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PESHAWAR, Sep 05 (APP):Melody Queen Noor Jehan—the legendary singer of Pakistan has carried a unique distinction of infusing a new spirit of patriotism and motivation in the country’s armed forces during the 1965 war during her songs.
When India attacked Pakistan on September 6, 1965, it was Noor Jehan who stood tall for the nation and armed forces of Pakistan by singing numerous patriotic songs which infused a new spirit of nationalism and motivation among soldiers fighting against the enemy at the eastern border.
Her famous songs “Aye Watan ke Sajelay Jawano, Aye Puttar Hattan Te Nahi Wikde, a Rah Haq Key Shaheeedo Wafa Ki Taswero, Rang Laye Ga Shaheedon ka Lahoo and many more had touched the hearts and minds of every Pakistani from Karachi to Khyber and Chitral to Gawadar during 65 war.
“A number of Pakistani singers including Ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan, Saleem Raza, Alam Lohar and others had made an important contribution to warm the blood of nation and soldiers but in fact it was iconic Noor Jehan, who infused a new spirit of patriotism and national pride and encouraged our valiant soldiers who were defending the country’s borders through her motivation songs,” said Prof Dr Ejaz Khan, former chairman, international relations department, university of Peshawar while talking to APP.
“The history of 65 War would remain incomplete without mentioning the matchless services of Noor Jehan on music front whose motivational songs had not only injected a new spirit of patriotism and national cohesion in the entire nation but also played a key role in motivating the armed forces of Pakistan,” he reiterated.
“Madam Noor Jehan was the first choice of the writers, poets and lyricists, who had written an excellent poetry for the motivation of the nation and troops fighting on eastern borders besides paid rich tributes to all those soldiers, who laid down lives for the country’s defense including Major Aziz Bhatti Shaheed (Nishan e Haider).
“I can still remember her famous songs such as “Aye Watan ke Sajelay Jawano, Aye Puttar Hattan Te Nahi Wikde, a Rah Haq Key Shaheeedo Wafa Ki Taswero and Rang Laye Ga Shaheedon ka Lahoo sung by her for first time that had touched hearts and minds of millions of Pakistanis besides created a wave of nationalism from Karachi to Khyber and Azad Kashmir to Waziristan,” Dr Ejaz Khani said.
Born at the residence of Madad Ali at Qasur Punjab during British India on September 21, 1926, she started singing at age of five at home under guidance of his father Madad Ali and mother Fateh Bibi, who were both professional singers.
In early age, she proved her mettle in all forms of singing including ghazals, folk, national, playback and gave thousands of hit songs to music and film industry. She sung over 20,000 songs in various languages including Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Hindi and her playback singing was considered a guarantee for success of films in Pakistani box office.
Noor Jehan was one of the greatest and most influential singers of all time in South Asia, who was given the title of Malka-e-Tarannum (Melody Queen) in Pakistan. She had a complete command on Pakistani and Hindustani classical music besides other music genres that separated her from all contemporary singers in subcontinent.
Melody Queen holds a record for having given voice to a largest number of film songs in history of Pakistani cinema besides to have made over 40 films on social, cultural, national and other important issues as producer and director.
Her films Zeenat (1945), Dupatta (1952), Anarkali (1958), Intezar (1956) and others had broken all records of popularity and promoted the cinema industry in Pakistan.
Manzoorul Haq, former ambassador said that Madam Noor Jehan through her famous songs had shown the enemy that our nation and armed forces were equipped with unwavering faith, unity and self-confidence and cannot be demoralized by evil and ill-willed designs of the adversary.
He said her songs had sent waves of patriotism, nationalism in the country and every Pakistani was ready to sacrifice life and fight side by side with our brave armed forces during 65 war. “Noor Jehan was not simply a singer but a brave daughter of the nation, who personally visited borders to encourage fighting soldiers of Pakistan,” said Manzoor.
As a national singer, she served the country both in times of war and peace and her services in 65 wars were highly praised by the Government of Pakistan. On March 23, 1966, Field Marshal General Ayub Khan praised her services very high in Pakistan’s 65 war victory.
She was decorated with the prestigious Presidential Performance Award for her matchless services during 65 war and 15 Nigar awards for promoting music and film industry in the country.
She was awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for boosting morale of Pakistan Army’s troops during 65 war, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, Millennium Award and PTV’s Voice of the Century title besides others.
The melodious voice of Malika-e-Tarannum had crossed borders and touched hearts of millions of people irrespective of caste, religion and nationality in the subcontinent and abroad.
The services of the iconic singer have been acknowledged even by rival Indians singers in high esteem and Indian legend Muhammad Rafi had wished to sing with Noor Jehan. The celebrated singer of Pakistan left this mortal world on December 23, 2000 after suffering a severe heart attack in Karachi.
Although Noor Jehan was not among us today, her historic songs, especially of 65 War, were still a great source of inspiration for the entire nation of Pakistan.