Filed under: Pakistan
Where as the music of Bollywood has only just started to break into the mainstream here in The West, the music of Pakistan’s film industry – sometimes referred to as “Lollywood” – is often overlooked. Much like their neighbors in India, the music plays a significant part of the film.
After the partition of India, the city of Lahore was the only film production center in the newly-founded Pakistan. The first film was titled Teri Yaad, and was released on August 7th, 1948. Since then, film production studios have been opened in the cities of Karachi and Peshawar.
The film Do Raha was originally produced in 1952, and then remade in 1971 with a new score from Sohail Rana – although all of the information that I have been able to find (other than what is printed on the label of this record) says that duo of Sapan Chakraborty and Jagmohan Bakshi scored the film and that the film was supposedly produced in India.
The Bugs probably were not a real band. They were most likely a studio creation, that may have even been part of the film. As far as I know, this is there only release – and they are only featured on one side. The flipside is the original version of the theme song from the film.
If you any information about the band, please contact me.
Catalog number 7KCE-5000 on Columbia Records of Pakistan. No other information available.
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Since this posting, I have been contacted by Jimmy Jumshade, who was the drummer of the band. Here’s what he had to say:
Thanks for writing and your research into that Era! Indeed those were the most fantastic days of Pakistan when Pakees were not over-dosing on Religion! We did make a couple of recordings at the only record Company then, I forget it’s name (HM something).
At that time the only 4/5 star Hotels in Pakistan (InterContinental) opened and they only exclusively engaged foreign bands, mainly from Italy. We were the first local band hired to perform at that chain.
We did instrumentals and also songs of that day. Mainly The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Animals, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Shadows, The Ventures, Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdink, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Eagles and some Pakee folk songs / instrumentals.
You got the bands at that time right. There also were “THUNDERS”… Of course The Four Thoughts were very, very talented and popular, I saw several times, Benazir dancing to them at the famous Disco in Metropole Hotel. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was one of our fans. So was Yahya Khan and his son. So was Marlon Brando who was thrilled at our performance, when he visited Pakistan…
The four members of “THE BUGS” were:
Farooq Fatah: Lead Guitar (Now in Toronto)
Ayaz Fatah: Rhythm Guitar (alive and well in Toronto)
Afzal Javeri: Bass Guitar (Who died about a decade ago)
Myself: Drummer (settled in Dallas, Texas)
Amazing time we had like Rock Stars. We also travelled to the music and art loving people of that time East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) where we were welcomed like heroes and we had the best time of our music days… We were good friends with late Waheed Murad and others of the film lndustry and all Pakistanis loved and enjoyed our “make-u-dance” music not only foreigners. We had a large following of Swedes, in Lahore. We also performed at Shahbagh Hotel, Flashman’s at Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Faletti’s in Lahore.
Filed under: Pakistan
Sohail Rana (mispelled here as Suhail) was from Pakistan.
The name “Pakistan” means “Land of the Pure” in Urdu, as well as in Persian. It was coined in 1934 as “Pakstan” by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, who published it in the pamphlet Now or Never. The name represented, according to Ali, the “thirty million Muslims of PAKSTAN, who live in the five Northern Units of (British) India – Punjab, North-West Frontier Province. (a.k.a. Afghania), Kashmir, Sindh, and Balochistan.” The nation was founded officially as the Dominion of Pakistan in 1947 after the Partition of India, and was renamed the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1956.
Sohail Rana, who is the son of renowned Urdu poet Rana Akbar Abadi, was born in Agra, Uttar Pradesh province in India, in 1938. After the Partition of India, Sohail Rana’s family moved to Karachi, Pakistan. Like most parents, his father encouraged him to study science. But when Sohail realized that science was not for him, he did not have the courage to talk to his father himself. He approached him through his elder sister to get permission to change over to music.
