Muzaffar Ali : The Master Craftsman

Ultimately an Album has been released which compiles music from films by Muzaffar Ali.The Album has been aptly titled ‘The Master Craftsman Muzaffar Ali’. The compilation contains songs of Gaman(1978)/Umrao Jaan(1981) and Anjuman(1986).The songs of ‘Gaman’ and ‘Umrao Jaan’ has been available in different compilations released by Saregama, however it is the first instance when all the four songs of the Shabana Azmi starrer ‘Anjuman’ are available at one place in CD. The cassette released in 1986 by HMV was not available for many years now.

The songs of ‘Umrao Jaan’ needs no introduction and each piece of these Khaiyyam compositions have found their place in the annals of India Music. Jaidev’s composition for the Smita Patil starrer Gaman again was pathbreaking in the way that fresh voices as Suresh Wadekar/Hariharan/Chhaya Ganguly was used by the Maestro.Chhaya ganguly went on to bag the National Awards for the ‘Aap ki yaad aati rahi’ penned by none other than Makhdoom Mohiuddin.Other perennial favourites are ‘Seene mein jalan’by Sursh Wadekar and ‘Ajeeb saneeha mujhipar’ by Hariharan.Both are penned by Sahryar who has also written all the songs of Umrao Jaan.

Not many are likely to have heard the songs of ‘Anjuman’.All the four songs are rare gems from Khaiyyam. Most important is the fact that three tracks are sung by Shabana Azmi herself and it would be sweet discovery on the singing talents of this Award winning Actress.The duet with Bhupinder ‘ Gulab jism ka yunhi nahin khila hoga/hawa ne pehle tujhe phir mujhe cchua hoga’ is simply superb.The two other solos ‘Aisa nahin ke isko nahin jaante’ and ‘Tujhse hoti bhi to kya’ by Shabana Azmi bears the unmistakable touch of Khaiyyam .

The last song is a duet penned by Faiz Ahmad Faiz and sung by Khaiyyam and his better half Jagjit Kaur.The song is ‘Kab yaad mein tera saath nahin/Kab haath mein tera haath nahin’ . The perfect vocals of the pair blends perfectly with the orchestrations in this rare masterpiece.The Album is a must buy for all those who have a ear for good music.