Renowned Music Composer Master Ghulam Haider Remembered

Renowned music composer Master Ghulam Haider was remembered on the occasion of his death anniversary on Thursday

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Nov, 2023) Renowned music composer Master Ghulam Haider was remembered on the occasion of his death anniversary on Thursday.

Born in 1908 in Hyderabad, Sindh he worked both in India and later in Pakistan after partition in 1947.

He changed the face of film songs by combining the popular Raags with the verve and rhythm of Punjabi music and also helped raise the status of film music directors. He is also known for giving a break to the well-known playback singer, Lata Mangeshkar.

A.R. Kardar had allowed him to compose music for the 1935 film, Swarg Ki Seerhi but he got his first big breakthrough with D.M. Pancholi's Punjabi film, Gul-e-Bakavali (1939) starring Noor Jehan. This was followed by the film Yamla Jat (1940).

His first big hit song came with Khazanchi in 1941. The music of the film Khazanchi (1941), in particular, the song Sawan Ke Nazare Hain sung by Shamshad Begum caused a revolution in music composition.

Khazanchi's refreshingly 'free-wheeling music' not only took the audiences by storm but also made other film music directors sit up and take notice.

Khandan (1942), the first film of Noor Jehan's as lead actress, was also a big hit and established him as a top film composer.

Then Ghulam Haider moved to Bombay and composed music for many films including Humayun (1945) and Majboor (1948 ), the first breakthrough film for Lata Mangeshkar in Hindi films. The films Shaheed (1948) and Kaneez were his other big hits.

After independence in 1947, he returned to Lahore and his first Pakistani film was Shahida (1949). He composed music for many other Pakistani films like Beqarar (1950), Akeli (1951) and Bheegi Palkein (1952). He died on November 9, 1953, just a few days after the release of the Pakistani film Gulnar due to throat cancer at the age of 45.

Posthumously he was awarded the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz in 2011 and the Pride of Performance Award in 2018 by the government of Pakistan.