Home | January '99 Index

Date: 04-Jan-99
Poet: Sagar Nizami

We start the year with two Gazals by Sagar Nizami. 
Both the Gazals have been taken from the 5 CD set 
brought out by HMV - "Ghazal ka Safar".  Compiled 
by Sanjeev Kohli (son of legendary music director 
Madan Mohan), with commentary by Gulzar and Jagjit
Singh, this is an attempt to trace the history of
Gazals from the time they were first recorded. 

First about the two Gazals. Both have been sung by 
Master Madan. The booklet accompanying the CDs tells 
us that "Master Madan won over the hearts of millions 
of ghazal lovers" at the tender age of 8! Tragically 
his death at the age of 14 put paid to what might 
have been an illustrious career.

The style of singing is reminiscent of the great
K.L.Saigal. Of course the pathos, the intensity 
of the great master is missing. Which brings us to
one thing that made this particular journey less
pleasurable than it could have been. Two maestros of 
the art are missing from the collection - K.L. Saigal
and Mehdi Hasan. No compilation of great Gazals can 
be complete without these two giants. I wish HMV had
made the extra effort to get at least a couple of 
Gazals by each included in this collection. They have 
included Pankaj Udhas's ghazals by special permission.
There are only excerpts by KLS and MH (a sher at best!)
which leaves one panting/thirsting for more.

Anyway, more on the CD later! Here is the first of 
the Sagar Nizami Gazals:

hairat se tak rahaa hai jahaan-e-vafaa mujhe 
tum ne banaa diyaa hai mohabbat me.n kyaa mujhe 

[hairat = amazement; takanaa = to stare]

**reminds me of a sher by Nasir:

ab mere diid kii duniyaa bhii tamaashaa_ii hai
tuu ne kyaa mujhako muhabbat me.n banaa rakhaa hai**


har ma.nzil-e-hayaat se gum kar gayaa mujhe 
mu.D mu.D ke raah me.n vo teraa dekhanaa mujhe 

[hayaat = life]

kaif-e-Khudii ne mauj ko kashtii banaa diyaa 
hosh-e-Khudaa hai ab na Gam-e-naaKhudaa mujhe 

[kaif = happiness; Khudii = self; naaKhudaa = boatsman]

saaqii bane huye hai.n vo "Sagar" shab-e-visaal 
is vaqt ko_ii merii qasam dekhataa mujhe 

[shab-e-visaal = night of meeting/union]