In this age of booming pop music, it is not easy for a professional gharana musician to remain in circulation and to eke out a living by practicing only classical genres. However, there still are a few among the practitioners of the classical art, who have survived in this period of stiff competition.
Vocalist Hamid Ali Khan, who as a practitioner of several different genres of music, is in demand these days, hails from a well-known family of professional Patiala gharana of musicians. He started training in vocal classical music with his father Ustad Akhter Husain Khan at the age of eight as was claimed by him in LTV Music Night programme.
As a pragmatic musician, he foresaw the dangers that were inherent in clinging to just one mode of melodic _expression, particularly the one which has lost its appeal for a vast majority of people. By reshuffling his priorities and replenishing his repertoire with some lively numbers, he is now in a position to meet the demands of the "music market".
The points he discussed were well taken. Responding to a loaded question about the popularity of the current fad of pop music, he said "all modes of melodic expressions are good but classical music is the only kind, which has enduring appeal".
Elaborating his point he added that a musician should not limit his repertoire to just one genre; he should also sing semi-classical, ghazals and geets. "Those vocalists, who do not include these genres in their repertoires", he said in an authoritative tone, "do not actually know how to use these modes". However, he emphasized that it required many years' of hard training in these modes to achieve the distinction of being a versatile singer.
Hamid Ali Khan is a truly accomplished musician. Currently, he is one of the busiest vocalists of Pakistan, who is invited to soirees held at the residences of affluent citizens in all parts of the country. His rich repertoire includes folk songs, ghazals, geets and kafis from the light varieties, and kheyals, thumris and dadras from the classical modes.
This serves as a pointer to his versatility in music. He sings these varieties with equal ease, confidence and verve. He seems satisfied with his achievements, despite the early setbacks (in terms of monetary recompense) in his career, when he relied only on the classical modes to make his living, and also to express his melodic ideas.
The youngest son of late Ustad Akhter Husain Khan, a renowned exponent of kheyal gaiyki, Hamid Ali Khan has also benefited from the melodic wisdom of his older brothers Ustad Amanat Ali Khan and Ustad Fateh Ali Khan. Along with them but in a separate duo with his nephew, Asad Amanat Ali Khan, he became a member of the quartet of classical singers, winning wide popularity in Pakistan and abroad.
The older brothers first sang in duo as the chief exponents of the Patiala style of kheyal singing. However, with the ever-plummeting popularity of classical music, and his nephew's frequent foreign tours, Hamid Ali Khan began to employ light modes like ghazal, geet and folk songs to successfully compete with other up-and-coming members of his fraternity, who have joined the world of entertainment in recent years.
"The situation has changed. Í am now invited by connoisseurs and promoters from all over Pakistan and foreign countries", he told this scribe in a recent conversation with a glint of pride in his eyes. "It took me several years", he explained, "to strike a balance between the dictates of contemporary 'market conditions' and my gharana pride and traditions".
Hamid Ali Khan's repertoire now includes Punjabi, Sindhi, Baluchi and Urdu songs. His Punjabi song, Mainoon teray jea sohna, to which melodic raiments were provided by him, has now become his identity. (He wrapped up his television programme referred to above on the night of December 10). Not too long ago, practitioners of the art of classical singing did not "stoop low" to sing ghazals and geets.
Their egos and family pride came in their way to join the ranks of ghazal singers despite the fact that clinging only to classical modes meant almost zero income.
However, these barriers have been removed by the second generation of professional singers of Pakistan who, using their grooming in classical genres, did not hesitate in taking a plunge in the domain of light singing with very encouraging financial results for them.
Hamid Ali Khan is one such good example of prudence. How about your plans to train your own offspring? Are you passing your melodic expertise and performing skill to any of your sons? "You know, music is in our blood", he responded with a glint of pride in his eyes, adding, "The environment in our family has always remained congenial for the flowering of singing talent. Yes, I am training my young son Inam Ali Khan, who has now entered his teens.
He is currently serving a period of apprenticeship with me. He has a good voice and the potential to assume future responsibilities as a professional gharana musician," "A year of so ago", he added, "Inam sang with me in duo an asthai-antra of raga Mian Ki Todi in an episode of PTV Raag Rang" Hamid Ali Khan's voice is now being used for the recording of film songs.
He has also lent his vocals for the recording of the theme songs of a number of TV serials and plays.
For the film Sargam, he recorded two songs- Chamki Kiran (in raga Peelo) and Sohani rut ayee (in raga Darbari), tunes for which were invented by composer and keyboard player, Adnan Samee. The Producer of PTV serial Taan Sen, Hamid Ali used his malleable voice for the recording of several asthai-antras in ragas Bhairoan, Bharveen and Shree.
He also sang ghazal and chaumisray for another PTV serial, Boota from Toba Tek Singh. A cassette containing his songs was released by a gramophone recording company a few years ago. He was working on two more albums, which should have been marketed sometime ago. This will be in addition to a CD, which is likely to be released from Birmingham, UK. Having become a globetrotter, Hamid Ali Khan goes on foreign tours frequently and has visited UAE, Holland, Norway, UK, USA, Canada, Burma, India and Bangladesh at the invitations of individual promoters of music, and as a member of cultural troupes sponsored by the government of Pakistan.