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Reply to "25 SONGS BY MEHDI HASSAN:"

 

25 SONGS BY MEHDI HASSAN:

 

By Ustad Ghulam Haider Khan

In 1963, a concert was held in the lawns of the Lahore radio station. A man called Mehdi Hasan was scheduled to perform the last item of the evening, just before the night transmission ended. In appearance the young man was high-browed and plump-lipped and had a soulful gaze. At last he began to sing his ghazal (it was ‘Aya meri mehfil mein gharat gharey hosh aya&rsquo, and it was so mellifluous and heart-stopping that it mesmerized not only the audience but the radio staff as well. Eventually someone had to point out that we had gone 10 minutes past 11 pm, which is when the transmission was supposed to end. Presently Azizur Rehman (the radio announcer) closed the night’s proceedings with a short declaration, and this was followed by the national anthem. But the audience remained sitting and Mehdi Hassan went on singing until they were satiated.

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