my article on Nisar Bazmi published in Heritage mag

The maestro lives on
By Shanaz Ramzi


   Speak to any Pakistani movie buff who watched and enjoyed local
movies from the fifties right through to the late seventies, and they are sure to rave to you about the music of the time. And while praising the ditties they are just as likely to mention the name of maestro Nisar Bazmi, who was responsible for immortalizing many a song.
   Born in 1924 in India, Bazmi had no musical background, hailing from a conservative family, but harboured a keen interest in music, which was recognized by one of his teachers. He managed to convince his father to send him to Bombay to learn music, and there he caught the attention of the prominent musician, Khan Saheb Aman Ali Khan who taught him music. Just 13 at the time, Bazmi quickly mastered the various ragas and musical instruments, taking all music lessons to heart.
   Launching his musical career in Bombay in 1937-38 as a playback
singer, Bazmi began his illustrious career with singing a couple of
songs for a small-time comedian called Mannan who appeared in action
movies. Almost simultaneously, Bazmi also became a casual singer on AIR
(All India Radio), Bombay, where he was paid Rs 15 per programme –
regarded as a substantial enough remuneration in those days.
  It was at AIR that Bazmi came in contact with Dinkar Rao, its chief
music director and orchestra arranger, who was also an accomplished
flautist. Rao took an instant liking to the budding singer and at his
behest the young Bazmi joined AIR in 1940 as a permanent staff artiste
for the princely salary of Rs 150 a month. Here began Bazmi’s informal
training and he started learning orchestra arrangements and
compositional techniques from Rao, who willingly shared his knowledge
and experience with his pupil.
   In 1944, Bazmi got his first independent assignment when he was asked to compose music for a musical play, ‘Nadir Shah Durrani’ for AIR. All the songs of the play became hits. So impressed was a film producer when he heard them that he immediately signed Bazmi for his next film ‘Jamna Paar’ which was released in 1946. From then, till 1962 when Bazmi migrated to Pakistan, he had composed music for 28 released movies -- there was also a substantial number that was released after his migration. Although most of them were low-budget films, he had the opportunity to work with some big names of Bollywood such as Aasha Bhosle, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Anand Bakshi.
   However, it was after he came to Pakistan that Bazmi came into his own. The first film he recorded songs for was ‘Aisa Bhi Hota Hai’ produced by Fazal Ahmed Karim Fazli, who also wrote the songs for the film. Three songs of this movie, two of which were sung by Noor Jehan, one as a solo and the other as a duet with Ahmed Rushdi – ‘Ho tamana aur kya’ and ‘Mohabbat mein tere sar ki qasam aisa bhi hota hai’ respectively – became so popular even before the movie’s release that Bazmi was flooded with offers. The third song, ‘Tukra woh chand ka’ was sung by Ahmed Rushdi.
   Thanks to the hit songs of ‘Aisa Bhi Hota Hai’, he signed many movies including ‘Head Constable’ released in 1964 – prior to the release of ‘Aisa Bhi Hota Hai’ -- featuring some more hit songs. By now his credentials as a competent music director at ease in both composing and orchestrating songs – a rare quality in Pakistan in those days -- were firmly established. There was no looking back for Bazmi, and films after films went on scaling new heights, especially for his music.

   His musical score in movies like ‘Aadil’, ’Lakhon Mein Aik’ – all songs were hit including the Noor Jehan, Mujeeb Alam duet, ‘Saathi kahan ho’ – ‘Aag’, ‘Saiqa’, ‘Aasra’, ‘Jesay Jante Naheen’, ‘Andaleeb’ – all hit songs, especially ‘Kutch log rooth kar bhi crooned by Noor Jehan – ‘Shama Parwana’, ‘Anjuman’ -- all songs immensely popular – ’Tehzeeb’ – Noor Jehan’s ‘Laga hai Misr ka bazaar’ a particularly haunting number – ‘Umrao Jan Ada’ – every song an unforgettable one – ‘Mohabbat’, ’Anmol’, ‘Naag Muni’ -- all hit songs, especially Noor Jehan’s ‘Tun toh pai waron, man toh pai waron’ –  to name only a few, bear ample proof of his deep understanding of poetry, sense of orchestration and command on melody.
   From 1964 to 1978, Nisar Bazmi was one of the most sought after music directors of the Lahore film industry. He won a Nigar Award for best composer for the film ‘Saiqa’ in 1968; for ‘Anjuman’ in 1970; for ‘Meri Zindagi Hai Naghma’ in 1972 and for ‘Khaak Aur Khoon’ in 1979. He
composed many hit songs for Runa Laila, Ahmed Rushdi, Mehdi Hassan,
Masood Rana and Noor Jehan. About the latter he is known to have
said “She was the best vocalist Pakistan ever had.” He was also
responsible for introducing Alamgir to film music – remember, ‘Hum chale toh humaray’ from film ‘Jagir’?

   Apart from many superb scores for films Bazmi also gave the country a large number of patriotic songs like ‘Yeh watan tumhara hai’ sung by Mehdi Hassan; ‘Khayal rakhna’ crooned by Alamgir and Benjamin Sisters, and ‘Hum zinda qaum hain’ sung by Tehseen Javed, Amjad Hussain and Benjamin Sisters, which are remembered to date. The maestro has also been bestowed the ‘Pride of Performance’ award by the government of Pakistan.
   However, sadly, by 1981 due to the change of trend in film music and the declining popularity of cinema, not to mention his disenchantment with the industry, Bazmi scored his last film music in Lahore for ‘Mere Apne’. He then moved to Karachi where he made it his mission to teach music to young aspirants, and scored music for just one film in 1985 – ‘Hum Aik Hain’ – which also bagged him a Nigar Award for best composer in 1986. He remained out of the limelight for almost 11 years after that, agreeing only to compose music for all seven songs in Nadeem
Mandviwalla’s ‘Very Good Duniya, Very Bad Log’, after a gap from the
world of film music for more than a decade.

   With more than half a century spent as a highly respected music composer, and a hundred films to his credit including the ones he did in India, not to speak of the numerous people he imparted valuable music lessons to, Nisar Bazmi passed away on March 22, 2007, leaving behind a world much poorer for his absence.