, bhajans and folk numbers made her a most popular artiste of the last seventy years of 1900s. Her signature style of a slightly exaggerated, heavy vocal delivery and those poetic compositions made tier a remarkable singer of her times. Her way of singing sums up the first half of the 1900s, which was all about meaningful music. The period bred good poetry, good music and good tastes. The songs that my parents and their generation loved so much were obviously those which have been played on our gramophones so many times. Furthermore, Tahira Syed sang those old numbers in accompaniment with her mother on PTV on so many occasions that we have also come to love those songs. The ones I know are "Zahid na keh burl ke yeti mastaneyaadmi hairs"; `Abhi to main jawan hoon'; `Piya baaj pyala piya jaey na'; "Woh batein teri woh fasaney tere"; `Pal pal baee Jana baee Jana ha channa'; "Yeti gumbadey minai'; "Mere qatil mere dildar mere paas ratio" etc. She sang the ghazals and poems of Allama Iqbal, Hafiz Jallandhari, Abdul Hameed Adam, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and many old poets. She got the coveted local medal of Presidential Pride of Performance and the international honor of the Legend of Voice from the All India Radio. (By
ZULQARNAIN SHAHID) Malika Pukhraj
on record to have said that she didn't want to. Pukhraj was a contemporary of Begum Akhtar and though their respective styles were vastly different, they had two things in common. Their strong moorings in classical music, which lent immortality to their ghazals, and their fondness for the folk songs of their own provinces. Malika didn't leave any opportunity to praise Begum Akhtar, and one hears that the Indian singer had nothing but compliments to pay to the Pakistani exponent of ghazals and Dogri folk songs. Her voice was striking rather than conventionally attractive, and her renditions were backed by her grounding in classical music. It was at the age of three that she took music lessons in her village, situated on the banks of the River Akhnoor, quite close to Jammu. When she was five she moved with her parents to Delhi where she had more formal training in rendering ragas. At nine she visited Jammu and performed at the court of the Maharaja at his coronation ceremony. Maharaja Hari Singh was so impressed that he employed her as a court singer at what used to be a princely sum of Rs500, not to speak of several perks. There she had the opportunity to sing in the presence of several royal guests, the Maharaja of Patiala being one of them. She had till then largely sung folk and semi-classical numbers. Her fondness for Urdu, according to her biographers, came to the fore when she left the Maharaja's service to get married to a man of letters - Syed Shabbir Husain. It was in the company of her husband that she got to meet several luminaries of Urdu literature - Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Hafeez Jallandhari being only two of them. Her renditions were not flat and lifeless. She brought out the meanings of the verse. Abhi to mein jawan hoon seemed to have been written by Hafeez with her in mind. And it was this poem which has remained a perennial favourite of music buffs for more than half a century. Listeners were impressed by the fact that even though Urdu was not her first language, her pronunciation was impeccable. At a time when free verse was meant for reading rather than rendering musically, she gave a lovely musical interpretation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's Tum mere paas raho/Mere qaatil mere dildar mere paas raho. Among Malika Pukhraj's memorable ghazals is Bezubani zuban na ho jaye, which was brought out by HMV in the forties on a 78 RPM record. On the flip side of the disc was yet another unforgettable ghazal, Zahid na keh buri ke ye mastaney aadmi hain. It was at about the same time that Woh kehte hain ranjish ki baatein bhula dein was recorded, which has been as haunting a recording as Her eik jalwa-e-rangeen teri nigah mein hai. The one point which her critics raised persistently was that from the sixties onwards, she hardly added anything to her repertoire. She played safe by walking on tested ground - singing her hit numbers at concerts and for the electronic media. As for her Dogri ditties - folk songs from Jammu - a point worth mentioning is that these earthy numbers were learnt by her from the common people, the masons and labourers, who sang them while at work. Her repertoire of folk numbers is larger and perhaps richer than her ghazals. Malika Pukhraj's contribution to music was recognized by the government of Pakistan when she was awarded the Pride of Performance. Earlier, in 1977 when All India Radio, for which she sang until Partition, was celebrating its golden jubilee, she was invited by the Indian government and given a gold medal in appreciation of her contribution to music on the radio. She was also invited by music academies in Patna and Hyderabad Deccan and given awards of appreciation. The Begum Akhtar Academy in Delhi also acknowledged Malika Pukhraj's contribution to semi-classical music and ghazal gayaki. Another passion of Malika Pukhraj's was needle work. Those who saw it or pictures of it thought she could have held many solo exhibitions of her craft. But one feels that that was too private a pursuit for her to have been exhibited. PTV has quite a few recordings of the late singer in their repertoire. They should telecast them from time to time so that the music aficionados of today could know how well she sang even when she was in her sixties and seventies. |
