Aziz Mian

Aziz Mian Qawwal ( ur, عزیز میاں قوال) (17 April 1942 – 6 December 2000) was a Pakistani traditional qawwal famous for singing ghazals in his own style of qawwali and is considered one of the greatest qawwals in South Asia. He holds the record for singing the longest commercially released qawwali, ''Hashr Ke Roz Yeh Poochhunga'', which runs slightly over 150 minutes and. Aziz is known by sobriquets — "Shahenshah-e-Qawwali" (King of qawwali), "Fauji Qawwal"(Military Singer) since his early performances were often in army barracks, and "the Nietzschean qawwal".

Early life and background

Aziz Mian was born as ''Abdul Aziz'' (Urdu: عبد العزیز) in Delhi, British India. The exclamation ''Mian'', which he often used in his qawwalis, became part of his stage name. He began to introduce himself as ''Aziz Mian Meeruthi''. The word ''Meeruthi'' refers to Meerut, a city in northern India, from where he migrated to Pakistan in 1947.

At the age of ten, he began learning Harmonium under the tutelage of Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan of Lahore. He received sixteen years of training at the ''Data Ganj Baksh School'' of Lahore, and earned masters (M.A) degrees in Urdu literature, Islamic Studies and Philosophy And Bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Punjab, Lahore.

Career

Aziz Mian was one of the non-traditional Pakistani Qawwals. His voice was raspy and powerful. Aziz Mian was the only prominent qawwal to write his own lyrics (though, like others, he also performed songs written by other poets). Aziz Mian was a contemporary, and often a competitor of Sabri Brothers.

He first began performing at private gatherings. However, his official ‘start' came in 1966, when he performed in front of the Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi. The Shah of Iran was so moved by his performance that he gave Aziz Mian a gold medal. From this moment on, Aziz Mian gained popularity and started releasing albums. In addition to singing qawwalis, he was also an expert at singing ghazals. He became a noted member of the qawwal community due to his unique and crisp voice. In the early days of his career, he was nicknamed ''Fauji Qawwal'' ( ur, فوجی قوال) (meaning "Military Qawwal") because most of his early stage-performances were in military barracks for the army personnel. He was known for a "more recitative, more dramatic diction" and was inclined toward qawwali's religious rather than entertainment qualities, though he also enjoyed success in more ''ashiqana sufi qawwalis''.

He was fond of discussing religious and Sufi paradoxes in his qawwalis. He directly addressed Allah and complained about the misery of man (the greatest creation of the Almighty). In addition to his own poetry, Aziz Mian performed poetry by Allama Iqbal, and a number of contemporary Urdu poets, including Allama Iqbal, Qamar Jalalvi, Jigar Moradabadi, ''Tabish Kanpuri'' S M Sadiq, Saifuddin Saif and Qateel Shifai.

Death

Aziz Mian died from complications of hepatitis in Tehran, Iran on 6 December 2000. He was in Iran at the invitation of the Government of Iran, to perform on the occasion of Imam Ali's death anniversary. He is buried in Multan, on the brink of Nau Bahar Neharanal His death anniversary (Urs) is celebrated every year on the first Thursday of May, the Urs celebrations commence with the 'Ghusal' ceremony conducted by Mian Saheb's son Shibli Aziz and Rasm e Sandal of Baba Nadir Hussain famously known as 'Tootan Waali Sarkar' who is ''Peer O Murshid (Spiritual Master)'' of Aziz Mian. The Urs celebrations continue for three days, starting with 'Ghusal' followed by 'Chadar Poshi' and 'Mehfil e Samaa' ( ur, Mehfil-e-Samaa) of Qawwali ('samaa' means the listening audience in Urdu

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