Her voice is one of the most beautiful I have ever heard. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing some of her hit songs, always looking for more.
Artists like Naheed Akhtar, Runa Laila and Nayyara Noor put bathroom singers like Hadeeqa Kiyani, Komal Rizvi, Humara Chunni, Irum Hassan, Shahida minni, Shazia Manzoor (oh God I detest her voice) and the rest of their kind in their rightful place.
The inimitable Nayyara Noor
Nayyara’s God-gifted voice, has a range that is quite difficult to scale
By Muhammad Naveed Ahmed
The lilt and charm in her satin-like haunting voice first struck my ears in 1974, as Tera Saaya Jahaan Bhi Hou Sajna Palkein Bichaa Doon, thanks to Radio Pakistan. I have never considered myself to be a master critic in the science of music analysis. All that I knew about songs and ‘ragas’, ‘geets’ and ‘ghazals’, ‘thumris’ and ‘thumkas’ came to me through my mother and father. My first introduction to a song was the sweet and soothing lullaby Aai Aai Raat Suhaani, Sunn Le Khushi Ki Kahaani sung by my mother after tucking all of us - my brother and my sisters and me - into bed way back in time…during those unforgettable ‘tiny tot’ years.
‘Videsh Vibhag’ Programme aired all those songs that are now treasured as rare classics of Urdu-Hindi film music of the subcontinent. What made the programme unique was the fact that it always ended with one of Saigal’s songs. And Sou Jaa Rajkumari… was really something that made me sit up and write down its lyrics as the melodious and mellifluous velvety voice of Saigal dealt so neatly with the musical finesse of Pankaj Malick’s beautiful composition in a manner the equal of which I have yet to hear.
Well, coming back to the singer who takes us to a sonorous delightful world, a world where dreams become reality and wishes float around like fairies, with her Tera Saaya Jahaan Bhi Hou Sajnan… I could not place her at first. Was she Runa Laila? No, because Runa Laila had already left for Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) a year or two before 1974. Could it be Mala? No, because Mala’s voice was close to Asha Bhonsle’s and the late Geeta Dutt’s (Indian singer and wife of famous actor, the late Guru Dutt).
Ah, I thought! I was quite sure that I had figured it out! She was Shehnaz Begum (Another Bengali-Urdu singer famous for her Sohni Dharti Allah Rakhe… song). I had heard Shehnaz Begum’s moving Kis Ke Liye Fiza Ko Sajaati Hai Chandni… aired by Radio Pakistan and was so touched by its pathos that I recorded it on the audiocassette and listen to it on moonlit nights even in these turbulent times.
However, the next time that Tera Saaya… was relayed on the radio, I was informed that a new singer whose name was Nayyara Noor sang it and the tune was composed by Nashad for the super-hit Urdu film Bano Rani. I rushed for my audiocassette recorder and recorded that song as much as I could. I listened to it again and again…and again. The soaring heights that Nayyara Noor was taking us in complete harmony with the tune was a sublime flight…especially when we come to the lines: Tu Jou Pukare Sajnaan, Mein Bunn Patang Chali Aaoon…
It was terrific indeed. Nobody is likely to miss Runa Laila’s voice now I told myself. In fact Nayyara Noor was proving to be somewhat different and original the more one listened to her Tera Saaya… rendition.
Before my ears had come across Tera Saaya…, I thought Naheed Akhtar’s Aise Mausam Mein Chup Kyun Hou… as the best among the new breed of female singers and songs. But on comparing Tera Saaya… with Aisey Mausam Mein I felt that Nayyara was a better and superior singer.
It does not, in any way, imply that Naheed Akhtar has not sung her first super-hit song properly. So far as M. Ashraf, the composer of Aisey Mausam Mein is concerned and so far as Naheed’s rendition of his tune is concerned both are rapturous. Naheed, beyond doubt, has put her heart and soul, nay, her whole being in capturing the romantic essence of the Spring season and the romanticism of young lovers in Aisey Mausam Mein… and nobody can steal the credit of that song’s popularity from her.
Nevertheless, Nayyara Noor carved a niche of her own and regaled fans and maestros alike when she sang the unforgettable Iss Parcham Ke Saaye Talle Humm Aik Hain. It is a song that has been sung quite uniquely and no other singer (male or female) including Waris Beg has been able to come even that close to Nayyara’s rendition even though we have heard many versions. The secret of its inimitability lies in Nayyara’s God-gifted voice, which has a range that is quite difficult to scale by everybody.
Recalling a South Indian legend of the Malabar State of Kerala named Susila I have always found that Nayyara proves herself as good as Susila if one happens to understand and compare the Malayalam songs with Nayyara’s. Similarly, the ‘Tamilian Nightingale’ Urvashi possesses the same range, lilt, pitch and tenor which Nayyara and Susila have.
