Farida Khanum (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

classical singer Classical may refer to: European antiquity *Classical antiquity, a period of history from roughly the 7th or 8th century B.C.E. to the 5th century C.E. centered on the Mediterranean Sea *Classical architecture, architecture derived from Greek and ...

from the city of Kolkata

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. She is also known by her honorific title ''Malika-e-Ghazal'' (The Queen of Ghazal) in both Pakistan and India.

Early life

She was born in the fall of 1929 in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. She had four siblings, a sister and three brothers. Her sister is the famous singer, Mukhtar Begum. Their whole family moved from

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

, in eastern Panjab (india) to

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

when she was 18 years old. She started learning

Khayal Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian/Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with romantic poetry, and allows the perfor ...

, Thumri and

Dadra Dadra is associated with the Hindustani classical music of the Indian subcontinent. Dadra tala This is a Hindustani classical '' tala'' (rhythmic cycle), consisting of six beats in two equal divisions of three. The most commonly accepted theka ...

from Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan of

Patiala gharana The Patiala ''gharana'' (, ) is one of the vocal (tradition, school, or style of music) of Hindustani classical music, named after the city of Patiala in Punjab, India where it was established. The ''gharana'' was founded in the mid to late 19th ...

. As a child, her sister

Mukhtar Begum Mukhtar Begum was a Pakistani classical, ghazal singer and actress. She was known as ''The Queen of Music'' for singing songs in films and on radio. She worked in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu films and was known for her roles in films ''Hathili Dulh ...

would take her to the Khan's place for regular ''riyaaz'' (practice of classical music). Her family moved to

after the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

in 1947.

Career

Farida Khanum gave her first public concert in 1950 at the very young age of 21, and then joined Radio Pakistan where she gained recognition for herself. She became a star when Pakistan's president

Ayub Khan Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...

invited her to a public recital in the 1960s. Farida also acted in films and she also sanged songs for films. She has been a frequent performer on

Pakistan Television Pakistan Television Corporation ( ur, ; reporting name: PTV) is the Pakistani state-owned broadcaster. Pakistan entered the television broadcasting age in 1964, with a pilot television station established at Lahore. Background Historical co ...

and other Pakistani TV channels. The ghazal she is most associated with is

Aaj Jaane Ki Zidd Naa Karo "Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo" ( ) is a geet written by Pakistani poet Fayyaz Hashmi. It was composed by Sohail Rana, an eminent Pakistani composer. It was popularized by noted classical vocalist, Habib Wali Mohammad, who also sang it as a film playbac ...

written by the famous poet Fayyaz Hashmi. In 2015, at the age of 86, she sang this ghazal in

Coke Studio Coke Studio may refer to: * ''Coke Studio'' (Pakistan), a Pakistani television series featuring live music performances. * ''Coke Studio'' (India), an Indian television series featuring live music performances. * ''Coke Studio Bangla'', a Banglade ...

Season 8. Farida Khanum's live concerts in India have been very popular. She also visited

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in the late 1960s and early 1970s for concerts, she collaborated with Afghan musicians and sang

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

-language

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

s there.

Personal life

Farida Khanum lives in

, Pakistan. She has five daughters and one son. Farida Khanum has been affectionately called ''Queen of Ghazal'' in Pakistan.

Filmography

Film

Discography

* 1978 Farida Khanum in Concert * 1979 Farida Khanum in Concert Vol. 2 * 1985 Taghazzul Farida Khanum Vol 1 * 1980 Farida Khanum in Concert Vol. 3 * 1993 Farida Khanum: Meri Pasand Vol 2 * 1993 Farida Khanum: Meri Pasand Vol 1

Studio releases

Compilations and live albums

Awards and recognition

References

External links

*
Farida Khanum's 2015 performance at Coke Studio (Pakistan)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khanum, Farida 1929 births Living people Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz Pakistani radio personalities Recipients of the Pride of Performance Pakistani ghazal singers Singers from Kolkata Singers from Lahore Pakistani playback singers Urdu-language singers Pakistani classical singers Patiala gharana Women ghazal singers Pakistani television personalities Muhajir people 20th-century Pakistani women singers Pakistani women singers 20th-century Pakistani actresses Hum Award winners 20th-century Khyal singers People of British India 21st-century Pakistani women singers Punjabi-language singers 21st-century Pakistani actresses PTV Award winners Pakistani film actresses Actresses in Punjabi cinema Lux Style Award winners Actresses in Urdu cinema Radio personalities from Lahore