Pathanay Khan was apolitical but he felt completely at
home with our group which mostly comprised left-wing activists
and idealists of all sorts.
At that time he sang mostly kafian
khawaja ghulam farid and a few verses from bulleh shah. Since
the group was mostly fascinated with the great poet Shah
Hussain, Pathanay Khan picked some kafian and included them in
his singing.
Mela Charaghan used to be Lahore’s major
annual event but Shah Hussain had been forgotten as a major
poet of classical Punjabi tradition. Only a couple of his
kafis sung by Hamid Ali Baila like Mai ni kahnoon akhan were
popular. The rehabilitation of Shah Hussain poetical stature
was initiated by Majlis Shah Hussain, a group formed by the
major Punjabi writers of that period. The Rut Rekha group
played its small role in this regard and was greatly helped
when Pathanay khan started singing Kafian Shah
Hussain.
Pathanay Khan was invited to sing for PTV
frequently but was not invited by most music patrons of Lahore
or elsewhere in central Punjab. It was much later that the
music loving Lawyer Raza Kazmi did some beautiful recordings
of Pathanay khan. Anyhow, once introduced by Mushtaque Sufi on
TV, his fame spread quickly. I don’t know if it was true or
not but it was widely rumored late Z.A. Bhutto was very fond
of his kafi Mera ishq Vi toon te Imam bhi toon and used to
invite him to hear it. Pathanay Khan never spoke much about
it. As a matter of fact he was never in the habit of dropping
names of his rich patrons and was always happy and content
with groups like ours which was or chose to be penniless. It
is another matter that pathanay khan still demanded his quota
of Gold leaf and offered it to the whole Sangat around him. By
the time he left Lahore, I would have used up my salary of
several coming months. But, a few months salary of a lecturer
was nothing in comparison to what Pathanay Khan was giving to
our group.
Khan’s reverence for khawaja Ghulam Farid
was absolute. Khawaja Farid was everything for him and he
derived all his spiritual strength from him. I have rarely
seen a singer who can understand and render poetry as good as
Pathanay Khan rendered Khawaja’s for the audience. His reading
style was so clear and popularly punctuated that even a
non-Saraiki speaker could follow the text and meanings of most
words. It remains the best kept secret that pathanay khan sung
much better when he was unaccompanied by tabla. His earlier
recordings at Aslam Ranjha’s place were recorded only with the
harmonium. In my opinion he was at his best in those
recordings.
Najm Shahji also did some recordings of
him in those early days – for some, the best of Pathanay Khan.
Unfortunately, most people have heard commercial recordings in
which pathanay khan is hampered by the intrusion and mumbo
jumbo of all kinds of instruments. The only acceptation and
acceptable recording with instruments was by Raza
Kazmi.
Depending on his mood, pathanay khan
would sing the same kafi in different ragas. However, unlike
other famous singers he would never brag or mention that he
was changing the raga for a particular kafi. It naturally flew
from his heart and he remained oblivious to the
technicalities, the perfection of his own techniques not
withstanding.
Pathanay Khan learned music from Amir
Khan, a local musician who was a descendant (a nephew perhaps)
of Ustad Ashiq Ali khan. He was not trained as a classical
musician and learned musical techniques during his singing at
mela gatherings. His singing absorbed the essence of masses,
their aspiration and miseries. Nonetheless, Pathanay Khan had
a great desire to sing a classical raga and tried to convince
Ustad Chote Ghalam Ali Khan to teach him.
Ustad Chote Ghulam Ali Khan used to come
daily to teach Samina Hussain Syed, Nnajm Hussain’s wife, one
of the best emerging voices in classical singing. Chote Ghulam
Khan smiled at his request and changes the subject. However,
when Pathanay persisted, late Ustad told him that he was an
Ustad in his own right, in his own style, and did not need to
get into a new venture. Supposedly, Ustad knew that it was too
late to initiate Pathanay Khan into pure classical music – he
was already in late forties or early fifties.
Pathanay Khan introduced many great but
unknown poets of saraiki belt through their dhoras that
appeared as a preamble to kafis.
A dohra sung frequently by Pathanay Khan
was not written by Khawaja Farid but was sung in his name. The
first lines of this dhora are: a mahi mat lag asadi toon tan
waich majhian ghin gain. Majhian mildian kahin kahin walay,
gain mildian sanjh sabhahin (o my love follow my advice. Sell
all buffalos and buy cows one can milk buffalos rarely while
cows can be milked more often).
The diction never appeared even close to
Khawaja Farid’s. Therefore, I asked Pathanay Khan, “Who would
have been the author of this dohra?” He tried to wriggle out
of this but on my pressing he smilingly concedes that it was
his own poetry. He had some other dohras, which were his own
creation but sung in Khawaja Farid’s name.
Pathanay Khan gave his own deeper meaning
to Khawaja Sahib’s poetry in his typical style and sprit of
singing. For example, Khawaja Farid’s Kafi Piloo Pakian ni way
has been sung by Surraiya Multanikar, Hussain Bakhsh Dhadhi
and many others. However, Surraiya Multanikar’s composition
presents it as a beautiful, light folk song while Hussain
Bakhsh Dhadhi presents it as a unique classical piece
embellished by his tans in a typical Ashiq Ali Khan style.
However it is Pathanay Khan’s singing of the same Kafi that
gives it a deeper meaning.
Pathanay Kahn elevated Kafi to a much
higher level than his predecessors. He embodied his own unique
style in singing and in personal relationship. Many of us will
always treasure our association with him. Whenever Rohi
blossoms, Pathanay Khan will smile through those desert
flowers – he himself was one of the greatest flowers of
Rohi.
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