Talat Mahmood- Remembering the King of Ghazals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA66m0gBFxM

He is still known as the King of Ghazals and has immortalized number of songs in Hindi cinema by giving his voice. Talat Mahmood died on May 9th, 1998 but till date reigns over the heart of many ghazal lovers.

Mahmood was born in Lucknow in a Muslim family and went against his parents to choose his career in the field of music. Mahmood started his career as a ghazal singer in Lucknow but it was Calcutta city (now known as Kolkata) which refined his career as a ghazal singer. In Calcutta he was soon noticed by Bengali film industry after he sung the  tasveer teri dil mera behela nah sake gi, a non-film song. He then sang a lot of Bengali songs under the assumed name of ‘Tapankumar.’ Mahmood was known for his distinct voice quality with some sort of wavering texture in it. Some of his Bengali hits include Du’ti paakhi du’ti teere, Ei rimjhimjhim barosha, Chander eto aalo, etc.

Later he moved to Mumbai and was offered to sing in lot of movies. Music director Anil Biswas noticed him was impressed with his voice quality. In fact, when Mahmood tried to bring in change in the style of his singing, Biswas insisted him to sing with in his original style. The distinct texture of Mahmood’s voice was the beauty of his songs and made him stood out of the crowd. Ae dil mujhe aisi jagha le chal jahan koi na ho composed by Anil Biswas from the movie Arzoo became a very popular song of Mahmood. Aansoo samajh ke kyon mujhe- (Chhaya), Aha rim jhim ke ye pyare pyare geet liye- (Usne kaha tha), Sham-E-Gham ki qassam- (Foothpath), Jalte hain jiske liye- (Sujata), Meri yaad me tum na- (Madhosh),Phir wohi sham wohi gam- (Jahan Aara), Aye mere dil kahin aur chal- (Daag), are only few in the long list of songs sung by him.

Not only singing, but Mahmood appeared as an actor in many Hindi and Bengali movies. He was the first singer to travel abroad for music concerts where he faced a huge fan following. He continues to be admired by ghazal lovers and his songs continues to create magic to the ears of the listeners.