Death anniversary of legendary Pakistani playback singer Ahmed Rushdi is being observed on Tuesday.
The renowned singer of sub-continent started his career from Radio Pakistan and went on to record the highest number of film songs in the history of Pakistani cinema in Urdu, English, Punjabi, Bengali, Sindhi and Gujarati languages
He was a versatile and important contributor to the Golden Age of Pakistani film music.
Rushdi is acclaimed as one of the greatest singers ever lived in South Asia and could sing high tenor notes with ease.
He is best known for his distinctive, melodious, powerful voice, complex and dark emotional expressions which led many critics to state his voice as the greatest and most distinctive they had ever heard.
Born in Hyderabad Deccan, he migrated to Pakistan and became a leading singer in the Pakistan film industry.
He is considered as one of the most versatile vocalists of South Asia and was capable of singing variety of songs. He is also considered to be the first regular pop singer of South Asia and credited as havaing sung the “first-ever South Asian” pop song, “Ko-Ko-Korina in the film Armaan.”
In 1954, he recorded the official National anthem of Pakistan with several other singers.
Rushdi has recorded the highest number of film songs in the history of Pakistani cinema in Urdu, English, Punjabi, Bengali, Sindhi and Gujarati languages and found unprecedented success as a playback artist from the mid-1950s to early 1980s.
He was also famous for his stage performance which had a mesmerising effect on the audience.
He suffered from poor health during the latter part of his life and died of a heart attack at the age of 48, after recording approximately five thousand film songs for 583 released films.
Besides popular music, Rushdi also helped popularise the ghazals of Naseer Turabi.[13] He was awarded five Nigar Awards, the “Best Singer Of The Millennium” title, “Life Time Achievement Award”, “Legend Award” and Lux Style Award.
In 2003, 20 years after his death, Pakistani President at that time Pervez Musharraf awarded him the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, the “star of excellence,” an honour given for distinguished merit in the fields of literature, arts, sports, medicine, or science.
A street in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi, has also been named as Ahmed Rushdi Road.
He is the only deceased Pakistani singer, who according to the survey of Asian Women Magazine conducted in 2016, is declared as a darling singer of all time.
He died at the age of 48 on April 11, 1983.