Art has no borders! 12 Pakistani singers who’ve won a million Indian hearts

8 years ago

Image courtesy: www.shughal.com

It’s no strange fact to anybody that artists from all backgrounds are kept on a pedestal in India and they enjoy an enviable clout for their talent and contributions. India, since olden times has been a patron of arts, be it of any kind and artists have always occupied a dear place in people’s hearts. Art has no borders and this has been the practise for centuries. In the field of music too this holds true.

We take this opportunity to look at some of the many great singers from Pakistan, who have showed with their contributions to music, not just that art is beyond borders, but that they have passionate well-wishers from India, who would continue to cherish their music, forever.

1. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan

This Hindustani melody from the classic movie Mughal-e-Azam is a master piece of the great singer. He famously believed that if one child in every house had been taught Hindustani music, partition wouldn’t have happened.

2. Mehdi Hassan Khan

The King of Ghazal, with this song, set an immortal chord with the audiences which still remains close to their hearts. He is Jagjith Singh’s inspiration and no wonder why.

3. Farida Khanum

The 80 year old recently rendered her most loved song Aaj Jaane ki Zid Na Karo in Coke Studio and won hearts all over again. Here is the original:

4. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

He is given credit for introducing the Qawwali genre to international audiences. Do you remember this nostalgic piece from the 90s that stirred a lot of our first sweet romantic crushes?!

5. Ghulam Ali

Listening to this Ghazal from Aawargi, probably Shiv Sena will now understand why we say melody has no borders. He was the disciple of the legendary singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan with whom he is even now confused.

6. Reshma

Her voice still continues to inspire thousands. Director Subhash Ghai made Reshma sing one of her all time hits Lambi Judai in his film Hero. This song today features at the top of sad songs of all times.

7. Abida Parveen

This is one of her most well-known pieces, that went on to become a trendy song sung by many singers in different Bollywood movies. But who better than Abidaji to sing it? She was also awarded the 2nd hightest civilian award of Pakistan, the Hilal-e-Imtiaz.

8. Salma Agha

This song from Nikaah features Salma’s hauntingly husky voice and herself , in one of her numbered roles. A British singer of Indo-Pak origin, Salma won the a Filmfare award for this song.

9. Rashid Khan

He was Bhimsen Joshi’s only hope “for the future of Indian vocal music”. Ustad Rashid Khan’s song from the hit movie Jab We Met became a cult song among melodies in the recent past.

10. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

Nephew of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, this versatile singer rose to fame in Bollywood with the soulful song Lagan Lagi Tumse Man Ki Lagan from the movie Paap. He is deservedly known as Shahenshah-e-Qawwali, which means ‘The King of Kings of Qawwali’ !

11. Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan

Lead vocalist of the Pakistani rock band Fuzon, this singer charmed Indian music lovers with this brilliant song from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. His song Dildaara from Ra.One got him a nomination at the Filmfare awards.

12. Atif Aslam

Pehli Nazar from Race is what made Atif Aslam’s career in India and after that he went on to render many popular songs becoming a favorite of the masses. Atif has also sung a few songs for Hollywood, including a song in the Reluctant Fundamentalist.

As a character in the movie Step Up 2 rightly said ” Its not about where you are from, its about what you got”. These singers have enthralled us for ages and the least we can do is acknowledge that they belong beyond boundaries created by man, elevated by art to lofty heights.