Lutfullah Khan

Lutfullah Khan
**لطف الله خان**
Lutfullah Khan; لطف الله خان
Born	25 November 1916; British India)
Died	3 March 2012 (aged 95); Karachi, Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani
Occupation(s)	archivist, writer
Known for	Archivist known for his Voice Collection Archives
Awards	Pride of Performance Award by the President of Pakistan in 2012

Lutfullah Khan (

voice recordings of renowned artists, poets, writers and other eminent individuals from Pakistan and South Asia.^[1]

Early life

Lutfullah Khan was born in

British India. He migrated to Pakistan on 17 October 1947, after the independence of Pakistan, and settled in Karachi where he joined the advertising business and remained in this profession for more than 50 years.^[1]^[3]^[4]

Music career

Lutfullah Khan was passionate about music and singing from his childhood.

Ghazals at a function of Muslim Students Association of St. Xaviers College in January 1939 and rendered classical singing in Bombay in December the same year. Between 1963 and 1988, he practised singing with Abdul Shakoor Khan of Kirana gharana, and explored the intricacies of only one raag, the Darbari.^[5]^[4]

Voice collection

Luftullah was known for his unique collection of voice recordings. In 1951,[6] when he started his advertising agency, one of his clients imported a Sound Mirror audio tape recorder. Lutfullhah bought the machine and 22 tapes for Pakistani rupee 1,146 and 10 annas (the machine and the receipt forms a part of his collection). He performed his first sound recording, which was the voice of his mother, on 29 July 1951.^[4] Later, he started recording radio programs for drama, music, poetry, prose, fine arts, religion and education. He went on collecting voices of notable personalities, especially speeches of political leaders and politicians, and narrations of authors' own works. He maintained a minutely detailed catalogue for all the tapes on different subjects.^[5]

In its obituary, Dawn newspaper remarked, "It was a testimony to his zeal for the arts that artists and men of letters loved to visit his studio for recording sessions."^[1]

Music archives

In music, his collection is organised into many subcategories:^[5]

Instrumental Music that includes Sarod (notably Hafiz Ali Khan and Ali Akbar Khan), Sitar (notably Enayat Khan, Vilayat Khan, Ravi Shankar and Sharif Khan Poonchwaley), Shehnai (notably Bismillah Khan), Flute (notably Pannalal Ghosh), Tabla (notably Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, Alla Rakha) and Sarangi (notably Bundu Khan
)

Classical Music that includes notably Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Fayyaz Hussain Khan, Moizuddin Khan, Chand Khan, Zakir Brothers.
Semi-classical music that includes Thumri, Pahari, Dadra, Kafi, Bhajan etc.
Ghazals including notably Begum Akhtar, Sehgal, Shamshad Begum, Rauf Dakkani, Mukhtar Begum, Mushtri Bai, Salamat Ali Khan, Amanat Ali Khan, and Roshan Ara Begum. It also includes 318 ghazals of Mehdi Hassan
.

Folk music

Qawali

music

songs from other genres

Literary archives

The

Rasheed Ahmad Siddiqi

, Zakir Hussain and many more.

Politicians

The scholars and speeches sections include names like

Gandhi, A. K. Brohi, Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Dr. Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Karrah Hussain, Bahadur Yar Jung, Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Rajendra Prasad.^[2]

Religious leaders

The religion section includes notably Syed Mohammad Razi,

Allamah Rasheed Turabi. This also includes an exegesis of Quran in the voice of Ehtisham ul Haq Thanvi.^[8]

Painter artists

The smaller but a unique section consists of interviews of artists like Jimmy Engineer, Iqbal Geoffrey, Iqbal Mehdi, Bashir Mirza, Sadequain, Shakir Ali.

The story of this journey is penned in Tamashay-e-Ahal-e-Qalam^[2] that provides insights in efforts that were put to record them. Especially the struggle to record Faiz that is spread over time period of 20 years.

In his last years, he was digitising his audio library by transferring tapes on DVDs and computerising the catalogue.

Photography and filming

Luftullah was also an avid photographer. While in

16mm

camera and started making documentaries.

One memorable documentary was about a cricket match between the

Pakistani Prime minister, his cabinet and the parliament members at the Karachi Gymkhana.^[9] One side was led by Mohammad Ali Bogra and the other by Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan. The minister Mr. Chittophadia was bowling in his dhoti and Tamizuddin was batting in his sherwani, New Age Islam reported.^[9]

Other collections

His personal gallery displays rare photographs, photography equipment, sound recording equipment and accessories, drawing instrument and stationery items used in documenting the collections, International and Pakistani coins, stamps and matchboxes.[7]

A notable album in the collection of old

Hollywood movies posters, some of them dating back to the 1920s.^[4]

He has also transcribed all the

Mirza Ghalib into Latin script

.

