Daily Times

It is a tradition of the Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq to hold at least six sessions each year in honour of prominent writers and their creations. This was informed by Professor Ghulam Hussain Sajid to Halqa’s participants on Sunday November 26, 2017, in Halqa’s session where Dr. Amjad Parvez (Takhleeqkaar) and his books on music and literature (Takhleeq) came under Halqa’s appraisal. There were two portions of the session. In the first session, four speakers read entire articles on Dr. Amjad’s contributions as a writer.The second session comprised music recitals.

Since the day I opened my eyes in this world, I have seen my society divided on many issues: language, creed, breed, caste, rich and poor. In our day to day lives, we are still fragmented into various cliques. A person such as Dr AmjadParvez is among those people who have refused to be part of such a system

The first contributor was Ghulam Hussain Sajid, Secretary Halqa. He remembered the PTV days in 1973 when producer Asif Shahkar produced Punjabi lyrics in his programme in the voice of Dr. Amjad Parvez. He went on to follow Dr. Amjad’s growth as a singer from a folk, semi classical to classical vocalist of both national and international repute. Ghulam Hussain Sajid added that Dr. Amjad’s greatest feat was writing books on 47 music composers in the book ‘Melody Makers’ and 24 singers in ‘Melody Singers 1’, originally written in English and then later translated in Urdu. The way these books encompass the contributions of the concerned composers and singers is a mammoth task that could not have been achieved without great insight into their styles, backgrounds, knowledge of Raags and the situations in films that these melodies were composed and sung in. Ghulam Hussain Sajid hoped that the second volume of composers and singers seethe light of the day soon, as this is the first time such a massive taskhas been undertaken in the subcontinent. The coming generations shall make use of these books for time to come, Sajid concluded.Prof. Muhammad Jawwad stated in his speech, “Since the day I opened my eyes in this world, I have seen my society divided on many issues: language, creed, breed, caste, rich and poor. In our day to day lives, we are still fragmented into various cliques. A person such as Dr. Amjad Parvez is among those people who have refused to be part of such a system. He deserves commendation not to accept such norms. Despite the fact that he does not belong to any family of musicians and is from an established educated family of Lahore, he is a popular vocalist of Pakistan. He learnt the traits of classical music from great Ustads and has been performing classical music since the last three decades. He is an engineer with a PhD from UK. Apart from his contributions in the field of education he is fully involved in poetry and literature with three books to his credit in this field. In music, his research on music composers in ‘Melody Makers’ appeared last year and was received with open arms in music circles. I am fully convinced of Dr. Amjad’s attachment with music and commendable hard work. He has not only collected the relevant information on a vocalist’s life and works but has also written an essay on each singer in such a way that each distinguishes from the other. Each singer looks like a different flower in a bouquet with its own fragrance.

Dr Amjad’s greatest feat was writing books on 47 music composers in the book ‘Melody Makers’ and 24 singers in ‘Melody Singers 1’, originally written in English. The way these books encompass the contributions of the concerned composers and singers is a mammoth task that could not have been achieved without great insight into their styles, backgrounds, knowledge of Raags and the situations in films that these melodies were composed and sung in

The essays have been written and their titles given in such a way that each singer’s individualistic traits are represented in an excellent manner. Asha Bhonsle has been tilted as a versatile singer, Farida Khanum as Malika-e-Ghazal (Queen of Ghazal singing), Lata as the living legend, Nurjehan as Melody Queen and Habib Wali Muhammad as a cultured voice. Such titles make each singer prominent and different from the other; the greater the singer, the more voluminous the essay. Also, the singers whom Dr. Saheb knew personally have experiences with him expressed like the title for Mehdi Hasan ‘Hassan as I knew him’. All the essays also have an element of human, psychological and emotional aspects. The regrets, short comings, pains and sufferings of the singers during their struggles in their personal and professional lives have also been mentioned. It proves that pain and gloom overshadows happiness’.The third speaker Nadeem Riaz Malik, a classical singer and writer emphasized on a five-decade singing career of Dr. Amjad Parvez as a versatile singer which included 27 years of performing as a classical music vocalist. He said that Dr. Amjad had learnt many Raags and can render any at a moment’s notice. The fourth speaker Dr. Saadat Saeed spoke both on Dr. Amjad’s books on literature and music.He emphasized on the fact that Dr. Amjad is a colossal reader as can be seen from his book ‘Rainbow of Reflections’. Just reading the names of the writers of the book shows the diversity of old, young writers read and written on alike, without any bias. Then the topics of the books, whether prose, poetry, fiction or any other theme, establishes him as a very well-read person. He shared similar views on his books on music. Dr. Amjad when invited to speak expressed his gratitude to the essay readers and the audience who came to attend the event in all odds. He said he started writing on the instigation of Izzat Majeed and Arif Nizami in 1987, later on the encouragement of Raashid Rehman and now of Saira Agha on music, and the process continues. He spoke at length on the decline of quality of music on both sides of the borders.The second session on music was hosted by Ali Usman Bajwa who introduced the participants thoroughly. The audience enjoyed the quality of poetry and vocals of the performers: Ehsan Butt, Imran Jafri, Mudassar Malik, Shafiq Honey, Amjad Shah, Afshan Seemi, Aizaz Suhail, Nadim Malik and Dr. Amjad Parvez. The evening concluded at the vote of thanks from the Secretary HalqaArbab-e-Zauq who observed that evenings of such quality were rarely held.

Published in Daily Times, December 12^th 2017.