During his primary education, he was admitted to late A.M. Qureshi’s Mary Colaso School in Karachi, where Sohail Rana and future film actor, producer and writer Waheed Murad became friends. Many years later, Waheed Murad’s first film as a producer “Insaan Badalta Hai”, was a success, but he felt that the music fell short of his expectations. For his second production, “Jab Se Dekha Hai Tumhay”, Waheed handed over the task of music to Sohail Rana. In 1966, Sohail Rana came to national attention with the film “Armaan”, for which he won the Nigar award for the best composer for the film. Due to his popularity, EMI also appointed him to compose music for Firdausi Begum and Talat Mehmood.
Sohail took a job with the Pakistan Television Corporation in 1968. Besides composing a national song “Allah-o-Akbar” for the network, he wrote over 2,000 songs for his popular morning television program called “Sang Sang Chalain”. An entire generation of Pakistani children grew up singing along to the tunes about birds, frogs, insects and farm animals. Sonail would later say that “It used to be that children in Pakistan schools would only learn the English nursery rhymes, but I wanted to give them something they could sing in their own language.”
1970 saw the release of the album, ”Khyber Mail“, for which Sohail received the prestigious Presidential Award of Excellence and the EMI Gold Disc award. He served in the Ministry of Culture as director general from 1976 to 1978 and headed the project of National Orchestra and Choral Ensemble of Pakistan. He also composed music for Pakistan International Airline’s inflight progams. In 1986, the film “Hesaab” was produced, which would be the last of the twenty five films for which he would compose music.
Sohail moved to Mississauga, Ontario in Canada in 1990 where he has openned a school for singers and musicians. As of 2005, he was starting to perform live with interactive multi-media and was planning a series of concerts in Toronto involving artists from Pakistan and India.
Catalog number EKCF-8 on Columbia Records, manufactured by the Gramaphone Company of Pakistan, Ltd.
Filed under: Pakistan
♬ Bhavayia
The Silhouettes were from Pakistan.
The name “Pakistan” means “Land of the Pure” in Urdu, as well as in Persian. It was coined in 1934 as “Pakstan” by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, who published it in the pamphlet Now or Never. The name represented, according to Ali, the “thirty million Muslims of PAKSTAN, who live in the five Northern Units of (British) India – Punjab, North-West Frontier Province. (a.k.a. Afghania), Kashmir, Sindh, and Balochistan.” The nation was founded officially as the Dominion of Pakistan in 1947 after the Partition of India, and was renamed the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1956.
Apparently, there was a market for traditional music played on Western instruments. Not sure who this was being marketed to, either the indigenous population or foreign tourists. But there were a number of bands that released similar records, most notable being The Fore Thoughts, The Mods and The Panthers.
Here are the liner notes:
In your hands, is the first ever stereo long playing album recorded and manufactured in Pakistan.
We present to you a top, pop local group, ‘THE SILHOUETTES’. These brilliant young contemporary musicians play tunes, some of which are folk, and were written before they were born, in such an original way as to give these melodies a new concept.
We have called the L.P. ‘THE SOUND OF THE SILHOUETTES’, mainly because we could not think of a more apt title. You will enjoy listening to the scintillating rhythms, the unique combinations of Guitar and Electric Sitar in SOFT SILHOUETTES and BHAWAIYA, the ingenious blending of vibraphone and Electric Sitar. In SOUND OF THE SILHOUETTES, you will also listen to classical numbers like RAGA AMEN and PEELO which they have played with gusto and perfection.
Versatility is a strong point of THE SILHOUETTES. In addition to featuring exciting folk tunes, they also make a point of featuring some of their own compositions in meticulous execution.
With “MAIN DIVANA” and their great performance of “SOUND OF THE SILHOUETTES” the Silhouettes are sure to become the most popular entertaining group for a long time to come.
The Silhouettes did release one other single, as the backing band for Runa and Dina Laila. But as far as I know, that was it. As for their record label, which is the only record I have seen from the region that was not on some version of EMI / HMV / RCA, Arokey Chemical Industries was taken over by the Pakistani government in 1972.
Catalog number ACI.S-I on Arokey-Records, “A product of Arokey Chemical Industries, Ltd. 3rd Floor, N.G.B. McLeod Road, Karachi”. No release date listed.
Filed under: Pakistan
♬ Bondure
The Mods were from Pakistan.
