Remembering Mukesh and Firaq Gorakhpuri…

 

 Philatelic Tributes to legends of music and Literature

Mukesh – The loving singer of Music lovers

Death Anniversary : 27 August

Mukesh Chand Mathur (22 July 1923 – 27 August 1976) was noted playback singer of Bollywood. He, alongside Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar, left such an impact on the Hindi film industry that they are still remembered to date.

Mukesh was born in a Kayastha family in Ludhiana   Mukesh left school after the 10th grade and worked briefly for the Department of Public Works. He experimented with voice recordings during his employment in Delhi and gradually developed his singing abilities. Some of his famous songs were recorded in the movie Anand in 1970, such as Kahin door jab din dhal jaye and Maine tere liye hi saat rang ke sapne chune.

Mukesh was offered a role in a Hindi film, Nirdosh (1941). His first song was Dil hi bujha hua ho to as an actor-singer for Nirdosh. He got his break as a playback singer for actor Motilal in 1945 with the film Pehli nazar with music by Anil Biswas & lyrics by Aah Sitapuri. The first song that he sang for a Hindi film was Dil jalta hai to jalne de, which was picturised on Motilal.

He was such a fan of K. L. Saigal that in his early years of playback singing he used to imitate his idol. In fact, it is said that when K. L. Saigal first heard the song Dil jalta hai to jalne de, he remarked, "That's strange, I don't recall singing that song".

He is best known for the songs he sang for Raj Kapoor. Jeena Yahan Marna Yahan was one of the most popular songs of Mukesh picturised on Raj Kapoor,

In 1974, Mukesh received National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song Kai baar yoon bhi dekhaa hai from Rajnigandha (1974), and Filmfare Awards for the songs Sab kuch seekha in the movie Anari (1959), Sabse bada naadan wahi hai in Pehchaan (1970), Jai bolo in Be imaan (1972) and Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein, the title song of film Kabhie Kabhie (1976). A total of around 1,200 songs were sung by him. This number is less than those sung by some of his contemporaries, but the fact is that Mukesh emphasized on quality rather than quantity.

 

Firaq Gorakhpuri – A milestone in Urdu poetry

 

     

Birth anniversary : 28 August

Raghupati Sahay (28 August 1896 – 3 March 1982), popularly known under his pen name Firaq Gorakhpuri  was a writer, critic, and one of the most noted contemporary Urdu poets of India.

Raghupati Sahay was born in 1896, in Gorakhpur, into a Hindu Kayastha family. He was selected for the Provincial Civil Service (P.C.S.) and the Indian Civil Service (I.C.S.), but he resigned to follow Mahatma Gandhi's Non-cooperation movement, for which he went to jail. Later, he joined Allahabad University as a lecturer in English literature. It was there that he wrote most of his Urdu poetry, including his magnum opus Gul-e-Naghma which earned him the highest literary award of India, the Jnanpith Award, and also the 1960 Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu. During his life, he was given the positions of Research Professor at the University Grants Commission and Producer Emeritus by All India Radio. After a long illness, he died on March 3, 1982, in New Delhi.

As a distinguished poet, Firaq Gorakhpuri was well-versed in all traditional metrical forms such as ghazal, nazm, rubaai and qat'aa. He was a prolific writer, having written more than a dozen volumes of Urdu poetry, a half dozen of Urdu prose, several volumes on literary themes in Hindi, as well as four volumes of English prose on literary and cultural subjects.

A number of  ghazals of Firaq   have been sung by noted singers. The Ghazql King, jagjit Singh has sung many of his ghazals. ‘Bahut Pahle se un kadmon ki aahat’ is one of his most popular ghazals sung by Jagjit and Chitra Singh.