MULTAN: Zubaida Khanum had a distinctive unique voice and she sang melodious songs on compositions of the renowned music directors of her time, said legendary singer Suraiya Multanikar.

She was talking to the APP in connection with Zubaida Khanum’s fifth death anniversary.

Eulogising the late singer further, Ms Multanikar termed her a loving lady with a very catchy voice who had never felt jealous of any of her contemporary singers.

“It was a herculean task to sing and earn a name during Madam Noor Jehan’s era and Zubaida Khanum was also a big name of Pakistani music industry,” she said

Suraiya Multanikar said Zubaida sang ever-green songs which were being sung by the singers even today. For becoming a good singer, strong breath is imperative and Zubaida was blessed with it, she added.

Some of the famous numbers sung by Zubaida Khanum include assan jaan kay meet lai akh way (Heer, 1955), meri chunni dian reshmi tandaan (Jatti, 1958), buray naseeb meray (Chooh Mantar, 1958), siyo ni mera dil dharkay (Sheikh Chilli, 1958), teri ulfat mein sanam (Sarfarsoh) and resham da lacha lak way.

Admiring Zubaida Khanum sweet voice, renowned musician from Multan, Ustad Sagheer, stated Zubaida had a ‘typical film voice’ and she had a command over both Punjabi and Urdu languages. She did playback singing more for Rasheed Attre and her songs in movies like Chan Mahi and Mukhra were big hits.

For Ishq-i-Laila, Zubaida recorded 17 songs which are all hit, said Ustad Sagheer who himself had been associated with music industry for the last 40 years.

The songs like kiya howa dil pay sitam and mera dil chana kach da khidona of film Mukhra could never be forgotten, he said and added that Zubaida, in her short span of eight years in music industry, had left indelible imprints on the history of Pakistani film music. Though she had not learnt music formally, she had no competitor in the industry, Ustad Sagheer informed and added that in the 1950s and 1960s Pakistan film industry had giants composers like Ghulam Ahmed Chishti, Rasheed Attre, Safdar Hussain, Khwaja Khurshid Anwar, Salim Iqbal and others.

Paying tributes to Zubaida Khanum, former director progammes Radio Pakistan Khursheed Malik said the late singer had sung numerous songs which were still popular among the music lovers.

“She had a unique style of singing which was easily recognisable due to her voice. She had sung for the Radio Pakistan Lahore during her childhood,” said Mr Malik.

It is worth mentioning here she sang a song at Radio Pakistan Lahore in a youth programme. After listening to the song, Rasheed Attre called her and made her sing for the film, Shehri Baboo. Zubaida Khanum was born in Amritsar in 1935 and died on Oct 19, 2013 in Lahore at 78.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2018