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Five years ago on June 27, Kafi singer Hamid Ali Khan Bela died in Lahore after protracted illness. A victim of societal neglect he had been languishing in the murk of obscurity unnoticed and unattended.
It was lonely death for an artiste, who has had an eventful music career, which earned him the respect of millions in Pakistan, especially the simple folk of Punjabi hinterland who, despite being uneducated, comprehend the meaning and mystic nuances of the Kafis of Sufi poets.
Bela, who specialised in the rendition of Kafis, especially those composed by the 16th century saint Shah Husain, was well-respected and popular artiste. Clothed in his mellifluous voice, he rendered kafis, which went straight into the hearts of the listeners.
Lahore, where Hamid Ali Khan Bela practised his art, has a mystical dimension to its personality, in addition to its renown for being the cultural and educational hub of Pakistan.
It is in this city that a large number of Sufi saints of yore were laid to eternal rest. Setting their feet in the Sub-continent much before Muslim armies, these Sufis contributed much to spreading the eternal message of universal brotherhood of mankind. Most prominent among them were Hazrat Ali Hajveri, commonly known as Data Gunj Bakhsh, Hazrat Mian Mir and Shah Husain. Kafis written by Shah Husain despite the passage of about 400 years still retain their original appeal. Kafis are sung and enjoyed in Sindh and Punjab, where these were composed by the Sufis to convey their philosophical thoughts and the art of Kafi singing has now acquired the status of a distinct art form. It requires some grooming in the rudiments of classical music for a musician, a cultured voice in addition to a meditative bent of mind for crooning Kafis. We now find more Kafi singers in Sindh than in the Punjab.
The unique distinction of a Kafi is that it is written only in Punjab and Sindhi languages, which have many common features between them. As a literary genre, Kafi was used employed creatively by Sufi poets for their philosophic _expression.
The themes of their Kafis were pegged to such topics as Divine Love and mortal and illusory nature of this world. Among Lahore-based Kafi singers, Bela was the most popular, a fact that caught the attention of the government of Pakistan, which honoured him with the coveted medal of 'Pride of Performance' in 1995. With almost 50 years' standing in vocal music, Bela was known all over the country for his heart-touching renditions of Kafis, committing to and a strong belief in mysticism, humility and affable nature. He was often seen getting transported to ecstatic heights while singing Kafis of Shah Husain.
"I can't explain in words the state of my mind when I am totally engrossed in singing a Kafi of Shah Husain", he used to explain to his admirers. In a self-deprecating manner, calling himself a Faqir of Shah Husain he was fully aware of the richness of the source of his inspiration - the Kafis composed by the Lahore-born poet Shah Husain.
A few months before his death, late Bela did not feel too well as a result of which he retired and spent the evening of his life in seclusion. Earlier, He could not sing Kafis with the same vigor and gusto he used to display in the past. Bela started his career as a folk singer from Radio Pakistan, Lahore in 1947 (after migrating from Amritsar to Lahore) by singing passages from Waris Shah's Heer, Saiful Maluk, Mirza Sahibaan, Jugni and Boliaan.
With the passage of time and as a sequel to disillusionment, which poverty breeds, he turned to Sufism and developed a strong liking for Kafis of Shah Husain. In his death, Pakistan lost a tuneful and committed Kafi singer, who belonged to that rare breed of singers who regarded their profession as a kind of worship, and used it as an instrument for Divine Communion. His checkered career alternated between singing and mysticism, but the later dominated his life.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2006

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