RMIM Archive Article "313".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
#
# RMIM Archives..
#
# Subject: Master Ghulam Haider
# Author: Saeed Malik
# Source: The Nation Midweek (Pakistan)
# Contact: Khawaja Naveed Aslam (knaslam@paknet1.ptc.pk)
#
=============
--------------------------------------------------
The legendary Master Ghulam Haider
by
Saeed Malik
for The Nation, Midweek (Pakistan)
--------------------------------------------------
The use of the word genius has in the past been
resorted to so indiscreetly and indiscriminately
that in many cases its true meaning and import
were lost. It has, therefore, become so subverted
that now it lacks the emphasis and definition that
is inherent in it. I have used this word spar-
ingly. Only on rare occasions do I use this
adjective while writing about musicians. Now, I
have an opportunity to do so for someone who, in
his lifetime, amply deserved this approbation. And
in doing so, I am paying a long overdue tribute to
the memory of a celebrated melodist whose match-
less skill in composition had been the envy of
members of his fraternity during the decade of the
40s.
His was a fascinating chapter in the greatest
legend in the Sub-continental film music. He was
the late Master Ghulam Haider, who stormed showbiz
during the period of 1935 and 1953. On November
13, 1953, he departed for his home in the ethereal
world, after greatly enriching film music.
There was much in common between Khurshid Anwar
and Master Ghulam Haider, the two Pakistani com-
posers whose contributions to the refinement of
film music won them wide public acclaim and pro-
fessional recognition.
- Both worked for films at Lahore and Bombay,
and their careers ended in Lahore after the
partition of India due to their demises.
- Both used, as an ingredient, Punjabi folk
music while mellismatically weaving the
fabrics of their compositions.
- Both scored music for 28 films each (KA in 42
years and GH in 18 years), movies produced in
Lahore and Bombay.
- Both were stylish composers and their songs
were almost immediately recognisable on first
hearing. In terms of creativeness and
craftsmanship their compositions were rated
equally high.
- Both were original composers, who did not
borrow from the styles of other inventors of
tunes.
- Both were trendsetters whose styles of compo-
sition became the envy of their contem-
poraries.
Few composers of film music in the Sub-continent
had such an eventful, almost tumultuous career,
and commanded so much respect and so vast a fol-
lowing, as the late Master Ghulam Haider (1906-
1953). He overwhelmed the filmworld with his
extremely enchanting melodies for Gul Bakauli (a
Punjabi film produced in Lahore during the year
1938) which created an all-time record at popular-
ity and success at the box office.
With that success, and those of his subsequent
popular movies namely Yamla Jat, Chaudhry, Khan-
daan, Khazanchi, Poonji and Zamindar, all produced
by Dilsukh M Pancholi from Lahore before August
14, 1947, Master Ghulam Haider rose to such
unparalleled heights in fame as were not touched
by any of his contemporaries, including such mas-
ters as Anil Biswas and R C Boral from Calcutta,
Master Jhandey Khan at Bombay, and Pundit Amar
Nath from Lahore.
Some of his earlier melodies, which senior Pakis-
tanis still fondly remember with a great deal of
nostalgia, are
1. Mera salam lay jaa
(a naat by Shamshad Begum)
2. Kankaan deeaan faslaan pakkian nain (Yamla Jat)
(Singer: Shamshad Begum)
3. Bus bus way dholanaan (Chaudhry)
(Singer: Nur Jehan)
4. Mere liye jehan mein,
chain na qarar hai (Khandaan)
(Singer: Nur Jehan)
5. Too kaun see badli mein meray chaand (Khandaan)
(Singer: Nur Jehan)
6. Deevali phir aa gayee Sajni (Khazanchi)
(Singer: Shamshad Begum)
7. Sawan kay nazarain hain (Khazanchi)
(Singer: Shamshad Begum)
8. Duniyaan mein ghariboan ko
aaraam naheen milta (Zamindar)
and many other songs which, for want of space,
cannot be enumerated in this piece.
There were three distinct phases in Ghulam
Haider's career -
- his association with theatre as a young
harmonium player
- his job as a composer with gramophone
recording companies
- and his attachment with the film world as
a composer.
