Begum Akhtar--Golden Collection
irfan moinuddin
list of good Begum Akhtar albums. I finally got a chance to go through
my cassette collection and I found four cassettes that, together, form
the Golden Collection of Ghazal Queen Begum Akhtar (by HMV). I can't
place a number of other cassettes that I possess. I'll keep rmim posted
when I find them.
I must say that Begum Akhtar's voice is just heavenly and her talent for
singing ghazals to classical music is just celestially amazingly meaningfully
astounding! CAUTION: Begum Akhtar is profundity, meaning, intellect,
and art in its rawest, purest, and most potent form. There is no modern
music, no idiotic vocal maneuvres to disguise the powerful and pointed
thoughts expressed in the ghazals. So, those who are afraid of being
hurt by the pointed sword of raw meaning and those who need modern beats
and other "pop-music"-accoutrements to enjoy poetry may want to get
a taste of Begum Akhtar before purchasing any of her albums.
The following is a list of ghazals, along with some stats, that are
sung by Begum Akhtar in the Ghazal Queen's Golden Collection, distributed
by HMV.
Cassette 1:
Side A:
Aaie mohabbat tere anjam pe
lyric- Shakeel Badayuni
Ab chalakte hue sagar
lyric- Ali Ahmad Jaleeli
Diwana banana hai tu
music- Khayyam
lyric- Shakeel Badayuni
Mere humnafas mere humnava
music- Khayyam
lyric- Shakeel Badayuni
Aah ko chahiye ek umr asr hone tak
lyric- Ghalib (Traditional)
Side B:
Ulti hogayin sab tadbiren
music- Khayyam
lyric- Mir Taqi Mir (Traditional)
Woh jo ham mein tum mein qarar tha
music- Khayyam
lyric- Momin
Laila majnun ki misalon pe hansin aati hai
music- Khayyam
lyric- Sudarshan Fakir
Zikr us parivash ka
lyric- Ghalib (Traditional)
Cassette 2:
Side A:
Ibn-e-maryam hua kare koi
music- Khayyam
lyric- Ghalib (Traditional)
Kuch to duniya ki inayat ne
lyric- Sudarshan Fakir
Ab to yahi hai dil ki duaein
lyric- Taskin Quraishi
Uzr aane mein bhi hai
music- Khayyam
lyric- Dagh (Traditional)
Side B:
Ishq mein ghairat-e-jazbaat
music- Khayyam
lyric- Sudarshan Fakir
(Compare BA to Chitra Singh's rendition of this ghazal.
There is no comparison! BA is simply amazing.)
Jab bhi nazm-e-maikada badla gaya
music- Murli Manohar Swaroop
lyric- Fana Nizami Kanpuri
Mere Naseeb jab mujhse
music- Murli Manohar Swaroop
lyric- Shaz Tamkanat
Dayam pada hua tere dar par nain hoon main
lyric- Ghalib (Traditional)
Cassette 3:
Side A:
Na Socha Na Samjha
lyric- Mir Taqi Mir
Dil ki baat kai nahin jati
lyric- Mir Taqi Mir
Mere chehre se gham aashkara nahin
music- Murli Manohar Swaroop
lyric- Fana Nizami Kanpuri
Koi ummeed bhar nahin aati
lyric- Ghalib (Traditional)
Laae hayat aae khaza
music- Khayyam
lyric- Zauq
Dil hi to hai na sang-o-khisht
lyric- Ghalib
Side B:
Kis se poochein
lyric- Taskeen Qureishi
Zindagi ka dard lekar
lyric- Shakeel Badayuni
Taskeen ko hum na roain
Ghalib (Traditional)
Unki berukhi mein
music- Murli Manohar Swaroop
lyric- Amir Qezelbash
Sham-e-firaq ab na pooch
lyric- Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Cassette 4:
Side A:
Sar mein sauda bhi nahin
music- Murli Manohar Swaroop
lyric- Firakh Gorakhpuri
Itna to zindagi mein
lyric- Kaifi Azmi
Bujhi hui shama ka dhuan
lyric- Jigar Muradabadi
Duniya ke sitam yaad
lyric- Jigar Muradabadi
Phir mujhe deeda-e-tar yaad aaya
lyric- Ghalib (Traditional)
Side B:
Rah-e-aashiqi ke maare
lyric- Yahya Jaspenwala
Khush ho ke
music- Khayyam
lyric- Shakeel Badayuni
Door hai manzil rahen mushqil
music- Khayyam
lyric- Shakeel Badayuni
Dard minnat kash-e-dawa na hua
lyric- Ghalib (Traditional)
I hope I didn't make any spelling errors.
