Our relationship soon developed into lasting friendship and I can recall with much nostalgic fondness the contributions made by Saleem to the flowering of film music in the country.
I also remember the good old days when together we three used to confabulate for hours on music and the role it played in helping the nascent film industry of Pakistan to successfully compete with a much larger and experienced Indian movie industry, especially in the department of film songs.
An affable but a little shy artiste with an ever-smiling face and possessing a sweet voice, Saleem Raza had to leave Pakistan by middle 1970s in utter frustrations. He felt that he had been completely ignored by the Pakistan film industry that he had helped in prospering with his over 600 mellifluous film songs.
Facing hardships and unable to make his both ends meet he said goodbye to Pakistan though not on his own volition. He was fully contended when working for the movies, did not display artistes' ego and eccentricity even when he was at the peak of his career. Like other Asian countries, one of the unfortunate aspects of the glitzy world of entertainment is that even its most sought-after celebrities and heartthrobs of millions are forgotten much sooner than expected.
Those artistes, who used to cast hypnotic spells on their fans and cinema audiences, after a few years of their demise or ceremonial or unceremonial exist from showbiz, fade into oblivion. Many examples can be cited to prove the point.
Cine-goers and music buffs after passage of a few years forget the contributions of their favourite stars of the silver screen, singers and composers to our cultural scene soon after their death or exit from the world of entertainment.
Many an artiste has suffered from societal neglect and collective indifference of the people during the past 58 years of our existence as an independent country. Among them were a number of singers associated with Pakistan film industry and the electronic media.
Late Saleem Raza, whose tuneful film songs captivated the hearts of millions of music fans in the sub-continent for two decades (1955-1975), is now almost a forgotten celebrity of Pakistani cinema. The fact that he is no more remembered by film and music buffs offers a sad commentary on our uneven propensity to honour the distinguished sons of the soil, and the scant regard we have for creative artistes.
A playback singer, who provided much aesthetic pleasure to so many cine goers and listeners of Radio programmes in Pakistan should have received better treatment by cultural bureaucracy, art-promoting organisations and, above all, the people of Pakistan, for his handsome contributions to the melodic culture of the country.
On November 23, 1983 the popular playback singer of Pakistan died in Vancouver, Canada, of kidney failure at the age of 51. Earlier, he had immigrated to Canada in 1975 in search of green pastures after suffering total neglect by the Lahore-based film composers. Young Saleem, who was once the most sought after playback singers of the country, was not treated well after his exit from the film industry. At one time the producers and frontline composers used to fall on each other to sign him for their films. He was not getting even one invitation for the recording of a film song in a month when he decided to say goodbye to his country. Had it not been the help of his working wife, Maud, he and his family would have faced starvation. Already, he was suffering from pangs of starvation emanating from poverty.
Born as Noel Dias on July 7, 1932 in Amritsar, Saleem Raza did not come of a musical dynasty - the gharanas, which have produced so many top musicians in the country. However, he was lucky to have received training and benefited from the melodic wisdom of seasoned composers and musicians early in his youth. He made his debut as a singer from Radio Pakistan, Lahore, with the acquired name of Saleem Raza. After a brief stint with radio in Lahore as a casual artiste, he caught the attention of composer G.A. Chishti, who used his voice for the recording of a song in the film Haqeeqat, which was exhibited in cinema halls in the year 1955.
After that eventful recording, and consequent upon a spurt in film industry in Pakistan, Saleem Raza rose to greater heights in popularity within a relatively short period of time. Noticing the potential of his velvety voice, inveterate composers of the like of Khurshid Anwar, Feroze Nizami, Master Inayat Husain and Rashid Attrey skilfully employed his vocals to communicate their melodic ideas to movie buffs.
Like other seasoned musicians late Saleem Raza too spent long periods of apprenticeship with several well-known musicians of Lahore. He was known to have benefited from the expertise of highly talented late Master Sadiq Ali, the blind pianist; Ustad Ashiq Husain and several other musicians with whom he came into contact during the formative years of his film career. For nearly 20 years he was associated with the world of entertainment filmdom in Lahore and recorded over 600 songs for more than 300 films produced from Lahore, Karachi and Dhaka film studios.
He grew from strength to strength and reached the pinnacle of popularity in a relatively short span of time. Even at that time, he maintained his contacts with Radio Pakistan from where he broadcast songs regularly, despite his frequent recording engagements for the movies. He recorded several war songs, which became very popular during and after 1965 war. Soon after the advent of television in Lahore on November 24, 1964, he participated in TV programmes as and when he was invited by the new medium.
A large number of film songs recorded in the voice of late Saleem Raza had won wide popularity during his lifetime because of the quality of his vocals and the lilt and cadences of their compositions. Another factor, which contributed to the popularity of Saleem Raza songs, was their juxtaposition on leading film heroes of the time- Santosh Kumar, Darpan, Akmal, Aslam Parvez, Sudhir, Habib and Ijaz Durrani.
Included in his uproariously popular songs were: Jaan-e-Bahar (Azra), Aiy Dil Kisi ki yaad mein (Tera Sahara); Banaa key maira nashemann jalaa diya (Do Rastay); Chaand takkay choo choop kay (Ishq-e-Laila); Zindgi mein ek pull bhi chain aye naan (Hamsafar), Aiy nazneen tooj saw haseen (Shamaa), Ay dil kissee ki yaad mein and Aa ja paas mairey composed by Master Inayat Husain and Khurshid Anwar, respectively.
One of his songs, Yaro mujhey moaf (Saat Lakh), sold over 100,000 copies for which Saleem was presented a silver disc, especially cut for the occasion by the gramophone recording company, as a token of its appreciation for his melodic talent. Ssaleem Raza's tally of awards, received from professional and cultural organisations for artistic excellence, included the Niagar Award in 1960 (and again in 1963); the Musawwar Award in 1960; the Screen Light Award in 1962; and the Social Services Award in 1968.
He was also honoured for his "Best War Contributions" during 1965 and a gold medal awarded him in 1966 by the Pakistan Arts Council, Lahore, for his distinguished services to the creation and popularisation of quality music.
Two significant influences contributed to the chiselling of Saleem Raza's musical personality. The first came from Master Sadiq Ali, who provided him intensive musical training and imparting to him enough theoretical knowledge about melodic arts.
Being a singer of considerable natural aptitude, the late crooner quickly responded to the instructions of his teachers and soon developed sharp tone perception, musical direction and a sense of purpose.
The second most important influence on Saleem was that of composer G.A. Chishti, who introduced him as a playback singer in Pakistan film industry. It proved a turning point in his career as it opened up a vast new panorama of musical landscape, which Saleem explored fully. Soon after settling down in Canada, Saleem Raza set up a music academy in Vancouver in which scores of Asian-Canadians learned sub-continental varieties of popular music. He also participated in local cultural events, which served as a springboard for him to scale new heights on the popularity chart by participating in privately sponsored soirees in different Canadian cities.
His golden voice was well known in Pakistan. His name was magic to the lovers of film songs, who thronged to cinema halls to hear him. His songs are now sparingly broadcast by different stations of Radio Pakistan. He is now known among and remembered by his ageing friends, now senior denizens, a majority of whom is being readied for their final showdown with Nature.