Kala Suri
The Kala Suri ( si, කලා සූරී; ta, கலாசூரி, translit=Kalācūri) is a Sri Lankan national honour awarded "''for special contributions to the development of the arts''". It is conventionally used as a title or prefix to ...
Alhaj Kareem Mohideen Baig ( si, මොහිදින් බෙග්, ar, محي الدين بيك; 5 December 1919 – 4 November 1991), popularly as Mohideen Baig, was a
Sri Lankan musician
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...
. One of the most influential singers in Sinhala music, Baig is known particularly for his
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
devotional music. He is a
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
who moved to
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
from
Salem
Salem may refer to: Places
Canada
Ontario
* Bruce County
** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie
** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce
* Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...
in
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
, but of a
Hyderabadi Muslim
Hyderabadi Muslims, also referred to as Hyderabadis are a community of Deccani people, who are part of a larger ethnic group of Urdu-speaking Muslims, from the area that used to be the princely state of Hyderabad in the regions of Marathwada ...
origin.
He was considered a highly influential multicultural figure in the country's arts history.
Baig is the first award winning citizen of Sri Lanka.
Personal life
Born on 5 December 1918 in Salem
South India as the third of the family, Baig belonged to an Indian tribe called Pathan.
Baig's paternal lineage is descended from a pro-Islamic lineage with a centuries-old history.
His father Kareem Baig served as a police officer in Salem. Bijan B was his mother. He was educated at a school in Salem and received his primary education in music from several music teachers in Salem particularly talented in singing Urdu and Qawali songs.
Kareem and Bijan were the parents of fourteen children, three of whom died in infancy. Baig came to Ceylon in 1931. During this time, Baig's grandfather, Halaldine worked for the Grandpass police and Mohideen's older brother, Aziz worked for the Harbor police.
He returned Sri Lanka (then as Ceylon) due to untimely death of his brother Aziz by a boat accident in 1931.
At the age of 18, Baig joined the Sri Lanka Army.
Baig was married in 1947 to his own cousin, Sakina Baig. They had 8 children, which include 5 sons – Usman, Haider, Mubarak, Ishaq and Ilyas; and 3 girls –
Rabia, Salima and Moina.
His two sons, Ishaq and Ilyas are popular singers who continue the father's legacy.
He also visited Mecca in 1987 under the patronage of Pakistani President
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, (Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial law in ...
. It is said that the president invited him to return to his permanent residence in Pakistan. Baig got his name "Alhaj" after his journey to Mecca.
Baig was scheduled to perform in England on 13 and 14 November 1991. Before that he thought of curing his eye ailment.
On 3 November 1991, Baig was admitted to a private hospital in Colombo for
cataract removal surgery. On the next day, Baig died from an
unexpected infection during the surgery.
Medical reports stated that the cause of his death was a complication caused by a mismatch between blood pressure and anesthesia.
Following Islamic traditions, his funeral was organized within a day and buried at Kuppiyawatta Muslim Cemetery.
Career
During Baig's arrival, he met another Indian
Mohammed Gauss
Mohammed Gauss also known as Mohamed Ghouse ( Sinhala: මොහොමඩ් ගවුස්), was a Sri Lankan film music composer. His compositions for Sinhala cinema in the 1950s are credited by music critics as having been influential in deve ...
, who was born in South India and came to Sri Lanka.
Beg participated in the dignitaries' conclave in Colombo with Gauss master. Around that time, Beg was inspired to sing Sinhala songs composed to Hindi tunes at the request of Gauss Master and U.D. Perera.
In 1932, Beg was fortunate to sing on
Gramophone disc
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...
produced by Columbia Records.
His first recorded song is ''Karuna Muhude Namu Gilila'' sung with K. K. Rajalakshmi at the age of 18. He was a Grade A Singer of the
Radio Ceylon
Radio Ceylon ( si, ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි සේවය ''Lanka Guwan Viduli Sevaya'', ta, இலங்கை வானொலி, ''ilankai vanoli'') is a radio station based in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and the first ...
who had the ability to singing songs in about four languages.
In 1947, Baig made his singing and acting debut with Shanthi Kumar Seneviratne's film ''
Asokamala
Asokamala is a 1947 Sri Lankan historical film co-directed by Shanthi Kumar and T. R. Goppu and produced by Sir Chittampalam A. Gardiner. It was the second film made in the Sinhalese language and the first by a Sinhalese director. It also was the ...
'' and sang the popular song ''Preethi Preethi''.
He was given the opportunity to playback singing for the film ''Umathu Vishwasaya'' by renowned actor and songwriter Herbert M. Seneviratne.
In that film, he made the duet song ''Sudata Sude'' with Rukmani.
However, he did not get a chance to sing with Rukmini on gramophone discs as they both belong to two competing disc companies – Colombia and HMV respectively.
Later, he made several playback duets with songstress and actress
Rukmani Devi
Daisy Rasammah Daniels, known popularly as Rukmani Devi (15 January 1923 – 28 October 1978: si, රුක්මණී දේවී) was a Sri Lankan film actress and singer, who was often acclaimed as "The Nightingale of Sri Lanka". She mad ...
for the films ''Iranganie'', ''Mathabedhaya'', ''Perakadoru Bena'' and ''Daivayogaya''.
In 1956, Baig was fortunate enough to sing the song ''2500 Buddha Jayanthi Babalewa Lanka'' during the Buddha Jayanthi celebrations.
