Aziz Mian


Aziz Mian Qawwal was one of Pakistan's leading traditional qawwals and also famous for singing ghazals in his own unique style of qawwali. Aziz mian is honorably considered as Shahenshah E Qawwali which means The Ultimate King Of Qawwali, he is considered to be one of the Greatest Qawwali singers of all time. Today he is still one of the most popular qawwals of the world, and he has given many Qawwali hits. He holds the record for singing the longest commercially released qawwali, Hashr Ke Roz Yeh Poochhunga, which runs slightly over 150 minutes. He was also known by two sobriquets — "Fauji Qawwal" since his early performances were often in army barracks, and "the Nietzschean qawaal".

Works

Aziz Mian Qawwal received a worldwide recognition and fame with his Masterworks and earned the title of One of the Greatest Qawwals, Some of his works include –
Aziz Mian was born as Abdul Aziz in up, 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 degrees in Urdu literature, Arabic and Persian And B.A Degree English 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. 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 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. 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 Nehar. His death anniversary 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 of Aziz Mian. The Urs celebrations continue for three days, starting with 'Ghusal' followed by 'Chadar Poshi' and 'Mehfil e Samaa' of Qawwali. Around seven to eight qawal groups perform. The Celebration terminates after the last ritual of 'Qul'. The Urs celebration are organized by Shibli Aziz Mian, who is more interested in mysticism and Sufi traditions. He is promoting and propagating these spiritual heritage of his father and have a quite a number of disciples and followers.

Family

Aziz Mian had 12 children. And had nine sons Amir Khusro, Shibli, Junaid, Tabreiz, Imran, Naeem, Aslam and Farhan, etc. His son Shibli is not a qawwal but his successor in Sufism, While All Other Sons Have Followed Footsteps in Qawwali. They are very similar in style to Aziz Mian himself and like other sons of famous qawwals, they perform many of their father's hits. Tabrez is however considered to be the closest to his father's style. His looks and his style are a mirror image of his father. Tabrez also toured North America for a tribute to Aziz Mian Qawwal.

Legacy

;Contributing artist