During the late twenties and early thirties, he
worked for theatre and the gramophone recording
companies. From 1935 to 1953, he worked for film
industry, first in Lahore, then in Bombay and
again at Lahore. In 1944, he went to Bombay and
created a sensation when he demanded Rs 50,000
(Composer Naushad Ali so wrote in his autobiogra-
phy) as his remuneration for scoring music for
Mehbub Khan's historical movie Humayun. He
remained in Bombay for over four years.
The last phase of his career also began at Lahore,
where he returned in 1949, and composed melodies
for a few films, including his own productions
Bayqarar and Mundri, and also for director Imtiaz
Ali Taj's Gulnaar, whose songs became uproariously
popular. Bachpan ki yaadgaro and Sakhi re naheen
aiye reached the lips of millions in the Sub-
continent.
Gifted artists are born and are destined to leave
indelible imprints on the annals of music. Very
early in his career, Master Ghulam Haider won
recognition for being a bright star emerging on
the melodic firmament of the Sub-continent. From
his first composition for a gramophone recording
company to his last in the film Gulnaar (both
recorded at Lahore), his scores were characterised
by an inimitable style which impressed many a
music buff and composer.
A melodist with a rich background of folk and
classical music, he had highly individualistic
feelings for music. His treatment of melodies had
a greater significance than the tunes themselves.
The romantic feelings and poetic fire of some of
his later works were tinged with modern orchestral
arrangements which he learnt from Western orches-
tration after the electronic revolution. His com-
positions were marked by full-blooded melodies,
strong rhythmic impulses, both within clearly
defined classical structures. Because of his
strong personality, he preferred self-expression
to excessive innovation.
Film music keeps on growing and refining. From an
almost unrecognisable status in the early 1930s,
it has, during the past 60 years, developed into
one of the most powerful forms of artistic expres-
sion and emotional communication. Full of the
feeling of unrestrained expansion, it has
stretched far across the geographic, ethnic and
political boundaries, touching all those individu-
als who were willing and able to listen to its
message, and enriching their lives with a kind of
music that is both powerful and tender, happy and
melancholic, relaxing and exciting. If music
could be described in a language, there would be
no need for it. But in trying to pursue the style
of a composer, we may come closer to a common
understanding of his art and its meaning. The
style is the composer's personality come to frui-
tion; it is what distinguishes him from all oth-
ers, like a face or a way of speaking. Leading
composers always had styles of their own - their
songs were more often than not recognisable
immediately as theirs, and not of other composers.
Their imitators as well as their competitors could
not duplicate all the hallmarks and characteris-
tics which went into the making of their distinct
styles. For instance, the most striking feature of
Master Ghulam Haider's compositions was their
decoration with short melodic phrases and in their
rhythmic drives. Moreover, his style was also
subtler and far more elusive to trap in words.
Still a Ghulam Haider composition was almost
always recognisable, even to the untrained ears.
It had a feel, a sound that was uncommon and dis-
tinct. His melodies were enduringly fresh. The
melodic rhythm in his compositions were, perhaps,
the strongest point -- a direct and simple motif
developed through small variations into a long and
tantalising phrase.
Few composers could open new vistas of sound as
did the late Master Ghulam Haider. He combined
tonalities, rhythms, meters and melodic notes in
such a manner as had perhaps never before been
joined for artistic ends.
He introduced a number of playback singers in the
film industry. He discovered Shamshad Begum, whose
voice he used in his films produced in Lahore
before partition of India, and also for a number
of movies produced in Bombay from 1944 to 1948.
Credit also goes to the late Masterji for intro-
ducing Lata Mangeshkar in Urdu films. Not only did
he record several female songs of film Majboor in
her voice, but also used her vocals in other
films.
During the early days of film-making, actors-
actresses, directors, music directors, musicians
and all other persons connected with movie produc-
tions, were employed by the studio owners, who
invariably were producers of films as well. Master
Ghulam was on the payroll of Pancholi Art Studios,
Lahore, drawing a salary of Rs 250 per month;
indeed a handsome salary about the mid-30s. Finan-
cially well taken care of, the late Masterji (as
he was known in those days) did not have to worry
about his mundane needs, and therefore, could
devote his entire attention and energies to the
art of composition.
According to poet Nazim Panipati, who has had a
long stint with the late composer, Master Ghulam
Haider joined the Jieno Phone Recording Company
(then located at Bakhshi Market, Anarkali, Lahore)
in 1932 as a composer. His contemporaries were
Pandit Amar Nath, G A Chishti and Master Jhandhey
Khan. Famous vocalists of that era, Umrao Zia
Begum, (whom he married later) and Shamshad Begum,
who captivated the Indian silver screen in the
decade of the 40s, were a part of the singing
talent available to the composers of that period.
