Geet kab sarhadein mante hain, Geet duniya ko ek jaante hai (When do songs recognise any borders, for songs all the world is one) ran a number from the album Sarhadein in which legendary ghazal singer Mehdi Hassan of Pakistan and India’s Lata Mangeshkar sang a duet in 2010. Howsoever bitter may be the official relations between the two neighbours, music has transcended borders and contributed immensely to people-to-people relations. Mehdi Hassan, who passed away in Karachi on Wednesday had fans spread across India while India’s ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh’s passing away last year had touched a similar emotional chord in Pakistan. Said a tweet on Wednesday: ‘It seems gods have taken a sudden liking to ghazals’. Born in Luna village in Rajasthan, Mehdi Hassan migrated to Pakistan at the time of Partition but his concerts always featured Kesariya Balam, the timeless Rajasthani ode to the vastness of the desert.
Indeed, Hassan globalised ghazal. His lyrics came from both sides of the border and their composers were not Muslims alone. While he once brought out an album of ghazals written by Ganesh Bihari ‘Tarz’ from Uttar Pradesh, he emotionally announced to an Indian audience that Pakistanis and Indians had equal rights over his ghazals. It was small wonder then that he inspired many Indian ghazal singers. The roots of his music lay in the ancient Indian tradition of dhrupad. His admirers rightly point out that while he moved from dhrupad to thumri to ghazal and even to film music he retained the purity of the medium until the end.
With two legendary ghazal singers — Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh — now gone, there can be little doubt that the curtain is coming down on the dhrupad-style of ghazal gayaki in the subcontinent. Wasifuddin Dagar, of the famed Dagar family, is one of the few upholders of the tradition today. However, whatever be its form the ghazal must survive and be nurtured.