On a starry summer night, the air filled with gentle melodies as gathered at the poolside of the Aga Khan University sports centre were senior diplomats, business tycoons and physicians celebrating the life and music of the late Melody Queen Noor Jehan.
According to Surgeon Muneer Amanullah the proceeds from the charity event would finance surgeries of children born with heart disorders (Noor Jehan herself suffered from heart ailment and its complications in the later part of her life).
Arshad Mehmood traced the musical footsteps of the nine-year-old Allah Wasai, from Kasur in rural Punjab to cosmopolitan Calcutta, where she was acknowledged as a child prodigy and named Baby Noor Jehan; and within a span of seven years she was cast as a heroine in director Shaukat Hussain Rizvi’s Khandan (1942).
Tu kaun si badli mein mere chand hai aaja sung by a 16-year-old Noor Jehan changed the very concept of Indian film music, and to give credence to Arshad’s narrative, veteran singer Mehnaz sang Master Ghulam Haider’s ever-refreshing composition from the film.
Video clips transported the audience to the Bombay of the ’40s, where Noor Jehan was crowned Melody Queen of British India at the age of 19. The success of Zeenat (1945) followed by Anmol Ghari (1946) and Jugnu (1947) saw Noor Jehan as the most celebrated singer-actress of India on the eve of Partition. The melodious magic of the era was re-created on stage by singers Muhammad Ali and Humaira Channa, who sang the Anmol Ghari duet Awaz de kahan hai, originally rendered by Surender Nath and Noor Jehan.
Well-researched clips produced by Mateen Mehmood then shifted the focus to post-Partition Lahore where Noor Jehan settled with her director husband Shaukat Hussain Rizvi and son Akber (father of actress/model Sonya Jehan). Humaira Channa’s rendition of the golden ditty, Tere mukhray da kala kala til ve from the film Chan Ve, was reminiscent of the resounding popularity of Pakistan’s first Noor Jehan starrer made in Lahore in 1951. This was followed by songs from other musical classics of the day, including Dupatta (1952), Anarkali (1958) and Koel (1959).
Following the success of the latter, Noor Jehan took to full-time playback singing with a vengeance. Here, Muhammad Ali and Humaira Channa sang the latter’s classical duet with Ustad Amanat Ali, Piya nahin aaye, from the film Darwaza (1962), followed by Mehnaz’ faithful rendition of the 1965 anthem, Ae watan kay sajeelay jawano.
The musical journey moved on through Heer Ranjha and Umrao Jaan Ada of the ’70s, the swinging and swaying Punjabi dance numbers of the ’80s and ’90s, culminating into the grand ghazal singing episodes of PTV’s Tarannum, (recorded in two sequels separated by a span of almost 10 years, between the early ’80s and early ’90s).
As Humaira Channa stood up to sing Ahmed Faraz’s ghazal, Silsilay torr gaya woh sabhi jaate jaate that Madam Noor Jehan had composed herself, the image of the Melody Queen in her fine silk sari and diamonds singing these immortal melodies with unmatched passion conjured up. She always made herself available whenever called for a noble cause — whether it was to boost the morale of soldiers fighting on the battlefront or a charity concert for Imran Khan’s cancer hospital.
Knowing her, Noor Jehan would have willingly agreed to sing for the young heart patients of the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi that night. But then I’m sure she was there in spirit.