Same old melody
MANJARI SINHA
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Farida Khanam on the glorious past and discerning Indian audience.
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The mood was just prefect for Indo-Pak musical vibrations. With the successful launch of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus when Farida Khanam, the Malika-e-Ghazal of Pakistan visited recently to perform for the Spic-Macay, she was all praise for Hindustan and Hindustani music. The pathos of her voice represented hundreds who had suffered the pain of separation, dard-e-judaai, when she sang "Jane Kiski Thi Khata Yaad Nahin, Ham Hue Kaise Juda Yaad Nahin." Born and brought up in Amritsar, young Farida had gone just a few miles away up to Murri to visit some relatives when the country was partitioned and she could never return home.
Her sweetest memories belong to her childhood. She was very fond of Begum Akhtar and Ustad Barkat Ali Khan and used to hum their music all the time. Her elder sister Mukhtar Bano was also a singer and a stage artiste.
Farida Khanam's proper taleem started at the age of seven, when Ustad Ashique Ali Khan of Patiala gharana tied the sacred thread and took her under his tutelage.
She had to get up early in the morning for the plataas of raga Bhairav. She learnt some more ragas within a few years.
Daily practice
Apart from the daily practice for hours together, her ustad also made her listen to great singers of those days. She remembers listening to Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Jaddan Bai (mother of Nargis) and the mehfils of `Nirat Bhaav ki thumari' by Achchan Maharaj and Shambhu Maharaj. "Ustad would put me forward and would request, please listen to this child also, isi tarah pukhtagi aati gai."
But she was soon deprived of her musically inspiring and vibrant surroundings when she was forced to settle in Pakistan. There was no atmosphere of classical music especially for women. Although Nazaakat - Salaamat, Umed Ali-Fateh Ali et-al were in full form but there was not a single ray of light for women. It was only when President Ayub Khan started programmes on radio and All Pakistan Music Conference that women artistes got some chance. It was then that Farida Khanam represented her country in a delegation to Moscow.
Later on, the television and Art Council also promoted music. But it also encouraged a group that claimed to be artistes after a single programme on TV. They would copy the orchestra of Mehendi Hasan but would not take notice of his riyaaz or `ghazal ka mizaj'. But Farida does not blame them because there is neither any music college in Pakistan nor it is easy to find an Ustaad - a real teacher.
She is highly impressed by the discerning audience here - "Yeh aapki sunne ki tahzeeb door door tak pahunchi hai." She remembered performing at Ali Akbar Khan School of Music in California where people did not move for two-three hours while she was singing. Here also she got a standing ovation at the Siri Fort Auditorium. Her voice still has the soul stirring quality and maintains the constant tunefulness, but the wavering laya at times needed little bit of `mehmaan nawazi' by tabla of Mithlesh Kumar Jha.
She is really happy with the recent friendly communications between the two governments and the reciprocal exchange of artists between the two countries. Totally satisfied with all that Almighty has bequeathed on her, she has no complaints from life. She may keep smiling and humming for many more years, we pray.
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