Latest Interview: Saeen Zahoor – Man behind Khuda Ke Liye’s ‘Allah Hoo’
“Khuda Kay Liye is an important film and it is nice that the Lux Style Awards have honoured it.” – Saeen Zahoor
Instep Today speaks with the man behind ‘Allah Hoo’ and discovers a man far more magnanimous than any ‘star’
Maheen Sabeeh, Karachi
The night before…
Saeen Zahoor is the picture of contentment as he sits in a black shalwar kameez and his classic turban. We meet the night before the Lux Style Awards and Saeen is making his debut at the LSAs. For the first time, he is taking the stage with Khuda Kay Liye star Fawad Khan for a performance on ‘Allah Hoo’.
To some, he will forever be the voice behind the tripped-out, hypnotic and the beautiful tune, ‘Allah Hoo’ on the Khuda Kay Liye soundtrack. But of course, there is so much more to Saeen Zahoor.
He looks mildly amused and mostly thrilled as I approach him to talk. He beckons me to sit and says, “Aaiye beti, bethain” (Daughter, please come sit).
The table is crammed with people milling around. Shaan is rehearsing on stage, Tapu Javeri has just walked in and Ali Azmat emerges out of nowhere and there is a lot of meet-and-greet going around. Saeen is obviously unfazed by the stars around him.
He greets Ali Azmat and Shaan with a hug and a smile.
“I’m happy to be here,” he says to me when I ask him about his first-time experience at the LSAs. Saima had been onstage for sometime now and he had been sitting and waiting but he is not agitated by the waiting or the fact that the room is a bit cold with the ACs blasting. Even Ali Azmat is feeling chilly!
No complaints, no arrogance and that too from a man whose career spins over four decades, and who has performed around the globe – India, United States of America, England, Paris, Japan, Nepal, Dubai and Malaysia – and is the only singer from Pakistan who has won the prestigious BBC World Music Award (2006).
“Khuda Kay Liye is such an important film. It is nice that the Lux Style Awards have honoured the film. It has played in India and Dubai and other places, I think and it is sending the right message across,” Saeen says of the film that has gone around the world and is shattering stereotypes about Pakistan.
I tell him ‘Allah Hoo’ is fabulous at which point he smiles shyly. “‘Allah Hoo’,” he says, “is a special song.” It is a part of a film that Saeen is proud of and feels very strongly about.
It is also a song that has put him on the radar for an entire generation unaware of his global appeal, stage charisma and that mighty beautiful voice.
But not one for hogging credit, he attributes the success to Rohail Hyatt who was behind the sound.
“Rohail Hyatt is a really nice man and he knows music. It is because of him that the song sounds good.”
The real reason why ‘Allah Hoo’ has become such a hit is not just Rohail Hyatt’s genius as a producer who can play with sounds in ways no one else can in Pakistan but also of Saeen’s voice that is as magnetic as it is majestic, unrelenting in depth and completely unmatchable. It was the combination of these two highly accomplished men together that did the trick.
“I have never seen these awards so up close,” admits Saeen, fascinated by the whole process. “But I am happy because our people come together here and that is just so nice in such an environment,” says Saeen, alluding to the ongoing security and terrorism situation in Pakistan that has been making headlines for months now.
Being a performer from Pakistan, Saeen has had the chance of performing in places most people can dream of and he says that in his “small way” he is taking the heritage of Pakistan forward.
Starting out at the early age of five, Saeen Zahoor is 63 years old and he is nowhere near the finishing line. Bringing the verses of Rumi and Amir Khusro alive is his purpose and his passion. And it reflects in the way he sings and talks. A contented shine comes in his eyes.
As we hit the end of our interview, Saeen asks me if I have heard his CD. I say no. He takes it out of his bag and hands it to me along with a business card as colourful as him. But it didn’t come across as a ‘call me for an interview’ move but a far more heartfelt one.
What a star!
A lot may have gone wrong at the Lux Style Awards this year. It seems like a daunting task to count back. But if there were few shining moments, one of them was Saeen Zahoor and Fawad Khan performing together.
Both of them made their LSA stage debut and they were fabulous. Saeen may not have been singing live (one wished he was) but even on DAT, he was living up to his name, as best as he could.
Saeen was out in full form, completely confident onstage as he twirled around in ecstasy, the kind that is characteristic when one thinks of Saeen Zahoor.
And this spirit and attitude is what sets him apart.
Sufi folk and classical singers like Saeen Zahoor, dhol sensation Pappu Saeen, classical great Ustad Naseeruddin Sami among a few others are a rare breed. They are men who remain humble and gracious when honoured. And when they aren’t, the bitter gloves don’t come off because that doesn’t exist in their dictionary.
Saeen Zahoor has performed all over the world but the man is calm personified.
And the LSAs do deserve some acknowledgement for giving singers like Saeen Zahoor and Reshma such a platform. The awards cater to both the classes and the masses. Through such an event, Saeen and Reshma, who are icons when it comes to the masses, will also reach our elite – people who ordinarily will not be aware of their significance as musicians.
The BBC has honoured Saeen Zahoor but it is rare that he gets to be part of a show such as the LSAs. He isn’t the type to endorse products. And mostly, be it award shows or concerts, corporations are the ones footing the bill. And they prefer local pop stars over men like Saeen Zahoor. After all, if they are brand ambassadors or appearing in advertisements of certain products, they will be given preference. Men like Saeen Zahoor sing at shrines around the country. It is this reason why one is delighted that someone like Saeen Zahoor got a chance to be on the same stage as Fawad Khan.
In retrospect
Now that the LSAs have happened, one can’t help but think that had Saeen Zahoor been a part of the Khuda Kay Liye segment, he wouldn’t have pulled the stunts that Iman Ali and Shaan did.
They were the bigger stars, in terms of popularity, and they were being honoured. But the gloves came off and a war of words ensued. Thinly veined insults came out, one after the other. While Fawad Khan stayed in the background, Shaan and Iman’s repartee became the most talked about incident at the LSAs, taking away from the very film that put them on the platform in the first place.
None of it was called for. Not all actors get along but they have to put up a face at a public forum but here there was no decorum or respect for a film that has come to define a new kind of cinema; one that Pakistan is capable of.
But one is certain that had Saeen Zahoor been invited to speak, he would’ve been more kind to the film and the platform than both Iman Ali and Shaan put together. And the nation would have got to see a man who has already been honoured by the BBC, but not yet by a worthy platform in his own country.
link: The News International – No. 1 English Newspaper from Pakistan – Saturday, December 30, 1899