If anyone wants the "lyrics" to these poems, make
yourself heard. I am more than willing to provide
all the lines to all the poems listed. Also,
feel free to ask questions.
Also, if any of you have other BA albums,
please add to this list.
So, all intellectual and interested ghazal-lovers, go out there
and buy Begum Akhtar's albums and, if you already have them, then
immerse yourself in the profound potency of her fan (not the english fan,
but the urdu fan = art).
Questions/Comments/Criticisms/Flames/Awards/Praise/Adulation are welcome!
Irfan, A sakht-chilka wala, hard-core fan, admirer, and diwana of Begum Akhtar!
U.V. Ravindra
> A loooooooooooong time ago, I had promised rmim that I would
> provide a list of good Begum Akhtar albums. I finally got a
> chance to go through my cassette collection and I found four
> cassettes that, together, form the Golden Collection of Ghazal
> Queen Begum Akhtar (by HMV). I can't place a number of other
> cassettes that I possess. I'll keep rmim posted when I find
> them.
aadaab, Irfanbhai:
I've been waiting for this article from you, and my be_taabee had
increased after you had posted your "Vacation's Over" waala article.
Just a small clarification with respect to the cassette collwction
that you are referring to here: is it a four-cassette album, or a set
of four different, independent cassettes, which forms the Golden
Collection of Begum Akhtar? What are the cassette accession numbers
et cetera. Will be very grateful if you could post them.
> I must say that Begum Akhtar's voice is just heavenly and her
> talent for singing ghazals to classical music is just
> celestially amazingly meaningfully astounding! CAUTION: Begum
> Akhtar is profundity, meaning, intellect, and art in its
> rawest, purest, and most potent form. There is no modern
> music, no idiotic vocal maneuvres to disguise the powerful and
> pointed thoughts expressed in the ghazals. So, those who are
> afraid of being hurt by the pointed sword of raw meaning and
> those who need modern beats and other "pop-music"-accoutrements
> to enjoy poetry may want to get a taste of Begum Akhtar before
> purchasing any of her albums.
Superlative description of Begum Akhtar's voice, Irfan, but I'd like
to add that Begum Sahiba's voice has the power to attract
GHazal-lovers to itself like the proverbial parvaanas to the shamaa.
I'd say that she is the embodiment of GHazal in its purest and most
unadulterated form. Begum Sahiba is not a GHazal singer, no! She is
GHazal itself!
> The following is a list of ghazals, along with some stats, that
> are sung by Begum Akhtar in the Ghazal Queen's Golden
> Collection, distributed by HMV.
[*snip*] <ListOfSongs from Begum Akhtar's Golden Collection deleted>
> So, all intellectual and interested ghazal-lovers, go out there
> and buy Begum Akhtar's albums and, if you already have them,
> then immerse yourself in the profound potency of her fan (not
> the english fan, but the urdu fan = art).
It's unlikely that anyone who has heard even a single GHazal sung by
Begum Akhtar can remain untouched by the power of her renditions.
Irfan's post heralds the time for all Mehdi Hasan and Ghulam Ali fans
to listen to Begum Sahiba and increase their GHazal appreciation
level.
> Questions/Comments/Criticisms/Flames/Awards/Praise/Adulation
> are welcome!
