Songs of Iqbal Bano

This past week, I enjoyed listening to a two-volume collection of Iqbal Bano's songs, ghazals and thumries, which were recorded and marketed by EMI in its 'Meri Pasand' series about a couple of decade ago.
The two cassettes contained 14 songs of the senior vocalist, which still sound sweet on the ears despite the passage of so many years when these were recorded. The ageing Iqbal Bano represents a clan of senior vocalists, who are slowly slipping into oblivion, due to several factors, including the invasion of our melodic ethos by such Western fads as pop, disco and other varieties of so-called modern music.
Like other members of her fraternity, she can sing with equal ease, proficiency and aplomb several genres of our indigenous music. The passage of more than five decades, since she first made her debut, has not caused any perceptible change in her distinct style of vocalisation, and she continues to remain as impressive as ever before.
The Rohtak-born Iqbal Bano's versatility in vocalisation is established by the fact that she can sing thumris, dadras, ghazals and geets with remarkable skill and expressiveness. Her presentations brim with emotions as she feelingly renders these genres of music, keeping in mind the literary meanings and the subtle nuances of the lyrics, set to tunes by accomplished composers. She has herself composed the tunes of a number of ghazals, which she recorded for radio and television in the past five decades.
During the golden era of Pakistani cinema, Iqbal Bano also lent her voice for the recording of a number of film songs, some of which became uproariously popular and, due to the original creative inventiveness of the composers still retain their enchanting freshness.
Before the advent of modern electronic recording devices it was not possible to preserve the individualistic styles of master musicians for the listening pleasure of posterity. They came down to the succeeding generations of singers via oral traditions. This was not a perfect mode, as in the process of transmission, subjective distortions of sorts crept into the crooning styles of accomplished vocalists, who took upon themselves the responsibility of passing on the melodic treasure to the succeeding generations of music buffs and connoisseurs.
The invention of (first) gramophone discs and (later) cassette (and now CDs and DVDs) has made it possible for the vocalists to record their songs, which can easily be passed on to the future generation.
The two-volume cassette that I enjoyed listening and which was marketed several years ago, contain the best of Iqbal Bano.
The ghazals and geets composed by frontline musicians like Master Inayat Husain, Master Manzoor and other inveterate musicians are included in the two cassettes. A few of the most popular numbers of Iqbal Bano like 'Ulfat ki nai manzal ko chalaa'; 'Payal mein geet hain'; 'Dasht-e-tanhayee mein'; Daagh-e-dil hum ko'; 'Muddat hoyee hai yaar ko mehmaan keyee hooye' and thumris Abb kay sawan ghar aa ja and 'Maire sayyian uttrain gay oos par are included in the volume, which sound as fresh as when these were recorded many years ago.
A distinct feature of Iqbal Bano's style of singing is that she tries to keep her listeners alive to poetry by making them expectant of the punch line of a ghazal (she chooses to sing).
She intentionally plays around the first half of the couplet, using a variety of melodic swings and movements, building up anticipation, and then, using her superb sense of timing, pauses for a split second. Then, she throws the punch line, consummating the sense of drama. This is a quality, which only inveterate singers like her possess.
One wonders where Iqbal Bano is and whether she has given up singing. I tried to contact her through telephone on more occasions than one but did not succeed. I was told that she had gone to the United States to stay with her son. If she has given up singing, it is a big loss to the music culture of Pakistan, as vocalists of her quality and experience are currently needed the most to protect Pakistani music from the continued onslaught of Western pop varieties of which our youth seem to have become exceedingly enamoured.