I remember when I used to go to Radio Pakistan Lahore Station in the 1960s, invariably I used to come across singer Salim Raza in the music studios playing a harmonium and immersed in composing ghazals with Patrick on tabla and Siraj Ahmad Qureshi on sitar.
I was a student of Government College, Lahore and was in transition stage from being converted from a child artist to an adult one of Radio Pakistan, Lahore. I was in awe if I saw Salim Raza, actress Munawar Sultana or Malka-e-Mausiqi Roshan Ara Begum visiting Radio Station for their recordings. I had not realised then that Raza was coming to Radio Pakistan regularly after nearly completing a successful innings as a background voice of Pakistani film heroes. He was as sweet a personality as his voice. All I knew that Raza was born into a Christian family. Later I came to know that his real name was Neol Das and was born in Amritsar, India on March 4, 1932. Raza’s silky voice was tailor made for romantic and sad songs. By now, his songs like “Bedard Zamane Walon Ne Kab Dard Kisi Ka Jana Hai” by music composer Akhtar Hussain Akhian’s 1957 movie ‘Aas Paas’ was in the minds of music lovers; a sad melody but composed in medium beat. The same music composer had selected his voice for lead songs in Pakistani movie ‘Devdas’. The one song by Raza that I remember to this day is “Taskeen Jo De Jaate Araam Tou Mil Jaata” filmed on actor Habib. Another romantic song sung by Raza that I remember is “Ye Naaz Ye Andaaz Ye Jadu Ye Adaein” from the 1961 movie ‘Gulfam’ filmed on Darpan and Musarat Nazir. It was a Darpan Productions film produced by Darpan himself with music by Rasheed Attre and lyrics by Tanvir Naqvi and Habib Jalib. The other singers were Nahid Niazi and Munir Hussain. The lead pair was assisted by Nazar, Himaliyawala, Fazal Haque, Kafira, Nasreen, Rajni, Rakhshi and Talish. Rakhshi had western looks and was a wonderful dancer. I shall be giving more examples of Raza’s songs establishing his diversity in singing but shall suffice to state here that he sang 189 songs in a total of 130 films throughout his singing career spread from 1955 to 1983; a sizeable number. Raza’s family had migrated from Amritsar to Pakistan. His initial love was Radio Pakistan, Lahore. As per musicologist Anis Shakoor, he made friends with Mohni Hameed there. She used to conduct a popular children programme titled ‘Honhaar’ and was popularly known as Apa Shamim. Presently a studio has been named after her in Radio’s Lahore Station. Her daughter Kanwal Naseer is a popular TV host since many decades. Kanwal Naseer is a person of enormous charisma and character. One may recall her as the voice and face of millions of PTV’s viewers.
I started my singing career with Hameed as a child artist in her children programme co-hosted by Raja Farooq Ali Khan who used to be called Bhaijan in this programme. Das had now changed his name to Salim Raza.
Media reports that Raza started his singing career from the Lahore film industry and quickly gained popularity and that Raza’s career suffered due to the rise of the singer Ahmed Rushdi in the late 1950s. I personally do not agree with this observation as Raza continued singing until 1966 for films though he became busy singing for Radio and Pakistan Television Corporation later on. One of his last songs for films was a ghazal “Husn Ko Chand Jawani Ko Kanwal Kehte Hain” from the 1966 film ‘Payal Ki Jhankar’. Music was by Rasheed Attre. I remember Raza singing in PTV programmes during its live telecasts from Lahore where I used to perform also. His best PTV programme was Ashfaq Ahmad’s music mehfil ‘Nikhar’ produced by Rafiq Warraich where he sang all his popular songs. His song “Ae dil kisi ki yaad main hota hai beqarar kyun” was especially noticed. This was a Master Inayat Hussain’s composition for the film ‘Ik Tera Sahara’ starring Darpan and Shamim Ara. It was a modern composition of its time also rendered by Naseem Begum. While talking about Inayat Hussain, Raza’s rendering of Qateel Shifai’s lyrics “Jan-e-Baharan Rashk-e-Chaman Ghuncha Dahan Seemi Badan” from the movie ‘Azra’ became a hit. It is also popular among the generation that followed. It was filmed on actor Ejaz opposite actress Neelo. The film ‘Azra’ was released on April 20, 1962. The support cast comprised Nazar, Talish and Alauddin. Its producer was GA Gul and the director was Munshi Dil. Continued