But for the fact that I've to rush for a meeting with my manager now,
I'd have gone on to praise Begum Sabhiba more. I've got to quit now,
but not before praising Irfan Saheb for posting this wonderful
article.
> Irfan, A sakht-chilka wala, hard-core fan, admirer, and diwana
> of Begum Akhtar!
Ravindra.
Begum Akhtar was GHazal personified!
--
irfan moinuddin
U.V. Ravindra <uvr@tata_elxsi.soft.net> wrote:
>irfan moinuddin <moin@helix> writes:
>
>aadaab, Irfanbhai:
adaab janaab Ravindra Sahib!
>
>I've been waiting for this article from you, and my be_taabee had
>increased after you had posted your "Vacation's Over" waala article.
>Just a small clarification with respect to the cassette collwction
>that you are referring to here: is it a four-cassette album, or a set
>of four different, independent cassettes, which forms the Golden
>Collection of Begum Akhtar? What are the cassette accession numbers
>et cetera. Will be very grateful if you could post them.
>
I bought it as a four-cassette album and the cassette numbers are
exactly as I had numbered them in the previous post.
If I had forgotten to attach numbers to the cassettes, I'm pretty
sure I listed the ghazals in numerological order, i.e. cassette one
first etc. I don't know if the four cassettes are sold individually
as well but it would make commercial sense to allow individual sales.
>
>Superlative description of Begum Akhtar's voice, Irfan, but I'd like
>to add that Begum Sahiba's voice has the power to attract
>GHazal-lovers to itself like the proverbial parvaanas to the shamaa.
>I'd say that she is the embodiment of GHazal in its purest and most
>unadulterated form. Begum Sahiba is not a GHazal singer, no! She is
>GHazal itself!
>
Waah! You took the sweet words right out of my mouth!
>
>But for the fact that I've to rush for a meeting with my manager now,
>I'd have gone on to praise Begum Sabhiba more. I've got to quit now,
>but not before praising Irfan Saheb for posting this wonderful
>article.
>
Thank you, Bhaisahib. You're too kind! :-)
>
>Ravindra.
> Begum Akhtar was GHazal personified!
>--
Or was Ghazal Begum Akhtar personified?? Did I go a bit too far? :-)
Irfan
--
Ashrat-e-parah-dil zakhm-e-tamannah khana
Lazzat-e-resh-e-jigar gharkh-e-namakdaan hona
Ashrat-e-qatlgah-e-ahl-e-tamannah mat pooch
Eid-e-nazarah hai shamshir ka aryaan hona Ghalib
Pintu Diwana
moinuddin) writes:
>>Ravindra.
>> Begum Akhtar was GHazal personified!
>>--
>
> Or was Ghazal Begum Akhtar personified?? Did I go a bit too far?
What Kalidas said of Parvati's beauty: (apart from all the other stuff)
Her looks were innocent and so deadly
Could never solve, I failed very badly
Was the doe her adept teacher
Or did she teach the poor creature?
-- Kumarsambhavam (1:46) (Translation: ShashiKant Joshi)
Is _this_ the kind of dilemma you guys are in?? :-)
--
-- Pintu Diwana (the name is snough!)
Sanjay Garg
: A loooooooooooong time ago, I had promised rmim that I would provide a
: my cassette collection and I found four cassettes that, together, form
: the Golden Collection of Ghazal Queen Begum Akhtar (by HMV). I can't
: place a number of other cassettes that I possess. I'll keep rmim posted
: when I find them.
Recently i purchased a double cassette set by Begum Akhtar. Its HMV's
Rare Gem series. It has some Ghazals and non-ghazal compositions.
Sound quality is absolutely horrifying and as usual HMV has metioned
in the corner something about preserving the bad quality for the
sake of nostalgia. I wish somebody posts the lyrics of the ghazals
(from the 4-cassette 'Golden collection' set and 2-cassette 'Rare Gem' set)
along with meaning of difficult words.
Sanjay