His diction, expression of words, the movement of the musical notes in different scales was impeccable. He breathed meaning to each word in the poetry. The division of the words, the composition of Raga to the mood of the poetry was possible since he had an absolute understanding of the language. The challenge was to express the feelings of the poet through the musical notes. The rigorous training he had as a child with my grandfather, uncle and exposure to the Dhrupadiya style intricacies did have a huge influence on my father and his music. The very fact that he was the 16th generation musician was a huge responsibility to carry forward. His understanding of this classical form of singing helped him immensely to experiment with composing the Ghazals to Classical ragas. His music was a complete symbol of\u00a0Sur\u00a0and his rendering, was\u00a0 A VISION OF THE WORD. He gave a new dimension to ghazal singing by adopting classical Hindusthani ragas. He loved to experiment with Musical notes and Rhythm A case in the point is the ghazal.<\/div>\n
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“Jab tere nain Muskurathey hain” which was later adopted by Ustad Sultan Khan, a Sarangi player from India. This composition was named RAAG SEHERA, and Ustad Sultan Khan acknowledged this composition to Mehdi Saab every time he played it during the concerts.<\/div>\n
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The\u00a0 \u00a0ghazal “Ab ke Hum Bichade ” was again his own Raag . Many occasions he has composed music to the Ghazals on the stage without any preparation. I remember that during a festival of Raag Darbari special, he was given a sheet of paper containing the Poetry by Parveen Shakir.<\/div>\n
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In a matter of minutes, Mehdi Saab was ready and rendered the ghazal ” Ru ba Ru pehel gayi baath shana sayi ki ”\u00a0 to the elite crowd in the studio and audience across the nation.<\/div>\n
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“Shola\u00a0tha jal Bhuja hu ” the Ghazal composed in Raag Kirwani is another example of his ability to compose impromptu. \u00a0 “Ek bus tu hi nahi jo mujse,\u00a0 khapha ho baita” in the album Kehna Ussey is composed in Miya ka Malhar.<\/div>\n
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The\u00a0 Raag is a\u00a0 very difficult classical piece and was rarely used in Ghazal Gayaki.\u00a0 Mehdi Saab broke the rules again. \u00a0“Komple phir phooot aaye shaakh par, Kehna usey, woh\u00a0 na samjega magar Kehna Ussey”, in the album “Kehna Ussey featuring Farhath\u00a0 Shehzaad ” is an example of blending\u00a0 RAAG and THE POETRY.<\/div>\n
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Komple in Urdu means BUD indicating\u00a0 The arrival of the Spring season and Raag Megh Malhaar was the Raag he chose to compose thus creating another masterpiece. \u00a0Similar was the experiment with the Ghazal” Khuli Jo aankh na who tha na who Zamana tha “.<\/div>\n
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Raga Bhankar,\u00a0 in Bhairav thaat\u00a0 was the base of this composition. it was a perfect blend of MOOD and THE\u00a0 PAKKAD in his own creative style. He went to the bottom of the theme of the Ghazal and looked for the meanings unsaid in the words.<\/div>\n
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I remember during a conversation about his work on Momin Khan Momin (the 18th-century poet) poetry Navaq\u00a0 Andaz kidhar di daye, the couplet. “Tu\u00a0 kaha jayegi , Kuch Apna thikana karle,\u00a0 hum to kal Kwaab-e-Adam mein,\u00a0 shab-e-Hijra\u00a0 honge.”(It means where will you go? make a little space for yourself. When the dawn beckons in the morning, we will part ways.)<\/div>\n
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For an ordinary person, this is a\u00a0 conversation between the lovers. He deciphered the meaning to me as the dialogue between the ” Body and Soul. ” One has to look at life beyond the physical form existing in front of one. Life is a form of abstracts. Performing arts is the tool for insight into Life. Such was the intellect of Mehdi Saab. This conversation changed my perception of life.<\/div>\n
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I, Mehdi Saab and our group of musicians were travelling in my van from New York to Washington D.C after a Ghazal programme. It was late night and the musicians were fast asleep. It started raining heavily and I was driving the car. I switched on the wipers of the van. My dad sitting next to me said\u00a0” Kamran, can you give me divide four thaats for the timing of the wiper. I did. he then said make it Six, then ten then Seventeen, then nineteen and some odd numbers.<\/div>\n
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He was teaching me the timing through his innovative and simple techniques. Kamran recalls another incident. We were travelling from London back home to Karachi. As the engines of the Aircraft were turned on Mehdisaab asked to identify the note matching that of the engine. I could not, but he did, by matching the exact sound of the engine and the note.\u00a0 Such was his passion for music. He was musically alert always.<\/div>\n
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He loved all kinds of music and had a special love for the Gamaka Gayaki style of Carnatic\u00a0 Music. We did concerts in South India in Madras, Bangalore and Kerala. He obviously enjoyed interacting with the audience all over South India and long periods of conversation about Carnatic Vocal music.<\/div>\n
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I have known Kannada Cinema Legendary Actor Singer Dr Rajkumar was a true blue fan of my father. It’s heartening to know the adaptation of all time Miyan Ka Malhaar based Classic ” Nawazish Karam Shukriya ” was adopted by him in the movie Kavi Ratna Kalidasa. It’s a classic case of Art being collaborative in nature.<\/div>\n
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Mehdi Saab loved\u00a0 India for two reasons. One is because he was from India, second, for the appreciation he got for his music from India. He is on record saying\u00a0SUR\u00a0EESHWAR\u00a0HAI and believed that music is a divine language. We are deeply indebted to the ghazal lovers, netizens, Millenials for the love and affection showered on Mehdisaab and his Music. His life is a testimony to the adage ” One World No Boundaries “<\/div>\n
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