Literary works by him

Lutfullah authored a number of books in Urdu. Some of his works include Pehlu (1941), Bachpan ke Waqqaiyat (1991), Tamashay-e-Ahl-e-Qalam (1996), Sur Ki Talaash (1997), Hijraton Ke Silsile (an autobiography) (1998) and Zindagi Ik Safar (2000).^[1]^[2]

Awards and recognition

Luftullah's biggest legacy is his tremendous collection of audio recordings. It is the biggest personal collection of distinct audios in the country, second biggest collection after Radio Pakistan archive, and one of the rarest collection of voices of the notable people of South Asia.
His autobiography Hijraton Ke Silsile won the Prime Minister's award in 1998.^[2]
Kamal-e-Fun Award (Lifetime Achievement Award in Literature) from the Pakistan Academy of Letters in 2009.^[10]^[2]^[4]
Arts Council of Pakistan
, Karachi has named its audio-visual library as Lutfullah Khan Audio-Visual Library.
Pride of Performance Award from the President of Pakistan in 2012 for his services to Pakistan.^[1]^[4]
He was the 'guest of honor' on one episode of Geo News TV show Junoon-E-Gumgashta in 2011 hosted by Sania Saeed featuring his archival collections and his personal comments about them.
Famous
Anwar Maqsood Hameedi who was reportedly his friend for over 40 years, said after his death in 2012, that Lutfullah Khan protected and guarded his collection very diligently and "did not hand over his stuff to anyone else."^[1] Well-known poet Iftikhar Arif said, "If this nation is not able to preserve his collection, it will be a huge misfortune, because I’ve seen treasure troves being destroyed at radio and TV offices."^[1]

Commemorative postage stamp

Pakistan Post Office issued a commemorative postage stamp to recognize his services in its 'The Archivist' series in 2012^[4]

Death

Lutfullah Khan died on 3 March 2012 in Karachi at the age of 95. He is survived by a wife, two sons and three daughters.^[1]^[4]

External links

Audio Archives - YouTube Playlist

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Renowned archivist Lutfullah Khan passes away Dawn newspaper, Published 3 March 2012, Retrieved 10 September 2023
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Renowned Expert of Voices Lutfullah Khan passes away". Radio Pakistan website. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
^ ^a ^b Masood, Tooba (4 March 2012). "Lutfullah Khan, master archivist of the subcontinent's music, passes away at 95". The Express Tribune newspaper. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "Lutfullah Khan commemorative postage stamp and profile". paknetmag.com website (scroll down to read it). Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Lutfullah Khan 'Biography'". tripod.com website. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
^ Children learn ways to preserve historical records Dawn newspaper, Published 25 May 2011, Retrieved 10 September 2023
^ ^a ^b Lutfullah Khan praised for his collections Dawn newspaper, Published 5 November 2001, Retrieved 10 September 2023
^ "BBC Urdu – فن فنکار – لطف اللہ خان انتقال کر گئے". BBC News website. 3 March 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Lutfullah Khan and His Alam-e-Junoon, Islamic Culture". Newageislam.com. 14 April 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
^ Kamal-e-Fun Award given to Lutfullah Khan Dawn newspaper, Published 3 November 2010, Retrieved 10 September 2023

[Dawn-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Renowned archivist Lutfullah Khan passes away Dawn newspaper, Published 3 March 2012, Retrieved 10 September 2023

[RadioPakistan-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Renowned Expert of Voices Lutfullah Khan passes away". Radio Pakistan website. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2023.

[tribune1-3] Masood, Tooba (4 March 2012). "Lutfullah Khan, master archivist of the subcontinent's music, passes away at 95". The Express Tribune newspaper. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

[paknetmag-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "Lutfullah Khan commemorative postage stamp and profile". paknetmag.com website (scroll down to read it). Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

[tripod-5] "Lutfullah Khan 'Biography'". tripod.com website. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

[6] Children learn ways to preserve historical records Dawn newspaper, Published 25 May 2011, Retrieved 10 September 2023

[Dawn2-7] Lutfullah Khan praised for his collections Dawn newspaper, Published 5 November 2001, Retrieved 10 September 2023

[8] "BBC Urdu – فن فنکار – لطف اللہ خان انتقال کر گئے". BBC News website. 3 March 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

[NewAgeIslam-9] "Lutfullah Khan and His Alam-e-Junoon, Islamic Culture". Newageislam.com. 14 April 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

[10] Kamal-e-Fun Award given to Lutfullah Khan Dawn newspaper, Published 3 November 2010, Retrieved 10 September 2023

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Arts
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2010s	(2010) (2010) (2010) Zulfiqar Ali (2010) (2010) (2010) (2010) (2010) (2010) (2010) (2010) (2011) (2011) (2011) (2011) S. Amjad Bukhari (2011) (2011) S.H. Qasim Jalali (2011) (2011) (2011) Ustad Hussain Bukhsh Gullu (2011) (2011) Ustad Muhammad Alam (2011) Ustad (2011) Wazir Afzal (2011) Zafar Kazmi (2011) (2011) (2012) Mohsin Gillani (2012) (2012) (2012) (2012) (2012) Rahat Naveed Masud (2012) Lutfullah Khan (2012) (2012) (2013) Muhammad Ajmal Khan (2013) (2013) (2013) (2013) (2013) (2013) Shahid Abdullah (2014) Ustad Shafiquz Zaman Khan (2014) (2014) (2014) (2014) (2015) (2015) (2015) (2016) (2016) (2016) (2016) (2016) (2016) (2017) (2017) (2017) Rashid Mehmood (2017) (2017) (2017) (2018) (2018) (2018) (2018) (2018) (2018) (2018) (2018) (2018) (2018) (2019) (2019) (2019) (2019) (2019) (2019)
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