ASAD - 37

Originally posted on rec.music.indian.misc in 1995

The credit for making GHazals popular in the Indian subcontinent also goes to the singers who made it their profession. Without them GHazal would have remained accessible only to the elites. In the early days of Hindi Movies, GHazals were used quite often. But with the changing times, GHazals started becoming rare and rare. Perhaps this was bound to happen as GHazal is a very very restrictive form of Poetry. I mean the structure is very rigid for a GHazal.

During the early 80s, GHazal was revived again. Not by the Hindi Movies, but essentially by the likes of GHulam Ali, Mehdi Hasan, Jagjeet Singh, Anup Jalota and Pankaj Udhas.

I was introduced to GHazal by Pankaj Udhas who was the first one to shot to fame in the masses. I still remember the first Sher I heard and liked from the GHazal "THandi hawa ke jhauNke" ....

bistar ki silbatoN se, ye mehasoos ho raha hai
toda hai dam kisine, karawat badal badal ke
- ??

Pankaj Udhas's choice of GHazals was substandard and I soon graduated to GHulam Ali. But still, I owe a lot to Pankaj Udhas. Because ot him, started my lifelong obsession.

- Abhay.
ASAD _also_ stands for "A Sher A Day" !