MUMBAI: Eminent ghazal singer Iqbal Bano passed away in Lahore on Tuesday. She was 74.
Musically talented, with a sweet and appealing voice, Bano developed a love for music from a young age. She was known throughout the subcontinent particularly for her renditions of Faiz’s works.
Born and brought up in Delhi, where she was born in 1935, Bano was a student of Ustad Chaand Khan of the Delhi Gharana, who mentored her in classical music.
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He instructed her in pure classical music and light classical music within the framework of classical forms of thumri and dadra. She was duly initiated Gaandaabandh shagird of her Ustad, who also introduced her to All India Radio.
She moved to Pakistan In 1952 and was invited by Radio Pakistan to perform. Her first public concert came five years later at the Lahore Arts Council.
Iqbal Bano not only rendered the works of prominent Pakistani poets like Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Nasir Kazmi, but also sang ghazals in Farsi.
Because of Faiz’s imprisonment and the hatred of the Pakistani government towards him, Iqbal Bano swayed a huge crowd of 50,000 people in Lahore by singing his passionate Urdu work â€?Hum Dekhenge.’
She also sang in Pakistani films like â€?Gumnaam’ (1954), â€?Qatil’ (1955), â€?Inteqaam’ (1955), â€?Sarfarosh’ (1956), â€?Ishq-i-Laila’ (1957) and â€?Nagin’ (1959).
She was awarded the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Pride of Performance) medal in 1974 for her contribution to Pakistani music.
