TINA SANI

A gifted artist

"'I have been singing since the age of 22 for the last 22 years, believe it or not,' Tina said, albeit a bit mischievously. 'Who says there aren't any listeners in the city' the singer asked during an interlude in her singing, commending the large and appreciative audience." Sampurna, a non-profit music academy founded by Saffia Beyg, recently celebrated its third anniversary by organizing a concert featuring ghazal singer Tina Sani. It was a fund-raising program, held at the Royal Rodale, a relatively new venue. Saffia Beyg has been guiding Tina, who comes to her regularly to practice classical singing. "She has been chiseling and polishing whatever little talent I have," Tina announced modestly before beginning the evening's program with Faiz's couplet Raat yun dil may teri khoee huee yaad aaee, jaisay viranay may chupkay say bahaar ajae.

Tina is a gifted artist known for her renderings of Urdu ghazal in the traditional style. Her formal training in classical music was conducted first by Ustad Nizamuddin Khan of the Delhi gharana and later by Ustad Amrohvi. Tina has been practicing under the guidance of Saffia Beyg for the last one year, improvising her singing and giving it a new dimension through more conscious integration of the alaaps, etc. Tina's selection of the ghazals from Faiz's collection, for example, Gar mujhe is ka yaqin ho keh tere dil ki tarhan...meray hamdam meray dost, Wo butaun nay daalay hain waswasay, Baul kay lub azad hain jab tuk, spoke of the political upheavals of his times. The poetry of Faiz Ahmad Faiz is coldly precise and disturbing, and as relevant to the current times as when he wrote it. Perhaps written with a heavy heart, Faiz's poetry, rendered by Tina, brings a lump in many a throat even today.

TINA SANI

She is Lasani!

(The Magazine MAG Pakistan)

Tina Sani has no peers. Nobody could debate that. For when was young (not that she’s fallen into geriatric category), none of her contemporaries had opted to choose the genre of music that she’d picked for herself: ghazal singing. And even now, when she’s reckoned to be established performer, there aren’t enough, if not any, ghazal singers who could match the ability. No, I wouldn’t lump Gulshan Ara with Tina Sani, for the former is the tad senior to her and has a style diametrically opposed to the latter’s.

Although Tina’s claim to fame, I may be wrong, was a pop duet that she sang with the legendary Alamgir, but as time passed, we saw the rice of a brilliant versatile vocalist. Her haunting redoing of Mai Bhagi’s Khari Neem Ke Neechey, sung as the theme song to a drama serial Karavan further brought her into the limelight and consolidated her position as an extraordinary singer. However, Tina Sani was into literature and wanted to sing classic pieces from Urdu adab. And so she did, with tremendous success.

The way Tina has sung Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s nazms, thanks to Arshad Mahmood’s scintillating compositions commensuration with the poetry, is remarkable to say the least. I mean the nazm, Gar Mujhe Is Ka Yaqeen Ho Merey Hamdam Merey Dost contains many cadences

and moods with subtle nuances, and Tina has done justice to all. However, another of Faiz’s sahib’s poem, Bahar Aaee, to date, is Tina’s most popular rendition. Again, mindfully composed by Arshad Mahmood, the nazm flows with delectable melodic ups and downs and Tina’s raspy voice renders it as if it was written to be sung.

It is indeed sad that Tina Sani refrains from doing gigs and shows. I’m sure she has good reasons for that. But for music buffs, it’s a sorry situation since they have been deprived of quality singing. And it’s not just confined to ghazal and nazm singing, but Tina’s folk renditions are no less ordinary. When she sings that famous Punjabi number, Ankhan Chham Chham Wasion, I see many an eye well up.

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