Karachi remembers Nayyara Noor with renditions, recollections

KARACHI: A condolence reference arranged on Sunday in remembrance of legendary singer Nayyara Noor, hailed indiscriminately as a nightingale with golden voice, featured the local vocalists who paid tribute to her by covering the most celebrated songs she had sung in her prime, while her husband and friends shared her most priced memories with the crowd, ARY News reported.

Coinciding with the charged Pakistan-Srilanka final of Asia Cup, the people attending the reference evening showed little interest in anything happening outside of the events of the NAPA hall where intoxicating melodies and enchanting vocals of artists kept attentions intact.

‘Ae jazba e dil’, ‘Roothe hou tum’, and ‘Mjhy apne zabt pe naaz tha’, were among the many renditions played out at the setting that prompted the people to recollect the times they delighted in original performances by Noor herself.

The audiences were divided in two kinds, those who couldn’t help but croon or humming the songs themselves and those who didn’t remember the lyrics originally but found themselves in awe of the lyrics which Nayyara had animated with her voice.

“My compositions are not mine anymore,” said famous composer Arshad Mahmood, who composed many a song that Noor sang, and who joined the evening virtually. “They belong to Nayyara now because gave them the life.”

Sheharyar Zaidi, Noor’s husband, reminisced the times he was in college where there was a music competition. “There was a voice coming out of rehearsal room which my ears had caught on,” he said. Upon entering the room, I saw a smart girl singing with a perfection and grace I had not seen in a while. “There and then I decided to befriend her and later tied the knot with.”

Zaidi remembers her as a very good, devoted wife and a great friend, as he painted her character outside of her celebrity life.

Her private life was also described by a family friend Sultan Arshad Khan, a man rather known as the Pakistan music encyclopedia. He said he shared the same residence compound and have been honored to be her neighbor.

“I would say she was the most domesticated celebrity I have ever come across. Her simplicity and humble disposition prompt me to say this about her,” said Khan.

The evening concluded just as pleasantly as it had progressed since its beginning. The crowd that was once organized and in awe of the performances, sprang out of the hall to the furore of Asia Cup final and dispersed.