Renowned Pakistani singer Mehnaz Begum passes away

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Mehnaz Begum, the well known Pakistani classical singer, passed away in Bahrain en route to the United States. Local media reported that the singer had been suffering from respiratory problems and was heading to the US for treatment. According to reports, Mehnaz faced health deterioration during her flight to the US, following which she was transferred to a hospital in Bahrain, where she eventually passed away. Born in 1958, Mehnaz was the daughter of celebrated sub-continent singer Kajjan Begum, and sung a number of popular songs for films and television. She specialised in a variety of genres including ghazal, thumri, dadra, khayal, drupad and reciting salam, noha and marsiya. Mehnaz sung over 2500 songs for radio‚ TV‚ and films. Her most famous ghazals include “ab kay tajdeed-e-wafa ka nahi imkaan” and “mujhe dil se na bhulana” among a host of others. After Madam Noor Jehan‚ she sang the largest number of songs for the Pakistani film industry. Mehnaz was equally at ease in rendering semi-classical‚ folk or pop numbers in Urdu‚ Sindhi‚ Punjabi‚ Pashto‚ and Persian. Radio Pakistan’s former director general late Salim Gilani introduced Mehnaz for the first time on Radio Pakistan in 1973. Local and international artists and fans of classical music expressed grief over her demise and praised her contributions to Pakistani art and music.

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