Soon his compositions recorded in the voices of
these crooners became popular as a result of which
sales of gramophone discs soared high.
Master Ghulam Haider had a peculiar style and dis-
cipline for creating new compositions. Poet Pani-
pati disclosed that the late maestro would take at
least four days in composing a tune, which was
rehearsed at least for a week in the presence of
his able assistants, Bhai Lal Muhammad Sabri (Har-
monium), Fateh Ali Khan (Sitar) and Master Manzur
Hussain (Tabla). Often, Master Sohni Khan (clar-
inettist) joined him at the early stages of a com-
position.
Once the mukhra (first stanza) of a particular
song was composed, the rest of the job became
relatively easy for Masterji. A minimum period of
two weeks was spent in composing, rehearsing and
recording a song.... so strong was his sense of
perfection and so great was his respect for the
members of his team and orchestra. Octogenarian
Habib Khan Ghauri who served in the orchestra of
Master Ghulam Haider as a sitar-player in Bombay
and Lahore corroborated the statement of poet
Nazim Panipati.
Master Ghulam Haider scored music for the first
time in the film Sawarg ki Seerhi (starring Umrao
Zia Begum and Khadim Hussain) which was followed
by his second venture named Majnu 1935, in which
actor Harold Lewis, commonly known as Majnu in the
filmworld, enacted the leading role. Both these
films were produced in Lahore. His last film was
Gulnaar, which was released in the year 1953 and
which, too, was produced in Lahore after the divi-
sion of the Indian Sub-continent.
Born, bred and raised at Hyderabad (Sindh), Master
Ghulam Haider in his youth assisted his dental-
technologist father for a short period. (His
father belonged to the Rubabi clan of musicians,
but had adopted dentistry as his profession). Soon
the late Masterji felt that he was not cut out for
that kind of profession, and after the death of
his father, he moved to the Punjab, first to
Amritsar (where the Rubabi musicians were concen-
trated) and later to Lahore.
Music was in the blood of Ghulam Haider as he was
born in a family of professional musicians. How-
ever, formally he learnt the art from one Beebay
Khan and later acquired it from wherever he could
get it. When he was able to play harmonium with a
certain degree of perfection, he worked for
several theatrical groups, who used to tour the
Punjabi hinterland during those days. It was there
that he learnt many sub-genres of folk melodies
which he later skilfully used in his film composi-
tions.
The late Master Ghulam Haider was an extraordi-
narily alert, eagerly curious and keen observer of
as well as participant in musical experiences. It
was this searching, restless involvement in the
life around him which explains a fact that occa-
sionally has been overlooked.... the remarkable
range of his compositions and vast canvas for his
melodic expressions.
The stark, almost unbearably tender "Too kaun see
badli mein meray chaand" (Nur Jehan in "Khaan-
daan"); the buoyant sophistification of "Nainaan
bhar aiyee neer" (Shamshad Begum in "Humayun") and
the spare, open sadness of "Ek tera sahara"
(Shamshad Begum in "Shamaa") are clear pointers to
this trait of the late Masterji.
His last film, Gulnaar, contained several songs
which served as a befitting finale to his dis-
tinguished career that began in Lahore and ended
in the same city, after covering a period of 18
years. He died on November 13, 1953, but not
before creating a high enough place for himself in
the hierarchy of composers in the Sub-continent,
leaving behind a rich treasure of music for the
enjoyment of posterity.
Today, forty-four years after the demise of the
great composer, his songs still retain their lilt-
ing charm and captivating sonic influence. Though
he avoided systems or avant-garde innovations, the
late Masterji consistently produced music with a
modern sound and a thoroughly contemporary spirit.
His compositions were invented with consummate
skill and compelling melodic logic.
It is a pity that no individual or organisation
(to the best of my knowledge) in Pakistan has
catalogued Masterji's compositions which could be
marketed commercially in audio cassettes. It would
be a great service to the cause of music, and a
befitting tribute to the late composer, if an
enterprising individual or a commercial gramophone
company, ventured to collect the most popular, if
not all, songs of the late maestro and made
cassettes of these for the education and enlight-
enment of the present generation of music buffs
and musicians.
--------------------------------------------------
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian