Naseem Begum was a popular, and well known Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i playback singer. She rose to prominence towards the end of the fifties, and by 1964 had managed to win the prestigious Nigar award on five separate occasions. Despite originally being billed as a 'second Noor Jehan

Noor Jehan

Noorjehan or Noorjehan was the adopted stage name for Allah Wasai who was a legendary singer and actress in British India and Pakistan. Her career spanned seven decades...

', Naseem quickly managed to carve out her own successful niche in the music industry.

She had the calibre to sing semi classical compositions, which indeed is a difficult task.

Early life

Naseem Begum was born in the city of Amritsar

Amritsar

Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...

, British India, in 1936. She acquired her musical training from the classical singer Mukhtar Begum, the elder sister of the renowned ghazal vocalist Farida Khanum

Farida Khanum

Farida Khanum is a Pakistani Ghazal singer from Punjab. The Times of India has called her "Malika-e-Ghazal" ....

. Her first film, as a playback singer, was Guddi Gudda in 1956. The composer Sheriyar was greatly impressed by her vocal range, and gave her the opportunity to perform in his film Begunah. Naseem immediately tasted success with her song Nainon mein jal bhar aayey, which became one of the most popular tracks of the fifties. She gained popularity after singing memorable duets with famous playback singer Ahmed Rushdi

Ahmed Rushdi

Ahmed Rushdi, SI, PP was a versatile Pakistani playback singer who worked in film music and was "an important contributor to the Golden Age of Pakistani film music." Rushdi is acclaimed as one of the greatest singers ever lived in south asia and was a natural baritone, yet could sing high tenor...

.

Some remarkable Urdu films for which Naseem Begum sung excellent and heart-throbbing songs are Sham dhalay, Saheli, Shaheed, Aulaad, Baji, Ik tera sahara, Haveli, Farangi, Payal ki jhankaar, Zarqa, and Pardes. In addition to these she also sung for many Punjabi films, some of which are Kartar Singh, Tees Maar Khan, Jeedar, Mukhra chann warga and Genter man. Some big musical films on her credit are Lutera, Koun kisi ka, Kousar, Chann puttar, Mera weer, Chann weer, Langotiya, Yeh raste hain pyar ke.

Patriotic songs

She has also sung many patriotic songs which stir the soul of listeners. Ae rah-e-haq kay shaheedo wafa ki tasveero, Tumhain watan ki hawain salaam karti hain, is a song from film Madr-e-watan (1966), lyrics by Saif-ud-din Saif and music composed by Saleem Iqbal.

List of some popular songs

• Us bewafa ka shehr hay aur hum hain dosto, Ashk-e-rawaan ki nehar hay aur hum hain dosto
• So bar chaman mehka so bar bahaar aaee, Dunya ki wohi ronaq dil ki wohi tanhaee
• Mera bichhra balum ghar aa gaya ghar aa gaya, Meri payal bajay chhanan chhanan chahann
• Chanda toray chandani main jiya jala jaey ray
• Habibi hayya hayya habibi hayya hayya

Death

Her fans were greatly shocked to hear the news of her sudden demise on 29 September 1971. She was admitted in the hospital, as she was expecting, and was about to give birth to a new life but instead due to pregnancy related complications she departed.