My OperaElvis of the East, ALAMGIR
Tuesday, February 3, 2009 5:02:31 PM
Alamgir, the " Elvis of the East " who has mesmerised audiences in
numerous capitals of the world, is in fact, a very soft spoken person
in real life. His voice which has a soothing and caressing effect on
the listener, reveals his unassuming personality. He is a complete
natural and quite at ease in the presence of strangers. Yet, there is
that hint of bashfulness which adds to his charm.
His greatest asset is his deep, rich, nostalgic voice, having a
timbre which differs from the voices of almost every known vocalist.
To name a few of his hit songs: Dekha na tha kabhi humne ye
sama, Ye shaam aur tera naam, Maene tomhari gagarse pani
peeya tha, Shamsay pehele aana and Mujhay dilsay na bhoolana.
Alamgir was born and brought up in the neighborhood of
Shantinagar in Dhaka. He recieved his schooling in Little Flower
School, followed by Shaheen School and then the Mirzapur Cadet
College in Mymensingh. After the death of his politician father who
had been a contemporary of the late Hussain Shaheed
Suhrawardy, most of his ten siblings began to migrate to Canada
and the United States. In 1973, Alamgir went to live with his aunt in
Karachi in Pakistan and enrolled for higher studies there while
awaiting his turn for emigration to North America.
He concedes that during his student days music dominated his life.
While singing for local pop bands, he began to be noticed and a
performance on Karachi Television in 1973 at the age of 15,
earned him instant fame and launched him on the road to stardom.
He attributes his success partially to his performance on stage,
admitting that his body movements which has always been
spontaneous and in natural response to the rhythm, appealed to
the younger Pakistani audience who hitherto been treated to more
sedate and stoical performances. he takes the visual presentation
of a vocal rendition very seriously, and often includes theatrical
costumes and choreography, especially when singing folklores.
He has sung about 400 songs for Television alone. He has sung
not many for the film, even though he has received the highest film
award in Pakistan called the Nigar Award, along with Mehdi
Hassan and Noor Jehan in 1978 for the best singer that year for
the song "Mujhe Dilsay Na Bhulana" ( film " Aina" ).
He strives to imbibe his rendering with tonal subtleties and
emotional expansiveness which add depth and meaning to the
text and the inherent meaning of the approach of the poet. He is
one of Pakistan's legends who introduced pop music to Pakistan, a
galvanic mixture of body and soul. He is the singer who sets the
beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on stage. His
numbers, which are incredible are also becoming indelible. He
has a fresh original sound. The music is either energetic or
sensual. You can dance to it, work out to it, relax to it, sing to it. Its
hard to sit still to. The singer who has an uncanny sense of what
his audience wants and how to go about the hard and profitable
business of giving it to them. Singing and dancing at the same time
is a very difficult act, but Alamgir being a born dedicated artist
became the first singer in Pakistan to have started it. It is he who
has introduced the modern or pop music to Pakistan.
As a child his only influence to music was Elvis Presley. The very
first song that he ever uttered to sing a song was at the age of 10,
and that was Elvis's song " His Latest Flame ". As a toddler he
once got so attracted to a Hemanta Mukherjee's record his father
was listening, that he crawled to the gramophone and ripped off
the mesh covering the speaker in an effort to locate the source of
the melodious voice. As he was growing older so was his number
of influences. Legends like Abbasuddin, who was his father's
favorite singer, Hemanta Mukherjee, Beatles, Rolling Stones,
Englebert Humperdink, Ustad Amir Khan, Ustad Salamat Ali,
Roshan Ara Begum, Mozzart, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar,
Mannade, Simon and Garfunkel, Billy Joel, Mehdi Hassan and
Elton John were among his influences.
Todays pop music, Alamgir ruefully admits, is mostly trash. He
strongly feels that music should be soothing, instead of ear drum
blasting form that it acquired. To him, the melody and the lyrics of a
song are of immense importance.In recent years, he has taken to
ghazals for which he is doing reaz (practicing classical ragas).
With his ear for languages, Alamgir has sung in many languages.
He counts North Korea's President Late Kim Ill Sung among his
fans. He has already performed there five times and was awarded
pride of performance of rendition of a song in Korean. He has
traveled and performed in 45 countries around the world.
