LAHORE: The 2nd death anniversary of Lollywood ghazal singer late Mehdi Hasan Khan will be observed on Friday.

In Lahore, a memorial reference will be held at Al-Hamra Art Center today.

Meanwhile, Lahore Arts Council will pay a musical tribute to the legend singer in a special evening on June 20 in which his son Arif Mehdi will perform.

Mehdi Hassan was born on 18 July 1927 in a village called Luna, Rajasthan in Jhunjhunu district in India into a family of traditional musicians.

He was awarded KL Saigal Sangeet Shehenshah Award by the Government of India.

He was honored with Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Pride of Performance and Hilal-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan.

In 1983, in the court of King Birendra he was awarded Gorkha Dakshina Bahu by the Government of Nepal.

He remained a leading singer of film industry along with Ahmed Rushdi.

The highest civilian honor of Pakistan is conferred on him- Nishan-e-Imtiaz

In 1957, Mehdi Hassan was given the opportunity to sing on Radio Pakistan, primarily as a thumri singer, which earned him recognition within the musical fraternity.

He had a passion for Urdu poetry, and therefore, he began to experiment by singing ghazals on a part-time basis. He cites radio officers Z.A. Bukhari and Rafiq Anwar as additional influences in his progression as a ghazal singer.

His first song was ‘Jis ne mere dil ko dard diya’ film Susral in 1962 and popular ghazal ‘Insha ji ab kooch karo is shar me dil ko lagna kia’ made him immortal. Later Lata Mangeshkar said compliments for him that “Bhagwan talks in his throat”.

In October 2010, HMV released ‘Sarhadein’ in which probably the first and last duet song ‘Tera Milana’ featuring Mehdi Hassan and Lata Mangeshkar was released.

Mehdi Hassan died on 13 June 2012 after a protracted illness, in a private hospital in Karachi.