Har mulaqat ka anjaam judaai kyun haiAb toh har bar yehi baat satati hai humein....
When Talat Aziz sang this ghazal way back in 1982 for Umrao Jaan, he resonated a bitter-sweet truth in Khayyam’s memorable composition. And innumerable seasons later, the rendition continues to echo. Because longing is inseparable from love as the heart from its beat... That’s perhaps also the reason, why the ghazal, as an art form has its connoisseurs. “Urdu as a written language may be dying but not as a spoken idiom. I continue to hold concerts in metros like Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai... and even remote areas like Pathankot, Kesariya in Bihar, Diu in Saurashtra. If you give the listeners the right thing they come,” says Talat.
He does concede that young ghazal singers in India are facing a tough time. “Unfortunately, they don’t have many albums to their credit. They don’t have a repertoire from which to sing at concerts,” he says. “This is my 37th year as a singer.
I have around 780 albums so far,” he says quickly adding, “But quantity doesn’t matter, quality does.”
The singer was excited when he got a chance to compose the soundtrack for Dream Merchant Films’ recently released film Majaz. “The film was based on legendary poet Asrar ul Haq Majaz – popularly known as Majaz Lakhnawi. The film hinges on his unrequited love story and his subsequent alcoholism and devastation,” he says of the revolutionary poet. Not many know that Majaz was Javed Akhtar’s maternal uncle. Among a host of ghazals in the film, Talat enjoyed composing Majaz’s iconic Aye gham-e-dil kya karoon, which was earlier set to tune by the legendary Sardar Malik for Thokar (1953). Albeit Talat afforded his own spin to it. The album also includes the Aligarh Mulsim Universtity (AMU) anthem... Yeh mera chaman. It was written by Majaz, an alumnus of the university.
Ghazal ka safar
Born in Hyderabad, to Abdul Azeem Khan and Sajida Abid, a famous Urdu writer and poet, the tehzeeb and the ethos of the language comes easily to Talat. “Hence
I could do justice to the film on Majaz. There’s a flow, a beher, a musicality in his poetry, which I could grasp and render. Like the late Nida saab (Fazli) would say, ‘Urdu zabaan ki ghulai, the blending of the language, was heard in Begum Akhtar, Mehdi Hasan saab and Jagjit Singhji... and now, in you. What he referred to was the accent, the nafasat (the refinement), the nazakat (the delicacy)’.”
He remembers the late Nida Fazli fondly. “Nida saab was a writer, thinker, teacher… he symbolised the Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb,” says he. Talat’s assoccaition with Nida Fazli dates back to many years. In fact, the iconic ghazal Apni marzi se kahan apne safar ke hum hain from Ravi Rai’s TV serial Sailaab (1995), was written by Nida Fazli. Interestingly, it was composed by Talat and sung by the late Jagjit Singh. “When
I asked Jagjitji to sing it, he said, ‘Tujhe mera sur toh pata hai na (you know my pitch)? Sing the pilot and send the track to me’,” narrates Talat. On the day of the recording, when Talat reached the studio with Nida Fazli, Jagjit was already there. “Jagjitji said, ‘Since I came early, I dubbed it. If you like it, keep it or I can redo it’. In fact, he had added his own andaz. I also sing Apni marzi se at concerts but it’s never the same,” says Talat with humility.
Talat’s association with Jagjit dates back to the ’70s. The maestro composed the singer’s debut album Jagjit Singh Presents Talat Aziz (1979). “I asked him to retain Kaise sukoon paaon, my favourite ghazal in it,” he recalls his bestselling album and the only one that Jagjit composed for any singer. Since then Talat has recorded several albums including Images, Lehren, Ehsaas, Suroor, Manzil, Storms and Khushnuma.
My ustaad Mehdi Hasan
The singer, who earlier trained from the Kirana Gharana, considers himself fortunate to have honed his art from none other than the Shahenshah of ghazal, the late Mehdi Hasan. “I met Mehdi saab in 1977 in Toronto at somebody’s home. The image still lingers… he was having paan from the paandaan. Supari kaat rahe the,” he reminisces. “I was in jeans and t- shirt. Somebody asked me to sing. I sang but he didn’t react at all. I slunk out,” smiles Talat who was 21 then. “Few days later, I attended a mehfil where he sang Gulon mein rang bhare. During the break he said, ‘You have a good voice. But you need an ustaad. And an ustaad can only be someone whom you love, someone whom you follow. The next time I visit India, tum mujhse gandha (thread) bandhwalo and become my shagird (student).”
