Munir Hussain (1930 - 27 September 1995) was a Pakistani
playback singer
A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...
. While working in
Pakistani films
Cinema of Pakistan, popularly known as Lollywood ( ur, ), refers to the film industry, filmmaking industry in Pakistan. Pakistan is home to several film studios centres, primarily located in its three largest cities – Karachi, Lahore, and ...
for over thirty-eight years, he primarily sung for
Punjabi language
Punjabi (; ; , ), sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It has approximately 113 million native speakers.
Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 m ...
films. His work include 217 songs in 163 films.
He was one of the first Pakistani singers who earned his recognition in
Lollywood
Lollywood ( ur, , translit=lâli vuḍ) refers to Pakistan's film industry based in Lahore, previously the base for both Punjabi and Urdu language film production.
Lahore has been the center of Pakistani cinema since the partition of ...
, a film industry that produces Urdu and Punjabi-language films. Despite of his classical music background and prominence in film industry, he was not able to achieve recognition initially because of
Masood Rana
Masood Rana
( ur, , 6 August 1941 – 4 October 1995) was a Pakistani film playback singer. He began his singing career in 1962 with the film ''Inqalab'', became one of the top male singers in both Urdu and Punjabi films for more than th ...
.
Biography
He was born in family of musicians. Music composer
Rashid Attre
Abdul Rasheed Attra (15 February 1919 – 18 December 1967), also known as Rasheed Attre, was a Pakistani film score composer.Saleem Raza during that period. His duet song from ''
Heer Ranjha
''Heer Ranjha'' (or ''Heer and Ranjha'') ( pnb, , ਹੀਰ ਰਾਂਝਾ ) is one of several popular tragic romances of Punjab, other important ones being "Sohni Mahiwal", "Mirza Sahiban" and " Sassi Punnhun". There are several poetic na ...
'' titled "Wanjli Walarya" with
Noor Jehan
Noor Jehan ( Punjabi: ) (born () Allah Rakhi Wasai ; 23 September 1926 – 23 December 2000; sometimes spelled Noorjehan),Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen, ''Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema,'' British Film Institute, Oxford University Pres ...
is recognised one of his prominent songs. He later sung "Qarar Lootnay Walay" from ''Saat Laakh (1957)'' film when he was introduced to the industry as a playback singer. Prior to singing in ''Saat Laakh'', he worked in ''
Nooran
''Nooran'' ( pa, نوراں), also spelled ''Nooraan'', is a 1957 Pakistani Punjabi-language musical romance film directed and produced by J.C. Anand and starring Noor Jehan and Sudhir in lead roles. Hazeen Qadri weote the film, songs lyrics ...
'' film with his song titled "Panchhi Tay Pardesi" and in '' Mukhra'' with "Dilla Thehar Ja".
He also sung
qawwali
Qawwali ( Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: (Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontinent ...
s such as "Na Milta Gar Yeh Touba", a musical genre of Sufi devotional song from the film ''Touba (1964)''. One of his uncertain songs was banned by Radio Pakistan as it allegedly consist bitter lyrics. He also sung a patriotic song by
Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Faiz Ahmad ''Faiz'' (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984; Urdu, Punjabi:
فیض احمد فیض) was a Pakistani poet, and author of Urdu and Punjabi literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated Pakistani Urdu writers of his time. Out ...
titled "Nisar main teri galiyon pe" from ''
Shaheed
''Shaheed'' ( , , ; pa, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); ...
''.
Death
Munir Hussain died on September 27, 1995 in
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. ...