Ghazal king Mehdi Hassan passes away at 84 in Karachi hospital

Ghazal maestro Mehdi Hassan passed away in Karachi on Wednesday June 13 as he was suffering from numerous organ failures at 84 years old.

The Indian-born legend had been hospitalized to Agha Khan Hospital for the last few days in the southern port city of Karachi. His condition was very much critical as he was kept under the ventilator.

Mehdi Hassan has lend his lyrical voice to the best-ever hits like ‘Patta patta, boota boota’ and ‘Kab ke Bichhade’. He had enormous number of fans in Pakistan as well as India.

Mehdi Hassan at Karachi Hospital

Mehdi’s son Arif Hassan responded, “My father was fighting a tough battle, facing different ailments for a long period of 12 years. But this year his condition became serious because of hisdeterioration in health drastically, especially in the last one month. He lost his last breath at 12.22 pm. In between he was send to home for one day, but again admitted.”

On hearing of Hassan’s death, many of his fans rushed at the hospital.

Mehdi Hassan’s musical background

• In 1927, Hassan was born in Rajasthan (India) at Luna village. His whole family was excellent traditional musicians.
• In 1947, they shifted to Pakistan at the Partition time.
• Because of his illness, Hassan stopped his music in the late 1980s.
• Hassan performed his first concert at a young age which was on was on Dhrupad and Kheyal with his elder brother.
• Hassan was honored with the title of ShahenShah-e-Ghazal (The King of Ghazal singing) because of his noteworthy success to be remembered forever.
• Hassan’s career firstly began as a thumri singer. Then he put his foot forward in the Pakistani musical industry. He was right at the top, with praises for his melodious ghazals.
• His voice was also considered in almost every Pakistani movie at one time.
• Sarhadein movie was released in 2010 and Hassan sung the song ‘Tera Milna’ which was his first and the last duet.
• The notable Ghazal legend too visited India many times as the cultural ambassador.
• Hassan married twice but both of his wives died earlier.
• His nine sons and five daughters were his main strengths.