Later,
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike ( si, සොලොමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක; ta, சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிட்ஜ்வே டயஸ் ப ...
awarded Baig with a Distinguished Citizenship in the same year.
Meanwhile he sung
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
devotional music and achieved fame with songs such as ''Buddham Saranam'', ''Maayaa'', ''Giri Hel Mudune'', ''Aadara Nadiya Gala'', ''Pem Mal Maala'', ''Wella Simbina Rella'', ''Anna Sudo'', ''Thaniwai Upanne'', and ''Loke Sihinayak Wageya''.
This popularity led to appearances at distinguished events such as the country's first
Independence Day Ceremony.
His Buddhist song ''Suwande Mata Seethala'' has been highly popularized in Sri Lanka, where there is hardly a Vesak, Poson festival, pandal, lantern, dansal or any other Buddhist festival in the country where this song is not heard.
In 1956, to celebrate the 2500th Buddha Jayanthi, the Thai government created the Hindi film ''Angulimala''. Baig was the pioneer to screened the film in Sri Lanka with Sinhala dialogues and sang the popular song ''Buddham Saranam'' previously sung by Indian singer
Manna Dey
Prabodh Chandra Dey (May 1, 1919 − October 24, 2013), known by his stage name Manna Dey, was an internationally acclaimed and celebrated Indian playback singer, music director, and a musician. As a classical vocalist, he belonged to the Bhen ...
. Baig went to India and successfully sang the song which lasted for 13.5 minutes.
Meanwhile, he also sang a lot of radio simple songs including, ''Tikiri Menike'' and ''Awilla Awilla Sinhala Awurudda''.
Baig has dueted with
H. R. Jothipala
Hettiarachchige Reginald Jothipala ( si, එච්.ආර්. ජෝතිපාල; 12 February 1936 – 7 July 1987), popularly as H. R. Jothipala, was a Sri Lankan playback singer in the Sinhalese language, Sinhala cinema as well as a film ac ...
,
G.S.B. Rani Perera,
Latha Walpola
Deshamanya Matharage Rita Genevieve Fernando, better known by her stage name Latha Walpola ( si, ලතා වල්පොල), is a prominent Sri Lankan vocal artist. It was during when Walpola was a member of a church choir, that she began a ...
,
Sujatha Attanayake
Kala Suri Visharadha Dr. Mudunkotuwa Munasinghe Arachchige Sujatha Perera (born 12 May 1942: as සුජාතා අත්තනායක), colloquially known as Sujatha Aththanayaka , is a Sri Lankan songstress and playback singer. She is a ...
and
K. Jamuna Rani
K. Jamuna Rani (born 17 May 1938 in Andhra Pradesh, India) is an Indian playback singer who has sung over 6,000 songs in Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam lnguages.
Life and career
Rani was born to K. Varadarajulu and violinist K ...
among others.
In 1956, Baig also won the
Sarasaviya Award for the Best Playback Singer for the film ''Allapu Gedara'' for the song "Piya Salamu Igilli"
In the same year, Baig also sang the welcome song in Urdu at the 1976 Non-Aligned Movement Conference in Sri Lanka. In 1982, country's first
Kala Suri Award was given to Baig and seven other artists.
For the film ''Sujatha'', he playback songs ''Narilatha Pushpe'', ''Prema Gange Menik'' and ''Mayawathi Me Loke'' were highly popularized. He is also the only Sri Lankan to duet with
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...
in the film ''
Seda Sulang
Seda Sulang ( si, සැඩසුළං), is a 1955 Sri Lankan romantic musical film directed and produced by Thambiraja Somasekaran for Ceylon Films Limited. The film starring Florida Jayalath and Prem Jayanth in lead roles whereas Dommie Jayawa ...
'' for the song "Idiriyata Yamu Sawoma". At the 1974 Deepashika Awards, he won the Deepashika Award for Best Singer for a most number of films.
Baig has participated in several foreign concerts including 1986 London Music Concert. He last attended an outdoor concert in Wanathamulla, three days before the death in 1991.
Baig was an indispensable artist in Sinhala cinema at that time where his voice brought great grandeur to the creation. As a result, he has sung in about 450 Sinhala films with over 9000 songs on the radio, including simple songs and cassettes.
Legacy
On 14 July 2018, The University Arts Association has decided to hold a national commemoration ceremony to mark the first birth centenary of Mohideen Baig. The event was held free of charge at 5.00 pm at the "Govisevana" Grounds in Singakkuliya.
On 20 February 2020, a commemorative stamp was issued in memory of Baig at the Postal Headquarters under the patronage of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
References
External links
අත් දෙක එකතු කරලා කියන්නේසිංහල සමාජයේ ගෞරවයට පත් මුස්ලිම්වරුමොහිදින් බෙග් කලාකරුවා වෙනුවෙන් සමරු මුද්දරයක්මිනීමරලා අපරාධකරලා ස්වර්ගයට යන්න බෑදේශීය සංගීතය ගොඩනැඟූ විදේශීය සංගීතවේදියාදන මන පිනවන බොදු ගීතය
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baig, Mohideen
Sri Lankan playback singers
Sri Lankan Muslims
Sri Lankan people of Indian descent
20th-century Sri Lankan male singers
Sri Lankan Moors
1919 births
1991 deaths