Mubarak Begum
Mubarak Begum recorded about a hundred and fifteen Hindi film songs between 1949 and the 1970s, and one of them — Kabhi Tanhaiyon Mein Yun Hamari Yaad Aayegi, from Hamari Yaad Aayegi (1961) — has outlived almost every song of its year. She also sang Mujhko Apne Gale Laga Lo with Rafi and Neend Ud Jaye Teri for Shankar-Jaikishan, and was largely forgotten by the industry long before her death.
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Life
She was born in Jhunjhunu in 1936, grew up in Ahmedabad and Bombay, learned from Ustad Riyazuddin Khan and Samad Khan, and sang on All India Radio before her first film song in Aaiye (1949). She sang for Shankar-Jaikishan (Devta Tum Ho Mera Sahara in Daera, Hum Haal-e-Dil Sunayenge in Madhumati's year), S.D. Burman, Khayyam, Kalyanji-Anandji and Snehal Bhatkar, who composed Kabhi Tanhaiyon Mein.
Work thinned after the mid-1960s. She lived in a small flat in Jogeshwari in her last years, dependent on help from well-wishers and a state pension; her condition was reported in the press in the 2010s. She died in Mumbai in July 2016.
The voice
Mubarak Begum's voice was low, dark and slightly veiled, with a quality of distance that made Kabhi Tanhaiyon Mein sound as if it were coming from another room — a voice for the remembered rather than the present.
Composers
- Snehal Bhatkar
- Shankar-Jaikishan
- S.D. Burman
- Khayyam
- Kalyanji-Anandji
Sang with
More film songs 1 songs, by year
1960s
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