Habib Wali Muhammad

Habib Wali Mohammad (born 1921) is a Pakistani ghazal singer

Early life

Born in Rangoon to a conservative memon family. His family, Tabani, an industrial house has large business holdings in Pakistan.

He received his MBA from Syracuse University in 1947, and then lived in Bombay for about 10 years before moving to Pakistan. His brother Ashraf W. Tabani was governor of the province of Sindh around 1988.)

Career

Habib Wali is practically from the very second group of singers ever to record the art form and is still at his peak today. But probably because of his background and place as a member of a well-established family, Habib Wali has never pursued as aggressive and mainstream a career as a singer as others, though is still highly regarded.

He is known for singing ghazal of last Moghul Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, Lagta Nahin Hai Jee Mera Ujray Diyar Mein.

His family name was Tabani, though he became famous as Habib Wali Mohammad. His family migrated to Bombay, where he took classical music lessons from Ustad Latafath Husain, nephew of Ustad Fayyaz Khan. But due to economic reasons, he gave priority to academics. His musical activities were limited to singing ghazals in college functions. After completing bachelors in Bombay, he studied for his MBA in USA. In mid 1940s he returned to Bombay.

In Bombay he won first prize in a large music competition. This propelled him to release his first album of ghazals. This record was to make him a celebrated singer. After partition, his family migrated to Pakistan and established an industrial group. He gave most of his time to the family business, recording ghazals and geet-s for films in his spare time. Concerts though were limited. In the eighties he released an album of ghazals composed by Nisar Bazmi.

He has been awarded the Nigar award. His famous ghazals include Bahadur Shah Zafar’s ‘Na kisi ki Aankh ka noor hoon’ and Qamar Jalalavi’s ‘Kab mera nasheman ahelay chaman’. He is now retired and lives in California with his family.

His other well known ghazal includes “Aaj jane ki zidd na karo”. He also sang the famous national song, “Roshan-o-Rakhshan, Nayyar-o-Tabaan, Pakistan rahay”.

Way back in 1941, in Bombay, some young music lovers between 17 and 19 years of age were waiting outside a room for an audition.One by one, each candidate went in the room and was tested for his voice, diction, pronunciation and other technicalities necessary to become a singer. Amongst those enthusiastic teenagers was an eighteen year old lad, whose name was Mukesh Chand Mathur. Behind Mukesh was another young boy and whose family name was Habib Tabani (popularly known as Habib Wali Mohammad). Both of these young gentlemen passed the audition!

Habib Wali Mohammad was born in 1921, in Rangoon, to a conservative memon family. He migrated to Bombay at a young age. He was very fond of listening to Qawwali since his childhood. Innocent as he was, he thought that Qawwali is what the music is all about. A little later, he started taking interest in classical music in Bombay. He took lessons in classical music from Ustaad Fayyaz khan’s nephew, Latafath Husain. However, due to academic pursuits, his interest in music was pushed aside.

With the passage of time, he was more inclined towards ghazal singing. He participated in college musical functions and came to be known as the ‘Taan sain’ in his college. As soon as he finished his college education, his parents sent him to America and he completed his MBA degree in the U.S.A.

He returned to Bombay in the mid forties, and took part in a music competition, in which 1200 singers had participated. Habib Wali Mohammad had sung Bahadur Shah Zafar’s immortal ghazal: ‘Lagta nahi hai jee mera, ujray dayar mein’ and a panel of judges awarded him the first prize.

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 life time. 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 ghazals.

Unfortunately, the Indian public was reluctant to buy them.

In those days, a prominent Indian actress, Meena Kumari, was affiliated with Radio Ceylon, she happened to listen to those ghazals and liked them so much, that she made it a point to broadcast them daily from Radio Ceylon. Thousands of listeners heard those ghazals on radio and rushed to the music stores to buy the gramophone records: Habib Wali Mohammad became a celebrity.

After partition, he migrated to Pakistan and 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. Also, he received offers to record play back songs for the Pakistan film industry.

First and foremost, he is a businessman.(Shalimar silk mills is owned by Tabani group), however, at his leisure, he did record quite a few numbers for movies. He never made music his profession. Music has always been a hobby for him.

Every now and then, he took some time off for radio, television, film or private concerts.

Apart from this, he also received the prestigious nigar award.

He sang a ghazal written by Ustaad Qamar Jalalavi which was an instant hit: ‘Kab mera nasheman ahelay chaman’. All ghazals of Bahadur Shah Zafar, sung by Habib Wali Mohammad were mega hits, including: ‘Na kisi ki Aankh ka noor hoon’

Personal life

Habib Wali Mohammad lives in California, United States with his wife, Rehana and his family, including his son, Nadeem Wali Mohammad

Discography

Some of the ghazals, recorded in the voice of Habib Wali Mohammad are listed here below:

‘Ye na thi hamari Qismath’: poet: Ghalib

‘Ja kahio unsay naseem-e-sahar’: poet: Bahadur Shah Zafar.

‘Gajra bana kay lay Aa malaniya’: poet: Afshan Rana.

Following are the ghazals, which are considered as a treasure for the Pakistani films:

‘Aaj janay ki zid na karo’: poet: Fayyaz Hashmi, picturised on Nadeem

‘Aashiyan jal gaya’ :poet: Raaz Illahabadi, film: ‘Baazi’

‘Raatain theen chandni’:Film: ‘Baazi’

National songs like: ‘Roshan-o- afshan, nayyar-o-taban’

Recent Concerts

Habib Wali Mohammad Recently had a ghazal concert on Saturday February 27, 2010 in Edison, NJ and on February 28 in West Virginia, performing with his son Nadeem Wali Mohammad, and former singer Bela modi