In the last 25 years of his fame, he has released about 30 albums.
20 plus in Pakistan and about 5 in Bangladesh.
He is now well settled in Georgia, U.S.A. These days he is
performing in many of the cities in U.S.A and Canada and once in
a while long tours of Europe, Africa, Middle East and the Indian
Sub Continent. He has his own computerized studio where he
records his own album keeps doing his musical research, and making
new music.
source:
(www.alamgirfanclub.com)
numerous capitals of the world, is in fact, a very soft spoken person
in real life. His voice which has a soothing and caressing effect on
the listener, reveals his unassuming personality. He is a complete
natural and quite at ease in the presence of strangers. Yet, there is
that hint of bashfulness which adds to his charm.
His greatest asset is his deep, rich, nostalgic voice, having a
timbre which differs from the voices of almost every known vocalist.
To name a few of his hit songs: Dekha na tha kabhi humne ye
sama, Ye shaam aur tera naam, Maene tomhari gagarse pani
peeya tha, Shamsay pehele aana and Mujhay dilsay na bhoolana.
Alamgir was born and brought up in the neighborhood of
Shantinagar in Dhaka. He recieved his schooling in Little Flower
School, followed by Shaheen School and then the Mirzapur Cadet
College in Mymensingh. After the death of his politician father who
had been a contemporary of the late Hussain Shaheed
Suhrawardy, most of his ten siblings began to migrate to Canada
and the United States. In 1973, Alamgir went to live with his aunt in
Karachi in Pakistan and enrolled for higher studies there while
awaiting his turn for emigration to North America.
He concedes that during his student days music dominated his life.
While singing for local pop bands, he began to be noticed and a
performance on Karachi Television in 1973 at the age of 15,
earned him instant fame and launched him on the road to stardom.
He attributes his success partially to his performance on stage,
admitting that his body movements which has always been
spontaneous and in natural response to the rhythm, appealed to
the younger Pakistani audience who hitherto been treated to more
sedate and stoical performances. he takes the visual presentation
of a vocal rendition very seriously, and often includes theatrical
costumes and choreography, especially when singing folklores.
He has sung about 400 songs for Television alone. He has sung
not many for the film, even though he has received the highest film
award in Pakistan called the Nigar Award, along with Mehdi
Hassan and Noor Jehan in 1978 for the best singer that year for
the song "Mujhe Dilsay Na Bhulana" ( film " Aina" ).
He strives to imbibe his rendering with tonal subtleties and
emotional expansiveness which add depth and meaning to the
text and the inherent meaning of the approach of the poet. He is
one of Pakistan's legends who introduced pop music to Pakistan, a
galvanic mixture of body and soul. He is the singer who sets the
beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on stage. His
numbers, which are incredible are also becoming indelible. He
has a fresh original sound. The music is either energetic or
sensual. You can dance to it, work out to it, relax to it, sing to it. Its
hard to sit still to. The singer who has an uncanny sense of what
his audience wants and how to go about the hard and profitable
business of giving it to them. Singing and dancing at the same time
is a very difficult act, but Alamgir being a born dedicated artist
became the first singer in Pakistan to have started it. It is he who
has introduced the modern or pop music to Pakistan.
As a child his only influence to music was Elvis Presley. The very
first song that he ever uttered to sing a song was at the age of 10,
and that was Elvis's song " His Latest Flame ". As a toddler he
once got so attracted to a Hemanta Mukherjee's record his father
was listening, that he crawled to the gramophone and ripped off
the mesh covering the speaker in an effort to locate the source of
the melodious voice. As he was growing older so was his number
of influences. Legends like Abbasuddin, who was his father's
favorite singer, Hemanta Mukherjee, Beatles, Rolling Stones,
Englebert Humperdink, Ustad Amir Khan, Ustad Salamat Ali,
Roshan Ara Begum, Mozzart, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar,
Mannade, Simon and Garfunkel, Billy Joel, Mehdi Hassan and
Elton John were among his influences.
Todays pop music, Alamgir ruefully admits, is mostly trash. He
strongly feels that music should be soothing, instead of ear drum
blasting form that it acquired. To him, the melody and the lyrics of a
song are of immense importance.In recent years, he has taken to
ghazals for which he is doing reaz (practicing classical ragas).
