KARACHI: Distinguished Urdu poet Iftikhar Husain Arif is these days visiting Karachi from Islamabad to participate in a couple of mushairas. On Monday evening, the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, celebrated with enthusiasm his 79th birthday on its premises. The poet was requested to sit in a sofa on stage in front of a big number of his admirers who had come to listen to his poetry.

The event, moderated by Dr Huma Mir, began with a lovely little period of half an hour or so when four young musicians associated with the council’s music academy appeared on stage and sang Arif’s famous ghazals.

The small concert kicked off with Tum se bichhad ker zindah hain sung by Sameer, originally sung by Mohammad Ali Shehki. The new thing that the young man did was that he experimented with the tempo of the tune. However, he mixed up some words and phrased.

The most pleasant surprise was received in the shape of M Zubair singing with a great deal of control and melodiousness the ghazal Honay ko kya hua nahin hai. It was a pleasant surprise because he had attempted to do something immortalised by the Malika-i-Mausiqui, Roshan Ara Begum. He is a gifted singer.

Arts Council celebrates noted poet’s 79th birthday

Then came Munib singing Khwab ki tarha bikhar janey ko ji chahta hai, another nice effort. Finally, the youngsters played an original composition of Arif’s ghazal Sitaron se bhara yeh aasmaan kaisa lagey ga sung by Mustafa. Given that they didn’t have much time to set the words to music and were asked to do so just the day before, the tune was heartwarming.

After the songs, Arif cut his birthday cake.

That being said, it was the poet who dazzled the audience in the real sense; first, with his remarkable eloquence as he went down memory lane telling his life stories, and then by reciting some of his well-known verses.

Touching upon the composition that Zubair sang, he narrated the story that once while working in Karachi his telephone operator told him that there’s a call made by a woman from Lalamusa for him. He replied he didn’t know any woman in Lalamusa. It turned out that it was the inimitable classical singer Roshan Ara Begum, who had sung his ghazal at a programme produced by Khwaja Najmul Hasan. Similarly, some years later, Marghub Siddiqui, a TV producer, made Shehki sing Tum se bichhad ker zinda hain.

Arif said Karachi is dear to him. At the age of 21, he came to the Sindh capital from Lucknow. He never in his life ever had to face any kind of prejudice in Sindh. “I spent a long time in Karachi and never met a single person who was prejudiced against me.”

After his address, Arif read his couplets and verses that the attendees thoroughly enjoyed. Two of them were:

Jaisa hun waisa kyun hun samjha sakta tha main
Tum ne pucchha to hota batla sakta tha main
Aasuda rehney ki khwahish maar gai warna
Aagey aur buhat aagey tak ja sakta tha main

[If you had asked, which you never did,
I could’ve told you why I am the way I am
I could’ve gone way ahead in life
But this longing for material wellbeing…]

Earlier, Mubin Mirza shed light on the Arif’s poetic prowess and the council’s president Ahmed Shah welcomed the guests.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2022