For instance here I would put Phool Ban Jaoon Gee Mein, Shama Kehlaongi Mein… sung by Nayyara Noor to Nashad’s music in the 1970s Pakistani film Qismat on par with the Tamilian ‘Katril Ingam Geetham’ (My song searches for you O my beloved); composed so movingly by Illaya Raja and sung so touchingly by Urvashi of Chennai (Madras).
Moving up further, to our part of the world, i.e. North India, I would like to place ‘Aaj Gham Hai Tou Kya, Woh Din Bhi Zaroor Aaey Gaa’ of Nayyara’s on the same level as that of Lata’s ‘Naa Milta Gham Tou Barbadi Ke Afsaane Kahaan Jaate’ and ‘Le Jaa Meri Duaayen’ composed by Naushad Ali for ‘Amar’ and ‘Deedar’.
Nayyara came at a time when the departure of Runa Laila and Shehnaz Begum from Pakistan created a sort of ‘blank’ in the filmdom of Lahore. However, the gap was soon filled in by Naheed Akhtar with her Aise Mausam Mein Chup Kyun Hou in the film Shama and with Mehnaz’s Kuch Bolo Naa in the movie Roushni. What completed the ‘Runa-like’ sonorous appeal came to be known when Nayyara sang Tera Saaya… and Iss Parcham Ke Saaye Talle Humm Aik Hain… Now, I assessed, there was no need for music aficionados to feel the absence of Runa or Shehnaz. Because, in my opinion, as long as Nayyara Noor sings, Pakistanis will listen to her and enjoy her unique blending of melody and range.
Then Nayyara Noor shook the musical scene with her rendition of Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s poetry. She also sang Hafeez Jallandhari and Nasir Kazmi and other famous Urdu poets, with her incomparable voice striking a chord of indescribable pathos amalgamated with that special tinge of humming melancholia, which happens to be the ‘signature’ of legendary crooners. The ghazals of Faiz, Jallandhari, Kazmi and other eminent Urdu poets are still available to us in LP/audio-cassette and CD formats. The songs and ghazals are still as unique even though almost three decades have passed.
It is no wonder if the legendary Pakistani actress Shabnam and her musician husband Robin Ghosh describe Nayyara’s voice as the “most suitable” for Shabnam. Perhaps that is why there is that special touch found in Tera Saaya… and other songs that were picturised on Shabnam.
Then another record was created when Nayyara Noor sang the semi-classical songs of the 1940s hit Tansen in which Saigal and Khurshid have played the main roles. While Nayyara, pays glowing tributes to Saigal and New Theatres Company quite humbly accepting that neither she or anybody else, man or woman, could ever sing any song of Saigal in exactly the way that the great Saigal sang. “And that includes the simple Gham Diye Mustaqil and Mere Sapnon ki Rani: Roohi, Roohi, Roohi,” asserts Nayyara, while trying to present her own versions of Khurshid’s Ghata Ghanghor-ghor Mour Machaey Shour, Barsou Re, Kaale Badalawa, Barsou and Nainon Se Naina Mila Ke. Her efforts were very much appreciated by late actress and singer Khurshid (who plays the role of Tansen’s beloved ‘Taani’ in the old movie). The legendary heroine of yore is reported to have said in a TV interview that, “Nayyara Noor has lent a freshness that is unique in the songs I sang decades ago.”
This is a truth that cannot be denied. The ‘magical’ resonance that fills our souls and surroundings with its captivating exuberance in Kabhi Humm Khoobsurat Thhey… sung by Nayyara for the PTV serial Teesra Kinara are the last word in background singing. This genre of film singing was introduced in the late 1930s and '40s by Calcutta’s maestros R.C. Boral, Pankaj Malick and Bombay’s (Mumbai) Khem Chand Prakash and the Burmans. It has been adopted as ‘vocal themes’ in famous films like Jawab, Devdas (K.L. Saigal’s), Andaz, Mela (Dilip & Nargis) and Raj Kapoor’s Awara.
Even now, in the age of hip-hop and ‘J-Lo’ class of when fast paced and somewhat meaningless tunes are being sung, the sweetness and fragrance exuded by Nayyara Noor’s songs manage to retain their originality and freshness. For instance – just to find out whether what is being claimed by me here in this column is true or false – purchase/borrow a CD or audio-cassette or LP (if you still own a radiogram or record player) and poise your mood and mind, heart and soul for a singular session of soothing music. The lilting and romantic echoes fill our very beings and the air all around in the form of songs:
Tera Saaya, Phool Bunn Jaoon Gi Mein, Aaj Gham Hai Tou Kya, Kabhi Humm Khoobsurat Thhey, Rung Barsaat Ne Bhare Kuch Tou, Roothe Hou Tum, Tum Ko Kaise Manaoon Piya, Aye Jazba-e-dil Gar Mein Chahoon, Unka Ishaara Jaan Se Pyaara and Aye Ishq Hamein Barbaad Naa Karr and other songs - all will be proof enough of the fact that Nayyara Noor stands head and shoulders above her contemporaries and imitators - who knows, as the last of the originals?