Sajjad Hussain (composer)

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Sajjad Hussain
Born(1917-06-15)15 June 1917
Died21 July 1995(1995-07-21) (aged 78)
NationalityIndian
OccupationFilm music director
Years active1944 – 1977

Sajjad Hussain (15 June 1917 – 21 July 1995) was an Indian

mandolinist, playing the mandolin as a "Top Grade" player for the Indian film industry in Mumbai for more than five decades, reputed to have played more than 22,000 songs, including title-songs and background music.[3][4] Besides the music for movies, he was known to play Indian classical music (Hindustani), as well as Arabic music and Sufi music.[4]

Biography

Sajjad Hussain was born in 1917 in Sitamau, which was at that time, a village in the then Central India Agency, now part of Madhya Pradesh, India . As a child, he was taught sitar by his father Mohammed Amir Khan. He learned veena, violin, flute and piano during his teenage years. He was also an accomplished mandolin player, and could play Indian classical music on the instrument.[1][5]

In 1937, Sajjad Hussain decided to try his luck as a film score composer, and came to

Bombay with his elder brother Nisar Hussain. His first job was at Sohrab Modi's Minerva Movietone at Rs. 30 a month. He later moved to the Wadia Movietone, working at Rs. 60 a month. During the next few years, he worked as an assistant to music composer Meer Saheb and Rafiq Ghaznavi, and as a contract instrument player for Shaukat Hussain Rizvi
.

In 1940, Sajjad was introduced to the composer Mir Allah Baksh (father of actress Meena Kumari) by a friend. Impressed with Sajjad's mandolin skills, Ali employed him as an assistant.[5]

Sometime later, Sajjad became an assistant to the music director Hanuman Prasad. In this capacity, he composed two songs for the film Gaali (1944): Aag Lage Saavan Mein and Ab Aaja Dil Na Lage (both sung by Nirmala Devi). The songs of Dost (1944), his first film as an independent music director, were big hits.[6] These songs included the three songs sung by Noor Jehan: Koi Prem Ka Deke Sandesa, Alam Par Alam Aur Sitam Par Sitam and Badnaam Mohabbat Kaun Kare. But when the film producer Shaukat Hussain Rizvi gave the entire credit to his wife Noor Jehan for the success of the songs, Sajjad Hussain vowed never to work with Noor Jehan again.[5][3]

Sajjad went on to work with many notable singers, including

Hindi film songs.[7][1]

Contentious personality

Sajjad Hussain was known for his contentious personality.

Madan Mohan created Tujhe kya sunaun mein dilruba, tere saamne mera haal hai (film: Aakhri Dao) on the same metre. At a concert when Madan Mohan walked past Sajjad, the hot-tempered Sajjad taunted "Aaj kal toh parchaiyyan bhi ghoomne phirne lagi hain" ("Even shadows are moving around now"). Madan Mohan replied that he could not find any better music director to copy. This reply made Sajjad Hussain speechless.[5]

His attitude made him an avoidable character and people from the industry started ignoring him. As a result of his controversial behaviour, Sajjad got less than 20 film score assignments in his 34-year-long music career. However, one notable milestone in his career as music director is the songs he composed for Sri Lankan Sinhala film "Daiwa yogaya-1959". Daiwa Yogaya was filmed in Prasad Studios in Pune and was a box office hit in Sri Lanka mainly owing to the songs he composed. The songs "Hada Gile Ama Mihire" and "Doi Doiya putha" sung by Rukmani Devi, the most popular Actress/Singer of Ceylon in that era are still popular. His last film as a composer was Aakhri Sajda (1977), although he participated in concerts till the 1980s.[1]

Lata Mangeshkar was once asked in an interview about music directors that she had found difficult to please. She replied that in the beginning of her career, there were difficulties with everyone because she was still learning and was new in the field. But she was always apprehensive with Sajjad Hussain because he was so particular. Sajjad Hussain never liked loud singing. He always insisted that all the musical instruments were perfectly tuned. He never compromised on that. She added that even many years after the first recording, Sajjad Hussain's songs sound effortless and are not painful to hear.[1]

Death and legacy

Sajjad Hussain lived in the Natalwala Building at Mahim, Mumbai, India in the last years of his life. He had five sons and one daughter. All five of his sons (Mustafa, Yusuf, Noor Mohammad, Nasir Ahmmad and Abdul Karim) went on to become musicians. Sajjad Hussain died on 21 July 1995 in oblivion: Khayyam and Pankaj Udhas were the only notable film personalities to attend his funeral.[5]

It is a widely-considered view of Sajjad Hussain in India that this music maestro, though had a bad temper and was a perfectionist, had a profound understanding of film song lyrics, instrumentation, classical music and the voice quality of his singers. He had learned and mastered these instruments –

jaltarang, flute, piano, banjo, accordion, Hawaiian and Spanish guitar, sitar, clarinet, harp and mandolin. For one person to learn and master all these instruments is saying a lot for that individual.[5] Veteran music director Naushad is quoted as saying, "He (Sajjad Hussain) was an extremely talented man, very knowledgeable about music, but his temperament was his undoing."[5] Another highly-respected music director Anil Biswas once observed, "By all standards Sajjad Hussain was an original, a genius music director, different from all others and each of his musical composition carried most difficult notations, which he himself used to create and took utmost pleasure out of it."[5]

Filmography

A nearly 15-minute mandolin composition by Sajjad was used in the

Muthyala Muggu (1975). In addition, he was the Music Director for Sinhala film "Daiwa yogaya" which was a box office hit in Sri Lanka in 1959, which was partly credited to its songs.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Profile of Sajjad Hussain". Indian Cinema Heritage Foundation website. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  2. .
  3. ^ a b c Param Arunachalam (13 June 2015). "Bollywood Retrospect: Sajjad Hussain's musical gems". DNA India website. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Mustafa Sajjad Hussain, Mandolin artist". meetkalakar.com website. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Satish Chopra. "A contentious perfectionist of film-music: Sajjad Hussain". Academy of the Punjab in North America (APNA) website. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  6. .
  7. ^ Subhash K Jha (25 September 2012). "Lata Mangeshkar: I Have a Fierce Temper". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2023.

External links