Boy with golden voice - Master Madan
uday
The boy with the golden voice
By Khalid Hasan
Anyone with even a passing interest in music is familiar with the two Saghar
Nizami ghazals sung by that extraordinary child prodigy, Master Madan, who
died some years before independence. He was not yet fifteen.
The two ghazals which have retained their magic after more than sixty-five
years are 'Yoon ha reh reh ke hummain tarpaiyay' and 'Hairat se tak raha hai
jahan-e-wafe mujhay'. One listens and marvels at the perfectly modulated
voice of this child who, had he lived, would have flowered into one of the
great maestros of the subcontinent's music.
What made the listening of the two ghazals that he left us even more
poignant was the thought that he did not leave us with more.
Well, there is good news and the good news is that Master Madan recorded six
more songs which he rendered just as beautifully as the two that have kept
us captivated with their haunting quality all these years.
This great discovery, I hasten to add, is entirely to the credit of my
friend and classmate, M. Rafiq, who has lived in England for over thirty
years, each one of which he has spent - besides teaching English - in
collecting the most detailed and meticulously researched information on the
subcontinent's cinema and its music. Some months ago, we began to correspond
about Master Madan and the great pity of his having left the world of music
with no more than two recordings. I even checked with Saeed Malik in Lahore,
whose knowledge of music and musicians few, if any, in Pakistan can equal.
He too confirmed that Master Madan had left only two recordings.
But Rafiq was not satisfied. His curiosity had been aroused. He spent the
next couple of months digging everywhere and one day he hit paydirt. He
discovered six of Master Madan's recordings that nobody ever knew existed. I
have them on tape and a copy is now on its way to Saeed Malik for his
opinion and listening pleasure.
Master Madan was born on 28 December 1927 in village Khankhana, built by
Emperor Akbar's courtier Adbul Rahim Khankhana, in District Jullunder. His
father, Sardar Amar Singh, was employed at the Ministry of Education and
Health in New Delhi (he died on 13 December 1981). His mother Puran Devi
died soon after Master Madan death on 5 June 1942. His elder brother, Master
Mohan, was musically gifted and his elder sister, Shanti Devi, is alive and
well in Rana Pratap Road, Delhi. Mohan's daughter, Ravinder Kaur who never
married and his son, Jaspal Singh Pali, both live at New Bootale Building,
Lower Bazar, Simla, where the family has resided for nearly eighty years.
Some time ago, H.M.V. (India) brought out 'Ghazal Safar', a set of 10 audio
cassettes which included the two well-known Master Madan ghazals. The set
was introduced by music director Gulzar and ghazal singer Jagjit Singh, both
highly knowledgeable experts. They said that Master Madan died at the age of
13 and that the music for the two ghazals was composed by the Master
himself. In both details they were wrong: he died at the age of 14 years, 5
months and 11 days and the music for the two ghazals, recorded in 1934, when
Master Madan was just over seven years of age, was scored by Pandit
Amarnath, later of the 'Mirza Sahiban' (1947) fame. Pandit Amarnath used his
own harmonium, while the tabla was played by Hiralal and the violin by
Master Mohan, Madan's elder brother. The poet, of course, was Saghar Nizami.
Ravinder Kaur and Jaspal Singh Pali both believe that their uncle Master
Madan never made any other recording except the two ghazals. H.M.V. also say
the same thing and their catalogues of those years make no mention of any
other recording by Master Madan.
All of them are wrong. The little master made three more records, two at
H.M.V. and one under the Twin label. Rafiq traced and acquired these records
and explains why no one knows about them. Master Madan, born in an orthodox
Sikh family, was a Bal Yogi or child ascetic, something that he took from
his mother. He always carried on his person Guru Nanak's portrait, wrapped
in silk, a rosary and the Guru Granth Sahib. To this day, all three are
preserved in Bootale Building, Simla, by his aunt. The Granth Sahib bears
Master Madan's signatures in Urdu.
Master Madan began to perform as early as the age of two or three and
quickly became a craze all over India. His astonishingly mature voice left a
deep impression on the more devout of the Sikhs who urged him to sing some
'shabds' and some Punjabi songs. H.M.V. was approached but did not think it
made any commercial sense.
Finally, some of his Sikh admirers financed three private recordings, two
'shabds', two Punjabi songs and two light classical items. The few copies
made were distributed privately. The recordings never came to public notice
because they were never released. Rafiq obtained the recordings from the
descendents of the families that had sponsored them.
'Listeners' Bulletin, a newsletter produced periodically in the last 30
years in Kanpur for private circulation, is to Indian music and film news
what 'Wisden' is to cricket. In its last issue, it said that Master Madan
had made three more records but no one could be sure since the records were
nowhere in existence. Well, they were and they have been found.How did
Master Madan start out?
His elder brother not only sang but played the violin as well. At the time,
K L Saigal, who was working for the Remington Typewriter Company, was also
in Simla. Often he would bring his harmonium to New Bootale Building and the
two would have long singing sessions. Madan, who was about two at the time
lived with his brother and was always present on these occasions.
After a few months, he began to sing. It was a rare gift and it is hard to
believe that a mere child could have such a cultured, perfectly modulated
voice with an uncanny sense of 'sur' and 'taal'. Before long, Master Madan's
fame spread all over India and he began to perform in public. In 1940, when
Mahatma Gandhi came to Simla, few people turned up at his meeting because
most of them had gone to a Master Madan concert. The young singing sensation
was a particular favourite of the rulers of Indian states who conferred many
medals on him which he invariably wore at his performances.
He was always on the road and the family was thrilled because he was being
showered with money and presents. But this took its toll. Because of the
great strain under which the young boy lived and worked, his health began to
fail. He would complain of exhaustion and he was always running a low fever.
Sadly, he was provided no proper medical attention, and when, eventually, he
was taken for an examination, he was found to be terminal. The diagnosis was
a slow poison that had wasted away his vital organs. The doctors said they
could do nothing for him. There were no antibiotics in those days.
The boy genius with the immortal voice died in Simla on 5 June 1942, several
months short of his 15th birthday. He was cremated wearing all his medals.
There were many rumours as to the cause of death. One rumour went that one
time when he was performing in Ambala, the local singing girls had invited
him to their 'kotha' and doctored his 'paan'. Another said that at the radio
station in Delhi he was given mercury in his drink by a jealous performer.
Yet another rumour was that in Calcutta after a sensational concert at which
he sang 'Vinti suno meri Avadhpur ke basayya', a thumri in raag Bagehswari,
someone gave him a slow-acting poison in his drink. It was noticed, in
retrospect, that he never recovered his voice after that particular
performance. There was even some mention of K.L. Saigal.
However, the fact is that it was the greed of the family that killed Master
Madan, exactly in the same way as the greed of the family killed another
legendary singer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, exactly 55 years later in 1997.
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anyone got the 3 other recordings or anycontact for Mr Rafiq?
Uday
Sudhir
# TAE 1399, publised in 1967. The other side of this EP has
the two ghazals by Habib Wali Mohd (Yeh Na Thi Hamarai Kismat and
Lagta Nahin Hai)
It is shame that someone had to wait for 30 long years, before discovering
the two songs of Master Madan, and that too by recommendations from
Gulzar and Jagjit Singh.
To get your hands on the subject two songs, you borrow, beg or steal.
Sudhir
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> The boy with the golden voice
>
>
>
>
> By Khalid Hasan
>
>
> Anyone with even a passing interest in music is familiar with the two Saghar
> Nizami ghazals sung by that extraordinary child prodigy, Master Madan, who
> died some years before independence. He was not yet fifteen.
>
>