Islamabad The A. Hameed Memorial Society and the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) joined hands to pay a tribute to film composer A. Hameed. His students rendered melodies, which he had composed. Excerpts of his selected songs from film Saheli, directed by S. M. Yousaf and filmed on Nayyar Sultana, Shamim Ara and Darpan, were screened. The evening brought whole lot of memories back when A. Hameed, taking a break from the film industry, had moved to Islamabad and began teaching music course at the PNCA. Born in Amritsar in 1934, A. Hameed started his career in Mumbai as a pianist. He loved playing piano and thought that this instrument was essential to know for every composer. This was also due to the fact that all renowned composers like Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert were pianists. A. Hameed wanted to join film industry as a composer. This was partly due to the fact that Mumbai film industry was well known for foul language and calling names and the only person they forgave and made exception was the composer. I suppose A. Hameed did not like calling names. He joined film music by assisting Master Ghulam Haider. After independence, his early films were Anjaam and Bharosa . From the beginning, A. Hameed was highly selective and composed for a few films. He knew that less was more. He also made sure that he worked only with handful of distinguished directors like S. M. Yousaf, Hassan Tariq, Riaz Shahid and Fareed Ahmad. His memorable films include Saheli, Aulad, Suhagan, Tauba, Behan Bhai, Sangdil, Wehshi, Gharnata, Shabnam and Suriya Bhopali . The list of his all-time popular songs is equally impressive: Mehdi Hassan in Suhagan Ei duniya kiy tujh sey kaheen . This was a sad song filmed on Kamal in a club in Suhagan . To add the club ambience, A. Hameed added fast western beat in the interlude. For Noorjehan s number in Shabnam filmed on Rani Chun liye mey ney tumjey saara jahan reehney diya, payr na
karma yeh dil kehta raha kehney diiya, the use of jaltgarang was just the right instrument with mandolin and vibraphone. For Mala s sad melody in Shareek-e-Hayat Kisey awaaz doon terey siwa suspense was created with musical notes in the interlude pieces. For a song by Naseem Begum filmed on Nayyar Sultana and Shamim Ara in Saheli, Hum ney jo phool chuney dil mey chubey jatey haeen chorus voices along with low and high pitch of Naseem Begum was just what was required. Another number from Saheli, Hum bhool gaey har baat magar tera phyar nahi booley was so good and popular that Lala Mangeshkar sang it again with some changes in lyrics and tune for Sautan ki Beti . Another duet from Saheli by Saleem Raza and Naseem Begum Kaheen do dil jo mil jatey was an all-time hit. Tum miley pyar mila , Naame ley ley key tera hum to jeye jaeen gey , Tum qoum ki maa ho socho zara (Aulad), Teri khatir jal reaheen haeen (Paigham), Ab key hum bichrey to sheed kabhi khaboon mey mileen (Angarey), Baat karni meujhey mushkil kabhi aisi to na thi (Shareek-e-Hayat) and a different kind of Naheed Akhtar s qawwali in Suriya Bhopali Tha yaqeen key awayeen gi yey rataan kabhi are the kind of songs which would keep A. Hameed musical genius alive for years to come. He passed away in 1991, but he would always be around with his memorable melodies.
