Ustad Amanat Ali Khan (1922–1974) was a Pakistani singer, ghazal singer and composer. He belonged to the Patiala Gharana which performed traditional and classical Hindustani music. He used to sing duets with his younger brother Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan, which were broadcast by Radio Pakistan Lahore station. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the singer gained considerable fame. In 1969, Khan was awarded the Pride of Performance by the President of Pakistan. He is also known as the “Maestro of Patiala Gharana” for his extraordinary voice. The singer died on 18 September 1974.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Ustad Amanat Ali Khan was born in 1922 (age 52 at the time of death) in Sham Chaurasi, Hoshiarpur, Punjab. After the partition of India in 1947, he had to move to Pakistan along with his family. He learned music from his father Ustad Akhtar Hussain Khan, who was also a renowned singer, under the patronage of the Maharaja of Patiala. He started performing in the court of the Maharaja of Patiala along with his brother in his teenage years.
Family
Ustad Amanat Ali Khan belonged to the Patiala Gharana.
parents and siblings
His father, Ustad Akhtar Hussain Khan, was an accomplished singer who sang under the patronage of the Maharaja of Patiala.
Ustad Akhtar Hussain Khan, father of Amanat Ali
He has two younger brothers, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan (also known as Bade Fateh Ali Khan) and Ustad Hamid Ali Khan, who also carried on the lineage of the Patiala Gharana.
Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan (left) and Hamid Ali Khan (right), younger brothers of Amanat Ali Khan
wife and children
Ustad Amanat Ali Khan married Almas Amanat Ali Khan and had 7 children. His sons Amjad Amanat Ali Khan, Asad Amanat Ali Khan and Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan also took up the profession of singing. After his death, his sons Amjad Amanat Ali Khan and Asad Amanat Ali Khan carried on the legacy of classical music and began performing with their uncle Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, while his youngest son Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan took up fusion music. Gained expertise in.
Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan (left) and Asad Amanat Ali Khan (right), sons of Ustad Amanat Ali Khan
Amjad Amanat Ali Khan is the eldest son of Amanat Ali Khan.
other relatives
His great-grandfather Mian Kallu and grandfather Ustad Ali Baksh Jarnail Khan are considered the founders of the Patiala Gharana in the 19th century.
livelihood
He followed the Patiala Gharana tradition of singing classical Hindustani music. He had expertise in Khayal, Thumri and Ghazal singing styles. He learned music from his father Ustad Akhtar Hussain Khan. He started singing and recording music at a very young age. He was in his teens when he, along with his younger brother Fateh Ali Khan, started performing in the court of Maharaja Yadvinder Singh of Patiala. He had great command over tunes, while his brother Fateh Ali Khan was proficient on ragas. Both of them had divided their singing specialties in such a way that Amanat Ali Khan sang in the upper voice and Fateh Ali Khan sang in the lower voice, as per their expertise.
Pair of Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan (left) and Ustad Amanat Ali Khan (right)
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Amanat Ali Khan and Fateh Ali Khan’s album ‘Raag Se Ghazal Tak’
Some of the most famous songs of Ustad Amanat Ali Khan are “Mora Jiya Na Laage,” “Pyaar Nahi Hai Sur Se,” “Dil Mein Meethe Meethe Dard,” “Piya Nahi Aaye,” and “Chup Dhawan Te.” His most notable ghazals include “Yeh Arzoo Thi Tujhe Gul Ke,” “Mausam Badla,” “Yeh Na Thi Hamari Kismat,” “Honton Pe Kabhi Unke,” and “Meri Dastan-e-Hasrat.” The ghazal “Insha Ji Utho” was the biggest hit sung by Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, written by Iben Insha, and was first performed on Pakistan Television in January 1974. The ghazal was a super hit and the audience demanded to play it again and again. He also sang two patriotic songs, “Chaand Meri Zameen Phool Mera Watan” and “Ae Watan Pyare Watan” during his career.
cursed song
The poem “Insha Ji Utho” was written by the famous Pakistani poet Ibne Insha. The poem or ghazal is considered cursed because most of Amanat Ali Khan’s family members, including Amanat Ali himself, died within a few months of singing the ghazal. Ustad Amanat Ali Khan wanted to create an art piece to depict the poignancy of urban life in Karachi and Lahore and suddenly he came across this poem by Ibne Insha. Soon after reading the poem, Amanat Ali expressed his desire to sing it and met Ibne Insha and told him how he wanted to sing it.
