Master Manzoor

HYDERABAD: Master Manzoor, one of the few Sindhi singers who popularised Sindhi music, allegedly committed suicide on Sunday. He was 42 years old.

According to the family, Manzoor shot himself in the head late Saturday night.

They believed that he had been upset for many days and had also left his house a few days ago. Manzoor was particularly well loved for ‘Lago ta hik yaar kafi aa’ (one beloved is enough if it works out).

The youngest of his five children, Shahrukh, was sleeping next to Manzoor when he pulled the trigger. They were staying over at his house in Qasimabad’s Phase II. The body was taken to Civil hospital but the family did not allow a post-mortem. The singer was buried on Sunday evening at Wadi-e-Hussain Graveyard in Karachi.

He hailed from Kambar of Kambar-Shahdadkot district but studied in Dadu and graduated from Karachi University in 1997. He moved to Hyderabad from Dadu when he got an opportunity at Radio Pakistan about ten years ago. Manzoor’s music was known for its captivating lyrics and fine compositions. He began singing at an early age because his father, Makhno Faqir, was a folk-classical music teacher. His family was “mirasi,” as it is called in Sindhi. They are the ones in which music is passed down from one generation to the next, explained Naseer Mirza, the director of Radio Pakistan. The other type is “attai,” those who learn music out of interest. Manzoor mostly sang the lyrics of Qasim Nawaz, a Shikarpur poet.

According to a music connoisseur, Zulfiqar Qureshi, the singer earned fame while he was very young. “Usually it’s only after the age of 40 that an artist begins to be recognised,” he said. “But Manzoor had captured a section of the market of music lovers who eagerly waited to buy his new albums.”

He produced dozens of albums, including Sacho Ishq (true love), Naseeb (fate), Dilber Ayo (my beloved came), Sehra (wedding songs) and Tuhenjoon Yadoon (your memories). His licence to fame came a few years ago with the song, ‘Harjaee pirheen har mehfil main, mukhe tuhenji kami mehsoos ti the’ (I feel your absence everywhere, at every event).

“He would have attained greater acclaim had he sung classical or Sufi music and serious poetry like Abida Parveen,” said Muhammad Qasim Maka, the director of Sindhology at Sindh University.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23rd, 2012.