Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule. Nevertheless one had better know the rules, for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases. Samuel Butler

I still fondly remember the night, 42 years ago, when on my eldest sister’s mehndi I sang Mehdi Hasan’s rendering of Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s memorable ghazal "Guloon main rang bharay." I was the first in my family to fall in love with his captivating singing but it didn’t take much for the rest of them to be enchanted by his mercurial voice. And soon the entire nation was enthralled by his musical brilliance. He was given the unofficial honorary title of Ustad and we all felt legitimate pride when Lata – the icon of Indian music - referred to his voice as Bhagwan’s. Unfortunately, however, the proud nation seems to have forgotten this national treasure as he lies relatively neglected in his old age.

Before we discovered Mehdi, my brother and I used to constantly argue and compare the two great singers of our youth - Rafi and Mukesh. My argument that Mukesh, with his naturally melancholy voice and strong knowledge of classical music - in the tradition of the great Saigol - was the best Indo-Pakistani singer was vigorously contested by my brother. He claimed that Rafi’s effervescence, versatility and range put him head and shoulders above Mukesh. We used to lament the quality of Pakistani music - there were no Pakistani male singers of Rafi’s or Mukesh’s caliber. But all that changed with Mehdi Hasan’s entry into the Pakistani popular music scene.

Mehdi had been singing for radio since 1952, but until "Guloon main rang bharay" he was only known to a very few old-guard music aficionados. For majority of Pakistanis, radio was the only source of music at that time. In the pre-Mehdi period, Binaca Geet Mala (a hit parade from Radio Cyclone) and Vivid Bharati (an Akashwani program) were our favorite radio programs. However, once Mehdi started singing for films, Azad Kashmir Radio - with its 1-2 hour music programs - became our preferred stop on the radio dial.

It is not very common for classical and ghazal singers to be proficient at singing film songs. Before Mehdi, Talat Mahmood was the only singer who had achieved this successfully. However, unlike Mehdi, Talat didn’t come from a hardcore classical background and most of his ghazal compositions were not very complex. One of Mehdi’s great achievements is that his film music is much richer in complexity and composition than film music of his era. Even the lightest of his film songs like "Mukhra woh chand sa" contain subtle vocal twists and exemplify the captivating charm of his melodious voice. In fact his film songs stand apart from all of his peers’, in composition as well as in lyrical beauty - "Eik naey more peh" and "Nawazish karam shukriya meharbani" are two vivid examples.

A ghazal can be sung in two distinct ways - straight according to a well-defined composition or free-form and fluid. The latter, jazz-like flexible style of ghazal singing is brought to its zenith by Mehdi Hasan. In this style, the composition provides a broad perimeter based on a raga or ragni. Within this perimeter the singer can play with every verse, adding various twists and turns to enrich the composition with intricate vibrancy. This is typically done by supplanting words with hummed notes to create an auditory representation of lyrics. Like an impressionist painter, a ghazal singer can create his or her own representation of verses using notes as splashes of color. It is mesmerizing to watch Mehdi do his crooning magic - with dexterous control over his vocal chords he undulates, elongates, and interweaves musical notes turning words into entrancing melodies while remaining true to the essence of the basic raga. With every note he exposes the hidden nooks and crannies of his composition that creatively complement the lyrics.

At times during concerts, when Mehdi Hasan explains how certain notes of his composition fall outside the range of a standard harmonium or how a certain raga metamorphoses into another if some restrictions are removed from selected notes, one is awestruck by his knowledge of music and mastery of singing. Most accomplished classical singers are knowledgeable about music and can sing notes in perfect harmony with music. Mehdi Hasan combines this knowledge and control with a remarkable ability to manipulate notes creating indelible ghazal concertos. Singing these elaborate compositions, he takes the listener on joyrides of a musical roller coaster where every rise and fall is full of titillating excitement.

While most of his contemporaries – catering to the least common denominator in musical taste – churned out uninspiring numbers, Mehdi – true to his classical background – created elaborate tunes based on rare ragas like Kirwani, Jihnjhoti, Tilak Kamod, Pahari, etc. Like a master chef explaining his recipes, when Mehdi describes the vadis, samvadis and thats of these ragas, even unsophisticated listeners who can’t discern between Yaman Kalyan and Bhairavi are drawn into the world of luscious sound. Then as the meal of ghazals is served, dish by delectable dish, one can’t escape a feeling of symphonic satiation.

A couple weeks back, my eldest sister along with her husband and daughter visited us in New Jersey. After a wonderful meal we settled in our family room and I put on the video tape of a Mehdi Hasan concert. Even though we had seen this tape before, for the next two hours we were totally absorbed in this great performance. From "Koo ba koo" to "Yeh dhuan sa", every alaap gave us goose bumps. At the end of the tape we reminisced about my sister’s mehndi 42 years ago. We all agreed that Mehdi Hasan is the best ghazal singer ever, matchless not only for his mesmerizing voice, but also for his mastery – both theoretical and practical – of countless ragas. My brother-in-law, who is a real music-lover and grew up listening to Saigol, Master Madan and Begum Akhtar, agreed that Mehdi is without equal.

We should consider it a blessing that a master musician and virtuoso endowed with such remarkable creative abilities lives in our time. Like all progressive societies, we should honor our musical genius and bestow upon him enough awards and rewards so that he should be able to live a comfortable life. It is a shame that a great ustad such as our Mehdi Hassan, with achievements just as great as the most accomplished artists in the history of gazhal singing, is spending the last days of his life largely unnoticed by society. Van Gough died penniless because the world didn’t recognize his genius while he was alive. We do recognize Mehdi’s genius - there is no house, koocha, muhalla, or neighborhood where his music has not reverberated. I am sure that there is enough philanthropic spirit left in our corporations and wealthy individuals to not let this remarkable artist - our Tansen, Mozart and Pavaroti all in one - suffer alone in old age and wither away unassisted and unrecognized.