Career
As a youth, Habib Wali received classical music lessons from Ustad Latafath Husain, nephew of Ustad Fayyaz Khan. In college, he became active in the musical functions of Ismail Yusuf College, gaining the nickname ‘Taan sain’. After completing bachelors in Bombay, he studied for his MBA in USA. In mid 1940s he returned to Bombay.
In 1941, Habib Wali was awarded first prize in a Bombay music competition with 1200 contestants, including the singer Mukesh Chand Mathur. His winning performance was singing the ghazal of last Moghul Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, Lagta Nahin Hai Jee Mera Ujray Diyar Mein.
Encouraged by this honor, at a young age, he took more interest in ghazal singing. During his stay in America, he had been out of touch with music. Hence, he felt lonely and missed his earlier college functions in Bombay. In his own words: He was not happy in ‘Ujray dayar mein’ the same ghazal which had won him an award of a lifetime. He put a lot of effort and came out with a gramophone record of ghazals in his voice. On one side of the record, he dubbed Bahadur Shah Zafar’s ghazals and on the other side, Ghalib's’s ghazals.
Unfortunately, the Indian public was reluctant to buy them.
From these ghazals, actress Meena Kumari became a fan of his, and since she was at the time affiliated with Radio Ceylon, she had his recordings broadcast often. This boosted Habib Wali's sales and caused him to become a celebrity.
After partition, his family migrated to Pakistan and established an industrial group which includes the Shalimar silk mills. He gave most of his time to the family business, recording ghazals and geet-s for films in his spare time, however music was not pursued as a profession.
However he still sang ghazals for the gramophone companies.(including a geeth written by Perveen Shakir: ‘Gori karath singhar’) In eighties, he recorded ghazals in audio cassettes which were composed by renowned music director Nisar Bazmi. In addition, he received offers to record play back songs for the Pakistan film industry.
Read more about this topic: Habib Wali Mohammad
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