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Nayyara Noor
Nayyara Noor was born in 1950 in Assam. Her family was a merchant class hailing from Amritsar who had settled in Guwahati in Assam State in the North-Eastern India. Her father was an active member of the Muslim League and in 1958, the family moved to Pakistan. As a child, Nayyara is said to have been inspired by the bhajans of Kanan Devi and Kamla as well as the ghazals and thumris of Begum Akhtar.
Nayyara Noor is a Pakistani playback singer who is also considered one of the South Asia's foremost exponents in the Ghazal genre.
Nayyara became a singer by chance. What happened was that in the early seventies, she was doing a course with a diploma granted at completion in textile designing from the national college of arts. At that time colleges and universities regularly held all Pakistan contests in various subjects, in which she often participated and won prizes, as well. A little later, she introduced herself to the relevant people in the Pakistan television. In those days, Rafiq Waraij had been affiliated with an entertainment program. He had heard about Nayyara's talents and decided to give her an opportunity to sing. Besides, in the mid-seventies, Nayyara had recorded a lot of geeth and ghazals for Arshad Mehmud for Pakistan television's 'such gup' and 'taal matol'. Moreover, during those days, she was fond of listening to Begum Akhtar's (Nayyara is inspired by Begum Akhtar) ghazals in old fashioned r m p gramophone record players (audio cassette players were not common then) which further enhanced her aptitude in music. Further, in college days, she was accustomed to singing ghazals, which had been originally recorded in Begum Akhtar's voice and Nayyara gained a lot of popularity. In Nayyara's own words: 'Ghazal leaves a profound impact on the listener. The effect is rapid and lasting'.
Although Nayyara had no formal musical background nor formal training, she was discovered by Professor Israr at the Islamia College in Lahore after hearing her sing for her friends and teachers at an annual dinner at the National College of Arts in Lahore in 1968. Soon thereafter she was asked to sing for the university's Radio Pakistan programs.
In 1971, Nayyara made her public singing debut in Pakistani television serials and then beginning with films like Gharana and Tansen. She has since sung ghazals penned by the likes of Ghalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz and has performed with legends like Mehdi Hassan and Ahmed Rushdi. She has won three gold medals in the All Pakistan Music Conference and a Nigar Award for best female singer. She has since performed at countless mehfils and mushairas having cemented a following among ghazal lovers in Pakistan and India.Her probably the most famous ghazal was ae jazba e dil gar mai chhon, written by Behzad Lakhnavi 1900-1974, a poet, script writer and song writer of radio Pakistan, for which she won many rewards. Behazad Lakhnavi is buried in Sakhi Hasan. This is the place which was allotted by the government for the memories of Behzad Lakhnavi. He was born in Lucknow, India.
Let us look at some all time great ghazals recorded in her voice:
'Rang barsaat nay bharay kuchh tou' (poet: Nasir Kazmi: Nayyara's favorite poet)
'Phir sawan ruth ki pawan chali' (poet: Nasir kazmi)
'Aye ishq hamay barbaad na kar':(Nazm, poet: Akhtar Shirani, composer: Khalil Ahmed)
Furthermore, Nayyara believes that Ibn-e-Insha's ghazals carry a unique pathos:
'Jal tou jalao gori' (poet: Ibn-e-Insha)
National songs in Nayyara's voice:
'Watan ki mitti gawah rehna' is widely listened from Karachi to Khyber.
During her long singing career, she has sung ghazals, geeth, nazm and national songs. Sober and shy, she has always maintained her high singing standards from the beginning. She has also recorded hundreds of songs for the Pakistani films.
From romantic scores like:
'Tera saya jahan bhi ho sajna (film: 'Gharana', lyrics: Kaleem Usmani)
'Too he bata,pagli pawan (film: 'Phool meray gulshan ka')
'Itna bhi na chaho mujhay' (film: 'Parda na uthao')
'Roothay ho tum, tum ko kaisay mana oon piya' (film: 'Aa'ena', lyrics: Kaleem Usmani, music: Robin Ghosh)
to tragic numbers like:
'Aaj gham hai tou kiya'(film:'Mastana')
'Toot gaya sapna'(film:'Subha ka tara')
Nayyara's versatile voice touches the hearts of her myriad of fans in Pakistan and across the borders alike. For her, fame is the word. Some of her super hit songs are listed here below:
'Boal ri gurya boal' (film: 'Aas', lyrics: Masroor Anwar)
'Ik ajnabi chehray'(film:'Baghi haseena')
'Mera pyar tumhe ho'(film: 'Farz aur mamta)
'Mausum tou diwana hai'(film: 'Dou saathi')
'Tera pyar bun kay Aaye' (film: 'Bhool')
Zara meri nabz deikh kar'(film: 'Ajnabi')
'Phool bun ja-oon gee' (film: 'Qismath')
'Kuchh loag mohabbat ka sila' (film: 'Gumrah')
Nayyara's innumerable admirers look forward to listening to her mellifluous voice for many years.
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