Ibn-e-Insha
In January 1974, Amanat Ali Khan performed this ghazal for the first time in a concert on Pakistan Television (PTV). This ghazal became a superhit and gained so much popularity that the audience started demanding to play it again and again. He died at the age of 52, just a few months after the ghazal became popular. After some time, the creator of the ghazal, Khalil Ahmed, also died. Ibne Insha died in 1978 at the age of 50 after suffering from cancer and the ghazal was broadcast on PTV on the same day. In the last days of his life, when Ibn-e-Inshaa was in the hospital, he wrote several letters to his friends. In a letter he wrote,
How many lives will this ill-fated ghazal take…?’ (How many more lives will this cursed poem take?)
After the death of Amanat Ali Khan, his eldest son, Amjad Amanat Ali Khan started singing the same ghazals and died in 2002. Then, in 2006, Amanat Ali Khan’s son Asad Amanat Ali Khan sang the same ghazal. A musical program for PTV. After a few months of singing ghazals, due to bad luck or the curse of ghazals, Asad died in 2007 at the age of 52.
Ghazal ‘Insha Ji Utho’ written by Ibn-e-Insha
Ghazal is considered cursed after the continuous deaths of singers and people associated with it after singing the ghazal “Insha Ji Utho”. In an interview, when Amanat Ali’s youngest son Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan was asked about Shapit Ghazal, he replied,
When he died, everyone started associating it with death.” He further said, “And then Ibn Insha himself died. My eldest brother Amjad Bhai also used to sing it. He died. I don’t remember the name of the producer but he also died. And then Asad Bhai.”
He further said that neither he nor anyone in the family were superstitious. He said,
Life and death are in God’s hands. We have no control over this. It is just painful memories that this ghazal brings back for us,”
Although he admits that his family does not allow him to sing ghazals, an “emotional restriction” has been imposed on him.
award
In 1969, Ustad Amanat Ali was awarded the Pride of Performance Award by the President of Pakistan. He has many other awards to his name.
Death
Ustad Amanat Ali Khan died of a ruptured appendix, at the age of 52, a few months after his father’s demise. Ustad Amanat Ali Khan breathed his last on 18 September 1974 in Lahore, Pakistan. He was buried in the Mominpura cemetery near Lakshmi Chavank in Lahore, Pakistan.
Facts/General Knowledge
- According to his brother Fateh Ali Khan, Amanat Ali wrote the song “Kab Aao Gay” when both of them were flying from East Pakistan to Nepal in the late 1960s at the invitation of the King of Nepal. In an interview, Fateh Ali Khan recalled the incident saying that during the flight, his plane encountered air turbulence after which Fateh Ali Khan got scared; However, according to Fateh Ali Khan, there was no trace of fear on Amanat Ali’s face, and when Fateh Ali Khan asked his brother “Khan Sahab Tuhanu Dar Nain Lagda” (Aren’t you scared Khan Sahab?), So Amanat Ali asked. He took a piece of paper and pen and started writing the lyrics of the song “Kab Aao Ge” in Raag Bhairavi; The song was completed during the flight.
- Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, also known as the Swara Kokila of India, trained under Ustad Amanat Ali Khan in the early days of her career in 1945. But later, after the partition of India, he moved to Pakistan.
- After his sudden death, his younger brother and singing partner Ustad Fateh Ali Khan was struck by depression and he stopped singing for a few years.
A rare picture of Ustad Amanat Ali Khan and Fateh Ali Khan
- One of Ustad Amanat Ali Khan’s sons, Ustad Asad Amanat Ali Khan, died of cardiac arrest on 8 April 2007 in London. He was buried in the same cemetery i.e. Mominpura Cemetery, Lahore, Pakistan, where his father Ustad Amanat Ali was buried. Later, Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan was also buried in the same graveyard in 2017.
- Praising Ustad Amanat Ali Khan in an interview, his younger brother Hamid Ali Khan had said,
Ustad Amanat Ali Khan was the genius of our family and his songs will remain iconic. The whole world was witness to his talent and that is why he ruled the world with his voice. He learned classical singing from his elders and proved himself professionally. Apart from being a top classical singer, he was also a beautiful human being blessed with humility.”
- Ram Sakh, a prominent raga of Patiala Gharana, was a favorite of the duo Amanat Ali and Fateh Ali Khan.
- In their public performance at the Calcutta Music Conference, the Amanat Ali-Fateh Ali duo performed the raga Puriya Dhanashree, and the accompaniment was “Sultan e Alam Nizamuddin Auliya”.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn