The Queen of Ghazal: Iqbal Bano

Iqbal Bano was a highly acclaimed classical ghazal singer from Pakistan. She was born in Delhi, British India, in 1935 and her family was originally from Rohtak, Punjab, India. She showed keen interest in music since her early childhood and learned classical music, including Thumri and Dadra from Ustad Chand Khan of Delhi Gharana.

Bano’s family was originally from Rohtak – an area in Indian Punjab. She was under the apprenticeship of Ustad Chand Khan of the Delhi Gharana, who despite having his own two daughters under tutelage, was of the opinion that her talent would supersede all others. He recommended her to the All India Radio in Delhi, where she sang in the coming years.

Bano’s family migrated to Pakistan in 1952. That same year, at age 17, she married a zamindar (landlord) who promised to allow her to take her passion for music forward – a promise well kept. They settled in Multan, but her first live performance took place at the Lahore Arts Council in 1957, a city she would later return to.

An established classical singer, Bano had achieved fame and acclaim by the 1950s. At this point she debuted in modern film music. Her soundtracks appeared in films such as Qatil (1955), Sarfarosh (1956), Nagin (1959), Inteqaam (1972), and Gumnaam (1983).

Bano sang the songs 'Payal Main Geet' and 'Ulfat Ki Nai Manzil' for the films Gumnaam (1954) and Qatil (1955).

The song 'Ulfat Ki Nai Manzil' was written by poet Qateel Shifai and the music for the track was composed by Inayat Husain for the Pakistani Lollywood film Qatil in 1955. This song was sung by Bano and she sang this song in a classical thumri style. Thumri is a common genre of semi-classical Indian music.

It was during the 80s that she really developed an idiosyncratic attachment to the writings of Faiz and gave them her own personality. She harnessed more public appeal after performing the ghazals 'Dasht e Tanhai' and 'Dono Jahan Teri Mohabbat Mein Haar Key' and became a musical specialist on Faiz.

It is interesting to note that Faiz had a fascination with the classical singer Begum Akhtar, and true connoisseurs of classical music have marked similarities between her and Iqbal Bano. Begum Akhtar passed away on 7 October 1974 in Ahmedabad, India – the same year Bano was awarded the Tamgha e Imtiaz (Pride of Performance) in Pakistan.

Bano could also sing Persian Ghazals with the same eloquence with which she charmed audiences in Iran and Afghanistan. Crowds would gather to see her and hear her sing in their mother tongue. In 1979, she received a special invitation to a culture festival, Jashn-e-Kabul. The King of Afghanistan is said to have been so enthralled by her performance that he presented her with a golden vase.

After the demise of her husband in 1980, she permanently moved from Multan to Lahore.

In February 1985, Bano performed Faiz’s ghazal ‘Hum Dekheingey’ (We Will See) at Al Humra Theatre, Lahore. In that moment, she became an icon of dissent. This was because the poetic works of Faiz had been banned by the military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq due to Faiz's close association with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Faiz Ahmed Faiz had served as the cultural ambassador during Bhutto’s era.

Bano’s performances became an act of defiance, and through her music she fought against the government ban. The performance roused a crowd of 50,000 people, who chimed in with the verses: 'Jab takht giraye jayeingey, jab taj uchaaley jaeyingey, hum dekheingey' (when the rulers will be forced down from their thrones, their crowns will be thrown in the air, we will witness it), while others chanted 'Inquilaab Zindabaad' (Long Live Revolution).

Bano took Indo-Pakistani vocal artistry to new heights by combining traditionalism and modernism in one of the most venerated and complex of vocal poetry forms. Her chosen medium was ghazal, an Arab poetic form richly hued, veiled and hallmarked by allegory, and consequently open to symbolic and multi-levelled interpretation.

What is written and what is sung in ghazal is not necessarily as it appears or sounds. Bano caught the cusp of change by presenting and delivering ghazals that took the once largely, if not wholly, devotional on to the political path. Whether singing the religious or the new, in the case of the ghazals of the new-wave poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, she brought a new and personal dynamism to what she sang.

Bano died at age 74, on Tuesday, 21 April 2009, in the eastern city of Lahore. Her legacy continues to live on through the extensive body of work that she left behind. Bano has been a popular cultural icon symbolizing freedom of speech, equality, and social justice.

In a recent demonstration throughout Pakistan on the Women's Rights called Aurat March her ghazal 'Hum Dekheingey' was played by the crowd with loud chanting by the demonstrators, immortalizing her as a symbol of resistance.