Apparently, there was a market for traditional music played on Western instruments. Not sure who this was being marketed to, either the indigenous population or foreign tourists. But there were a number of bands that released similar records, most notable being The Fore Thoughts, The Panthers and The Slihouettes. But who that market was remains a bit of a mystery.
Here’s the liner notes from the back cover:
This album “FOUR FOLK INSTRUMENTALS FROM PAKISTAN” is a beautiful collection of traditional oriental tunes, played on modern western instruments, by “THE MODS”. This is their first disc and judging from the masterly performance quite a lot of creative work is expected of this upcoming group of young and talented quintet.
I have not been able to find out any information about the band, or their composer / songwriter Mohammed Yousuf. As far as I know, this was their only recording. If you have any information, please contact me.
Since the initial posting, Garage Hangover has posted the entire single, and a scan of the back cover here.
Catalog number EKCE-20012 on The Gramophone Company of Pakistan Limited, a member of the EMI group of companies. No release date given.
Filed under: Pakistan
Nisar Bazmi was born Syed Nisar Ahmed in 1924 in Bombay, India.
He did not belonged to an artistic family and nor did he have any prior musical training. Noted Indian musician, Khan Saheb Aman Ali Khan, convinced of Nisar’s musical talent, decided to teach him. Equipped only with artistic know-how, young Nisar, quickly mastered the various ragas, the musical instruments and took all music lessons to heart.
At the age of fifteen, All India Radio hired him as an artist in 1939. Five years later, he composed some songs for the drama, “Nadir Shah Durrani”, which was broadcast from the Bombay Radio Station. All of the songs that he composed for the show became hits.
Soon after, he was asked to compose music for the film “Jamana Paar”, which was released in 1946. Nisar accepted the offer and changed his name to Nisar Bazmi. He composed the music for twenty eight films before he decided to move to Pakistan in 1962.
Once permanently settled in Pakistan, he resumed his music career by simultaneously composing songs for two movies: Director Nazeer Sufi’s film “Head Constable” (released on September 25, 1964) and director Fazal Ahmed Karim Fazli’s movie “Aisa Bhi Hota Hai” (released on February 5, 1965).
He responsible for introducing Alamgir to film music in Pakistan. During his musical career he composed many hit songs for Runa Laila , Ahmed Rushdi , Noor Jehan and Mehdi Hassan. Also, the well known songwriting duo of Laxmikant-Pyarelal were musicians of Nisar Bazmi in India before he left for Pakistan, and later they became famous music composers.
Furthermore, Nisar is also an accomplished poet. His poetic collection were to be brought to the limelight by his admirer, Shamim Bazil (against his wishes).
Catalog number EMPP 5006 on EMI of Pakistan, released in 1976.
Filed under: Pakistan
♬ Jungee
The Fore Thoughts were from Pakistan.
Apparently, there was a market for traditional music played on Western instruments. Not sure who this was being marketed to, either the indigenous population or foreign tourists. But there were a number of bands that released similar records, most notable being The Mods, The Panthers and The Slihouettes. The Four Thoughts actually released two records, both with the exact same front cover.
Here are the liner notes from the e.p.:
Let me present to you the first record released by the up coming group, ‘Fore Thoughts’. In this album they are playing four of the very popular Pakistani Folk tunes composed and arranged by the brilliant young maestro Sohail Rana.
Together they present a sound which you have not heard before, it is a successful and happy marriage of Eastern melodies to Western instruments. The instruments you will hear in this album are: Electric Guitar (lead, played by Anif Luqmani [printed as ‘Anis Luqmani’]), Electric Organ (played by Anis Ahmed), Bass Guitar (played by Bashir Belouch) and the drums (played by young Umeed Ansari).
The tunes presented here are from different regions of Pakistan, namely former provinces of Sindh, Punjab, and East Pakistan. You will agree with me when I say that they have done full justice to melodies by retaining their Eastern Flavour in the interpretation.
Wishing you all a very happy listening time,
Fazili Shakil, Manager
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number EKCE 20003. on The Gramophone Company of Pakistan Limited and was manufactured by Columbia in Pakistan.
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