In the most recent episode (Sunday, March 21) of Gai gee duniya geet maire of a TV channel, the compere, Annu Kapoor, distorted the musical history of the sub-continent, either by design or due to a lack of knowledge of sub-continental classical music.
While commenting on the song, Jiss din say peeya dil lay gaye, the popular composition of late Khawaja Khurshid Anwar in raga Mian ki todi, in the film Intezar, he observed that an identical composition (with almost the same lyrics) had already been made by Amir Khusrao, the 13th-century sufi poet and statesman.
In his remarks lay the contradiction of his claim. The raga Mian ki todi, as all other ragas with which the suffix of Mian is attached, was invented by Mian Taansen, one of the nine jewels in the court of Emperor Akbar.
This goes to prove that raga Mian ki todi was the result of the creative ingenuity of the legendary dhrupad singer Taansen during the tenure of Akbar (1556-1605).
Earlier no raga with the suffix of Mian existed in the melodic lexicon of the sub-continent.
How did Amir Khusro, as claimed by Annu Kapoor, the 13th century Muslim musician/poet invent a raga 300 years before the birth of Mian Taansen, the original inventor of the raga Mian ki todi?
The fact of the matter is that the referenced song was the original composition of late Khurshid Anwar in the strand of raga Mian ki todi.
Compere Annu Kapoor and the producer of the programme should correct their record so that such misleading observations are not made in future.