With his ear for languages, Alamgir has sung in many languages.
He counts North Korea's President Late Kim Ill Sung among his
fans. He has already performed there five times and was awarded
pride of performance of rendition of a song in Korean. He has
traveled and performed in 45 countries around the world.
In the last 25 years of his fame, he has released about 30 albums.
20 plus in Pakistan and about 5 in Bangladesh.
He is now well settled in Georgia, U.S.A. These days he is
performing in many of the cities in U.S.A and Canada and once in
a while long tours of Europe, Africa, Middle East and the Indian
Sub Continent. He has his own computerized studio where he
records his own album keeps doing his musical research, and making
new music.
source:
(www.alamgirfanclub.com)
AquibStevie-G # Tuesday, February 3, 2009 6:12:56 PM
Alamgir, the legendary musician is quite an underrated & forgotten singer in todays world of pop music. Probably, which is why I didn't buy his CD that day after listening to his live performance. Along with a marketeer, I believe he still can do wonders in the music industry. About a couple of months ago, I abandoned listening to Indian music and started listening to Pakistani musicians, more.
I was listening to a Sajjad Ali's song "Kuch Ladkiyan Mujhey Tang Karein" on youtube.com, and while listening to it I noticed a link of Alamgir's song "Shaam Se Pehlay Aana" in the related list of songs. I clicked on it and kept listening to this song for about an hour, repeatedly. Later, I bought his CD and now I've become addicted to his voice as i wont go to sleep unless i've heard any of his songs.
A few days ago, I came to know through a cousin that he's got some serious health issues from a long time. I wasn't aware of that n immediately searched on the web, and got the confirmation from there that both his kidneys have failed.
I signed his guest book and asked him if there is any other way for us to support beside buying your music (which was the only option he had given to his fans before adding 'donate' feature) then do let us know. He did that by updating the content of his page, a couple of days ago. People as humble as him should live forever!
I urge all you readers to at least visit his web page i.e. www.alamgirfanclub.com
May Allah bless him with a quick recovery, Ameen!
AquibStevie-G # Tuesday, February 3, 2009 6:19:23 PM
Being a perennial skeptical about email money appeals, a message about Alamgir’s health and plea to wire transfer money to a bank account made me decide to check the veracity of the news.
I looked up Alamgir’s telephone number in Georgia and called him up. Luck was with me, I was able to talk directly to Alamgir in quite detail. Here is what I gathered from our telephone conversation.
In 2004, Alamgir was diagnosed with failing kidneys. At that time his kidneys were operating at 50% of their capacity. The kidneys kept deteriorating in their performance and by now they are almost useless. Alamgir needs a kidney transplant, but till he finds new kidneys he would have to go through dialysis, the process of machine-cleaning the blood. For the dialysis to start he went through a surgery on Monday, October 6, at Gwinnett Medical Center, Lawrenceville. In that surgery Alamgir was fitted with a dialysis catheter.
Once the surgical wound is dried up, Alamgir’s dialysis through the catheter would start. Since Alamgir has permanent renal failure, he would go through another surgery in which he would be fitted with surgically created arteriovenous fistula, a preferred approach for dialysis. Surgically created arteriovenous fistula is apparently a more involved surgery and is hence delayed till the patient is in better health through dialysis made possible through catheter.
The main reason Alamgir landed in financial trouble is because he was not carrying any health insurance. Although he sounded fatigued Alamgir spoke with optimism.
He said many Pakistani doctors currently living in the US were studying at either Sindh or Dow Medical College when he was at the peak of his career. They were his friends and he was happy to see them coming to his help. Just a day ago he received a call from Ishrat-Ul-Ibad, Governor of Sindh, who extended his support to Alamgir especially if Alamgir would come to Pakistan for further treatment. Alamgir said he is consulting his doctors for the best approach to take. Currently he is being helped by his wife; Alamgir’s son is studying in Virginia .
So, yes the news about Alamgir’s ailment and the appeal for financial help are authentic.
AquibStevie-G # Friday, March 13, 2009 7:59:03 PM
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