Music has always played an important role in the socio-cultural beat of the Indian sub-continent. Many singers, composers and instrumentalists of the land earned national and international repute, highlighting strong emotional attachment of artistes with music. The Indian film industry has been a luxuriant field for singers and musicians.
It has produced highly exceptional singers who have left long-lasting impact on the minds of new singers in such a way that the new generation of singers and musicians has been dubbed as the inspired versions of the master singers. However, Talat Mahmood is an exceptional example of an unmatched singer who, even though has had great impact on the minds of the new breed of singers, was so unique that it has been almost impossible to copy his style.
Mahmood was a thorough gentleman and a divergent singer with an unmatched voice, who was, perhaps, the last representative of pure Indian music. He was born on February 24, 1924 in Lucknow. He showed an extraordinary interest in music from a young age and had to leave his conservative Muslim family, which discouraged singing, to pursue his dream of becoming a professional singer.
Mahmood was cultured, sensitive and refined, who painted through his singing a picture of a man of emotions. His voice had a soothing element. Trained in classical style, his presence was strongly felt throughout the art and commercial cinema. There was a time when he was the sole ghazal singer on the Indian music scene. He simultaneously sang for both Indian films and private recording companies. He did not simply follow his craze of singing; he took it serious and became a regular student of classical music.
When he was just 16, he began his career with singing ghazals of master poets like Mirza Daag Dehalvi and Mir Taqi Mir. Mahmood’s songs bear the mark of excellence and distinctive feelings of the age. His voice in the song ‘Aye Mere Dil Kahin Aur Chal’ showed a quite different feeling of pain and hopelessness. These feelings of pain and distress were quite different from Mukesh’s sad voice or Rafi’s distinctive style.
The great music composer of Indian films, SD Burman, gave Mahmood the most memorable songs like ‘Jaayen Tou Jaayen Kahaan’ and ‘Jalte Hain Jiske Liye’. These timeless songs were not only super hits in that era, but even today have an inimitable impact on its listeners. ‘Dil-e-Nadan Tujhe Hua Kya Hai’ was a fine example of his aptitude for ghazal singing. When Madan Mohan and he teamed up, they rendered remarkable and melodious numbers like ‘Humse Aaya Na Gaya’ and ‘Phir Wohi Shaam, Wohi Gham’.
Nashad who had migrated from the Indian film industry to Pakistani also worked with Mahmood while composing ‘Tasveer Banaata Hoon’. Nashad had once remarked in an interview about his experience of working with Mahmood as one of the most memorable moments of his life. He only sang standard literary poetry by great film poets like Majrooh Sultanpuri, Sahir Ludhianvi, Shailendra and Shakeel Badayuni. This displayed that he could distinguish well between literary and mediocre poetry.
Mahmood was a handsome man, so he also attracted movie producers to cast him in their films as an actor. His acting career comprised over a dozen films with top actresses of the time, such as Nutan, Mala Sinha and Suraiya. However, he did not show much interest in an acting career. In 1960, due to the decline in the public’s interest in listening to pure Indian music, Mahmood came down like a falling star. As refined and poetical lyrics were replaced with meaningless, vulgar phrases and as soft, melodious tunes were taken over by noisy, West-inspired compositions, the public’s ears lost sense of good music and a legend was lost in the noise of the time.
Art became a source of making money. Mahmood continued singing, but his work was confined to ghazals. His early artistic death forced music lovers to question if balancing commercialism and art could accommodate moral values, social traditions, creativity and sensitivity. Mahmood died on May 9, 1998 at the age of 74 in Mumbai, India. He would remain in the hearts of music lovers who would never again be able to enjoy the songs of a great singer like him.
Great Job.
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