Film composer M. Ashraf, died in Lahore on February 5, 2007, a large number of his tunes for movie songs became popular since he made his debut in the decade of 1970. Some of these continue to remain sweet on the ears of the listeners.
His death has further depleted the melodic resources of Pakistan. His contributions to the flowering of the art of composition will go down well in the annals of popular music of Pakistan.
Born inside the famous Bhaati Gate of Lahore in the year 1942, M. Ashraf hailed from a family of distinguished professional musicians, which produced stylist composers of the like of Master Inayat Husain. He made his debut as a co-composer of film music in duo with M. Manzoor about the middle of the decade of 1960s, when he in collaboration with M. Manzoor started inventing tunes for Shabab Kiranavi's film 'Saparian'.
Working together with Manzoor for a few years in eight films, Ashraf began his career as an independent composer at the beginning of the decade of 1970s a patronage extended to him by producer-director Shabab Kiranvi. For several years, he remained associated with Kiranvi during which he composed songs for dozens of films produced under the banner of Shabab Productions. He did dot associate himself from Shabab Kiranvi as he felt beholden to him for facilitating his debut as an independent composer.
Other distinguished musicians in his family who also contributed much to the success of Pakistan film industry during the decades of 1950s, 1960s and 1970s were Master Inayat Hussain and Akhter Hussain Akhhiaan, who were Ashraf's uncle and teacher in music respectively.
Although tunes Ashraf invented for songs in Shabab Kiranvi's films won public acclaim his name did not quite register with cine-goers, as most of those films were encumbered with label of piracy, as they were the plagiarised versions of successful Indian films for which Ashraf was not to be blamed as tunes used in those films were original
The number of films for which he composed music is based on conjectures, as no authentic record of its count is available. Some of his enthusiastic friends and buffs of his music claim that he composed music for over 450 films; others say that the maximum number of films for which he scored music since early 1970 was not as high. An educated guess puts it to a little over 150 films produced from Lahore studios of Pakistan film industry.
Also some writers on music in their write-ups put him in the class of composers Naushad Ali, Khurshid Anwar, Master Inayat Hussain and other frontline composers, a claim that does not meet the demands of a critical appraisal.
Regardless of the veracity of numbers, M. Ashraf undoubtedly was the inventor of scores of popular songs, which won immense popularity and were hummed and whistled by millions during his 40-year-long showbiz career.
Like other popular composers of yore, his tunes were simple in their tone and tenure but fell sweet on the ears of the listeners. The structures of his compositions were simple and their content effective, leaving an enduring impact on the listeners, who found those tunes easy to remember and hum because their lilt and cadences went straight to their hearts, even after their first hearing.
Some of his memorable songs were: 'Hamaray dil say mut khailo'; 'Jab koyee peyar say boolaye ga'; 'Mera cheechi da chhala'; Naire wangoan hauli hauli; 'Kurrio sawan da maheena toba toba'; 'Do pattar anaraan day'; 'Dil ko jalana hum nain chore diya'; 'Ye duniya rahe na rahe mairay humdum'; 'Ajab hai ye zindgi'; 'Hamari saanson main aaj tak'; Sau baras ki zindgi' and 'Dil veeran hai teri yaad hai tanhai hai'. These and many more were recorded in scores of films, which did roaring business at the box office.
Late Ashraf composed tunes for film songs keeping in mind the ranges of the voices of the singers engaged for their recording. Exploiting fully the talent of frontline popular playback singers he recorded his songs in the voices of Nur Jahan, Mehdi Hasan, Ahmed Rushdi, Mehnaaz, Nahid Akhter, Ghulam Abbas, Nasim Begum, Mala and Runa Laila. Several times winner of Nigar and Graduate awards late M. Ashraf also had the distinction of working with Pakistan's renowned producers-directors of the likes of Nazarul Islam, Haider Chaudhry, S. Sulaiman and Jamil Akhter besides Shabab Kiranvi.
Late M. Ashraf was an experienced and sensitive composer, who knew the art of inventing original tunes in consonance with the demands of the situations in films and scoring appropriate background music to enhance the effectiveness of certain critical situations in the films. The melodic interludes in his songs were also composed and arranged appropriately in support of the tunes.
The new currents and crosscurrents in the music of our times with which he familiarised himself without much difficulty were reflective in his numerous compositions of film songs, which became popular, not only in Pakistan but also in India.
Some of his popular tunes were allegedly used in films produced in Mumbai. He was one among those contemporary Pakistani composers of film music, who, when the situations warranted, dismantled the confining walls of structure to give music more freedom to create its impact. M. Ashraf is dead but his popular songs retain their enchantment and will remain alive in the memory of the listeners as long as electronically reproducible equipment will be available to music buffs.