This April 3, Nazia Hassan would have turned 50. I first heard her sing around 1981 on Doordarshan. And I still remember vividly, the Pakistani teenager in school girl plaits, chewing her lower lip nervously as Tabassum interviewed her on Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan, India’s first celebrity talk show. She was asked to sing a few lines from the song that had made her an overnight sensation and was going to win her a Filmfare award and she hit a high note and stopped. Tabassum had said, “Aisa laga waqt ruk gaya!”
Aap Jaisa Koi, a sizzling dance number from Firoz Khan’s Qurbani had become a rage. Iconic singers like Noor Jehan had been a part of our shared legacy of music and Hindi film music was no stranger to western flavours but something unprecedented had happened with the collaboration between Nazia, Firoz Khan and Biddu.
Suddenly, a voice that sounded young was really young. Nazia’s voice had ocean salt and the twang of an acoustic guitar and the gentle fizz of soda pop. She suddenly became the alternate voice that sang of us and to our sense of youth. She became the face of the kind of music we had never heard before. And what a face it was. To say that we fell in love with Nazia not just for her voice but also because she looked like an angel would not be far fetched.
She had a soft-focus appeal. An aura of good breeding, refinement, elegance and authentic grace and yet that voice was so unaffectedly sensuous. She was unrepeatable and unique and remains an unequalled phenomenon because till date no one can sing Aap Jaisa Koi like her or look as utterly guileless as she did while singing it. In retrospect, she was also our window into Pakistan. Just like Ankahi and other serials which took us into Pakistani homes and showed us people just like us, Nazia too was the face of young Pakistan. Maybe even the face and the voice of all young Indians and Pakistanis growing up abroad and longing to sing their own kind of music.
Biddu channeled her voice into songs that caught the pulse of two nations who wanted to celebrate their roots but also wanted to show that their music was cool, international and could be played anywhere in the world. Biddu had worked with Jimmy James, Tina Charles and Carl Douglas and he and Nazia synergised to create music that was the soul and the sound of Asian pop. I still remember how young people queued up before HMV stores to buy Disco Deewane and this was before the time of marketing overkill and pre-packaged success stories. There were no music videos whetting our appetite. Nazia and Biddu by now were a brand that sold itself. And sell, it did.
Disco Deewane was the largest selling album in Asia and the first South Asian album, according to trivia, to strike gold in Brazil, Russia, South Africa and Indonesia. Nazia’s posters were collectibles and even the damp response to Biddu’s first attempt at film direction, could not stop people from loving the music of Star. Boom Boom till date, remains a classic that cannot be bettered by remixes. Young Tarang, her next collaboration with Zohaib and Biddu was a big hit too and though she recorded more albums and worked extensively in the Pakistan television industry, there was more to Nazia’s life than music. She went to law school and later worked with the UN.
Her personal life according to reports was not a happy one despite a marriage and a child. A sad, heart-breaking thing that because she was the poster girl of unselfconscious perfection. The kind of girl anyone could adore and cherish forever. The girl, the entire sub-continent was in love with. She had made so many people happy not just with her music but her work for assorted causes.
Her charity endeavours remained in news far after her music stopped and we in India always remembered her fondly. That is why it came as a shock when we learnt of her battle with lung cancer and her death at the age of 35 in 2000. It is with a niggling sense of loss that we still look back and see a young girl in denim overalls, a mike in hand, hair plaited childishly, singing in a voice that went beyond many borders, broke many walls, stereotypes and created memories that no one and nothing can replace.
Five Nazia classics you must hear again
Boom Boom (Star, 1982)
This Biddu classic never grows old for the simple reason that it was way ahead of its time and perhaps still is. Hear Bang Bang’s recent title track to know how this song still inspires composers with its zingy, electronic beats, its addictive melody and the singing..oh the singing. Listen to Nazia go, “mere seene ki dhadkan ko sun..meri sanson ko teri hi dhun..dil bole boom boom,” and you know no one till date can say ‘Dil’ or ‘Bole’ with a rolled ‘l’ like she did or bring so much depth to what was afterall just another Disco song.
Disco Deewane (1981)
Forget the nothingness Student of the Year ladled out, Disco Deewane was the real deal. It has been rehashed but never bettered because Nazia and Biddu were a match made in heaven and earthlings can’t match them.
Aap Jaisa Koi (Qurbani, 1980)
The club hit that still reminds you why Biddu was such a find. Guitar riffs, a rhythm faintly reminiscent of George McCrae’s mega hit Woman Take Me In Your Arms and Nazia steaming up the floor with her vocals. This is the big mama of all..well, we can’t say..item, but glamour-centric songs in Hindi songs.
Yeh Dil Tere Liye Hai (Star, 1982)
If Boom Boom was the show stopper in Star, Yeh Dil Tere Liye Hai was a sweet ballad, poignant like the voice singing it and free-spirited like a hammock swaying on a beach.
Mujhe Chahe (Disco Deewane, 1981)
And this song only because, you can't mention Nazia and not mention Zoheb, her brother. Though there was some discontent in Pakistan about whether a brother and sister could sing romantic sings together..these two were far too adored to face any real opposition and sing they did and with great synergy. This song is one of their best collaborations.