Ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan died earlier today at the Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi. The Rajasthan-born (1927) singer, whose family moved to Pakistan post partition, passed away from lung, chest and other infections. He had been ailing for years.
According to Wikipedia, “In October 2010, HMV released the album Sarhadein, in which probably the first and last duet song Tera Milana featuring Mehdi Hassan and Lata Mangeshkar was released. This song was composed by Mehdi Hassan himself. Mr. Hassan recorded it in Pakistan in 2009 and Lata Mangeshkar later heard the track and recorded her part in India in 2010 and later mixed together for a duet.”
In fact, Lata Mangeshkar had once stated that Mehdi Hassan’s songs reflected the “Voice of God”.
We take a look back at some of his ghazals: