![]() ![]() “He’d take time only to rehearse the new songs – the rest he’d do from memory. “The free copyright and the absence of a serious rival meant that my father was always on the road,” says Ali. ![]() “Recording music was not as common then as now besides, copyright was not a problem.” As his fame grew, Hanifa sang at as many as 45 concerts in a month. “Unfortunately most of those songs were not preserved in any form people would write them on bits of paper which would be set to the tune of the most popular Hindi film hits of the day, and performed,” recalls Ali. Singing during wedding processions taught him an important skill: how to throw his voice without a microphone. Qadir at the Nagore dargah (formally known as Hazrat Syed Shahul Hameed Dargah). The completely self-taught maestro picked up tips on Carnatic music from S.M.A. Scholar Abidin at the Ghoudia Bait-us-Sabha at Nagore would write the lyrics for Hanifa, that would be sung during wedding processions. Full-throated singing The early concerts were held at homes, during weddings and prayer ceremonies, and slowly shifted to the dargahs, shrines built around the tombs of Muslim saints, which follow secular rituals. He held his first concert at Tiruvaluntur, Thanjavur district, at the age of 13, on a bullock cart which was both stage and band transport,” says Ali. So, to support the family income, my father became a singer. My grandfather was based in Malaysia, working in the railways, but was unable to provide for his family in Nagore. “My paternal grandfather and my father’s elder brother were both good singers, but they didn’t take it up as a profession. As Nagore Hanifa spends his twilight years at home in Kotturpuram, Chennai, the story of the man whose voice used to hit the high and base notes with equal ease, gets retold by his son. Many Tamil commentators have tried to theorise on why Hanifa was not as successful a politician as a singer, despite a fan base of millions in his heyday. But as his eldest son and chief care-giver Naushad Ali points out, “sometimes a word is enough to trigger a memory.” Much is known about Hanifa’s rise to fame as the ‘voice’ of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and his proximity to leaders such as Periyar, C.N. The prolonged exposure to stage noise has affected his hearing permanently, and he rarely speaks to visitors these days. At 95, ‘Isai Murasu’ Esmail Mohamed Hanifa is a shadow of the man that followers of Tamil Muslim devotional music and political anthems know. He looks at his son for approval and smiles when he sees the two thumbs-up sign. His white full-sleeved shirt and veshti are crisp and starched. Hanifa’s distinctive voice took him from a humble background to the centre stage in no time, but it is his son who narrates the 95-year-old’s back story The elderly gentleman takes a minute to arrange his lambswool cap on the silver locks lovingly combed by his son. ![]()
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January 2023
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