Lahore prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
The Lahore Literature Festival was a melting pot of all things imaginative and thought provoking. From extremely hyphenated political discussions to attempts at reviving some of the country’s long lost culture. From cricket all over the country to Hindu temples in
One of the most popular sessions of the third and concluding day of the Literature Festival was Malika-e-Tarannum Noor Jahan: the Empress of Song. Organized in the mammoth Hall One of Alhamra’s spread, it was lifting to see a house full, in fact overflowing with passionate fans of the malika-e-tarannum who has given us an era of unforgettable music.
Once the seats filled up, attendees happily started nestling into the stairways until there was no walking space left. And when notes from the iconic “mujh si pehli si mohabbat” reverberated through the hall, it created magic.
The popularity of this session was hardly surprising, given the strength of the content and the credibility of the panel. Farida Khanum regrettably couldn’t make it due to ill health but Noor Jahan’s daughters, Mina Hasan and Nazia Ejaz, Jugnu Mohsin and Yasir Hashmi more than made up for her absence. Moderator of the session – Hameed Haroon – complemented the panelists’ informal reminiscences with an air of stately reverence. Noor Jahan was a woman who sat on the dastarkhwan and preferred to feed her children by hand but she was also the legendary ‘empress of song’ whose voice resonated throughout South Asia as the most unique.
A series of audio and video clips kept the audience besotted to the session, which was interspersed by untold stories of Noor Jahan’s morning riaz, her relationship with her children, her loyal tailor and her music. Her love for the city of Lahore was remembered, which was bittersweet considering her home has been compromised in favour of an unsightly commercial plaza. The session brought forth a lot of new information as well as reinforcing facts that one already knew about Madam. But it beautifully served the purpose of paying homage to the woman who gave Pakistan her soul via her melody.
“I love music as much as I love my children,” she said in one clip, humbly mentioning in another, “music: I don’t know when I will learn how to sing.”
We don’t honour our artists enough. This was the singlemost glaring and rather depressing conclusion one reached to after attending this session. Madam Noor Jahan was lucky to have left a long and strong legacy as well as an intellectual troupe of fans
“These people give voice to our deepest aspirations,” Jugnu Mohsin aptly said. “She should have been given a state funeral.”
There may never be another like, or even as close to Madam Noor Jahan in the world, let alone Pakistan but there have been countless artists from all genres who slip into unfortunate oblivion as they age. Moreover, LLF revived Madam Noor Jahan’s life and legacy most poignantly but it’s ironic that no single, definitive book/biography has been penned on her yet. Perhaps the honourable and obviously committed panelists will take up the mission and commission one so that her work can be taken beyond the walls of LLF and into the homes of the people.