Mehdi Zaheer (1927 – 5 April 1988) was a Paksitani musician, singer, poet, and radio producer. He is best known for singing ''Hum Mustfvi Hein'', composing music for

Faiz Ahmed Faiz Chaudhry Faiz Ahmad Faiz (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984) was a Pakistani poet and author of Punjabi and Urdu literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated, popular, and influential Urdu writers of his time, and his works and ideas r ...

's ghazal Dasht-e-Tanhai (sung by Iqbal Bano), and writing

Ahmed Rushdi Ahmed Rushdi (; 24 April 1934 – 11 April 1983) was a versatile Pakistani playback singer and was "an important contributor to the Cinema of Pakistan#The Golden Era (1959–1977), golden age of Pakistani film music". Regarded as one of the gr ...

's song ''Bandar Road Se Kemari''.

Life and career

Zaheer was born as ''Syed Iftikhar Mehdi'' in 1927 in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He was fluent in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, and

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 ...

languages. He started his radio career at

Radio Pakistan The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (); also known as ''Radio Pakistan'', serves as the national public broadcaster for radio in Pakistan. Although some local stations predate its founding, it is the oldest existing broadcasting network in P ...

, Karachi. In the mid-1950s, he wrote and composed a song "''Bandar Road Se Kemari Meri Chali Re Ghora Gari''" which was sung by

for a children's radio show. The song became popular and later helped Rushdi establish his career as a playback singer. Another milestone of Zaheer's career was the composition of

's ghazal ''Dasht-e-Tanhai Mein Ae Jaan-e-Jehan''. It was rendered by Iqbal Bano and immediately became famous all across the country. Later, he also vocalized

Nazeer Akbarabadi Nazeer Akbarabadi (born Wali Muhammad; 1735 – 1830) was an 18th-century Indian poet known as "Father of Nazm", who wrote Urdu ghazals and nazms under the pen name (takhallus) "Nazeer", most remembered for his poems like '' Banjaranama' ...

's Urdu poems "''Aadmi Nama''" and "''Banjara Nama''". In 1974, Zaheer gave voice to an Islamic nationalistic anthem ''Ham Mustafvi, Mustafvi Hein'', which was composed by

Sohail Rana Sohail Rana (born 31 March 1938) is a Pakistani music composer for films and television. He was introduced by actor Waheed Murad in Pakistan film industry and gained popularity when singer Ahmed Rushdi sang his compositions in such films as ...

for the occasion of the second Islamic Summit Conference held in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. He is also known for rendering a nashid ''Qaseeda Burda Sharif''.

Death

Zaheer died on 5 April 1988 in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Compositions and songs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaheer, Mehdi 1927 births 1988 deaths Pakistani composers People from Lucknow Pakistani male singers Pakistani poets