And come he did to India in the early ’80s. “The Times Of India carried Mehdi saab’s picture alighting from the aircraft. He was greeted by royalty. After a couple of days I received a call from him. ‘I’ve come to your country. Why didn’t you come to meet me? Come now!’ he ordered,” shares Talat. “I went to meet him and he tied the gantha in an elaborate ceremony. He said, ‘Now, you’re part of my family. It’s my duty to share my knowledge’.”
Then on Talat travelled with his ustaad all over India. “In 1986, he took me to the US. The shows would be held during the weekends. During the week days he trained me from 11 am to night,” he states adding, “Mehdi saab composed my ghazal Kabhi toh aa meri nazar mein for the album Manzil.”
He recalls his last meetings with the maestro. “Before Mehdi saab suffered a stroke, he had come to Mumbai for my show. Suffering from arthritis, he was on wheel chair. He drove straight from the airport to the event. After that, we went for dinner at someone’s place. He was asked to sing but couldn’t. I sang Mirza Ghalib’s Dil e nadaan… and later he joined in. That was the last time I heard him sing.” He gives a glimpse of his ustaad’s genius by sharing what noted Pakistani singer, the late Salamat Ali Khan, once said about Mehdi Hasan. “Salamat saab put it like this, “Mehdi’s singing is such... woh samundar (ocean) ko kuze (small utensil) mein le aata hain (he expresses deep things with simplicity)’!” Talat shares the metaphor.
Foray in films
If that was in the classical arena, Talat enjoyed his detour even in the Hindi film industry. During the ‘80s, film music witnessed a ghazal boom and Talat got a chance to sing one for Umrao Jaan. “Khayyam saab rehearsed Zindagi jab bhi teri bazm mein… with me for 15 days. Those days we had live recordings with a host of musicians playing. It was pretty nerve-wracking. But it’s that feel, that rawness, which comes with live recording that made the ghazal eternal,” he explains.
The other hit ghazal he sang for Khayyam was Phir chiddhi raat phoolon ki for Bazaar. “It was the first time I was singing with Lataji (Mangeshkar). A 22-year- old boy, I was nervous rehearsing with the legend. I blurted out, ‘Lataji I’m nervous.’ She innocently asked, ‘Why, why? Aap toh achcha gaate hain! I’ve heard you singing Kaise sukoon paaon. Ek khilona toot gaya on Aarohi programme (DD),’ she said sweetly adding, ‘I also get nervous when I do stage shows’. Well, that was just her way of easing me,” he insists.
Another soulful number was from Mahesh Bhatt’s Daddy… Aaina mujhse meri pehli si soorat maange. “The lines from the ghazal Saste daamon mein har roz khuda bikte hain by Suraj Sanim had its origins in the ‘feet of clay’ idiom suggested by Bhatt saab. I still get claps when I sing this line,” says Talat adding that no concert of his is complete without the Aaina… finale. The romantic duet from Daddy – Kabhi khwab mein, which he sang with Dilraj Kaur, also has its admirers. But he picks the lorie (lullaby) from Daddy – Sapnon ki ghar ki as his favourite. “My first son Adnan was born then. He’d be on my lap as I’d sing it to him,” he smiles.
Talat’s foray in acting, courtesy Mahesh Bhatt’s Dhun, may not have made a mark but it gave him an opportunity to match vocals with ustaad Mehdi Hasan in the bhajan Main aatma tu Parmatma. Yes, he does wish he had done more playback singing but that doesn’t deter his optimism. The host of the recent radio show Carvaan-e-ghazal says, “There’s so much I can still do. There are so many avenues one can explore.” And when you spot the smile brimming in his eyes, a constant through the interview, you can’t help but agree.
His popular film tracks
Zindagi jab bhi teri bazm mein (Umrao Jaan, 1981)
Phir chhidi raat baat phoolon ki (Bazaar, 1982)
Tum se hi hai roshan raat meri (Lorie, 1984)
Aaina mujhse meri pehli si soorat maange (Daddy, 1989)
Main aatma tu parmaatma (Dhun, 1991)
Yeh zindagi ka safar (Gumraah, 1993)
Na kisi ki aankh ka (Shararat, 2002)
Saaz-e-dil naghma-e-jaan (Yatra, 2007)
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