Exclusive: Talat Aziz sings his first Islamic spiritual song in his 40-year career

Last year, renowned ghazal singer

Talat Aziz

celebrated four decades of his career. In these years, the maestro has had a great journey with multiple gazals and Bollywood songs. And so, when he tells us that ‘

Maula Mere Maula

’ is his first Islamic spiritual song, our interest is piqued. The music composed by him for this track, has a Middle Eastern vibe while Hasan Kazmi’s Urdu lyrics make it a

soulful number

. In an interview with Bombay Times he tells us more about the song, the challenges he faced while shooting it and his four decade long journey as a ghazal singer. Experts…

You have been singing for the last forty years and this is your first track in the spiritual genre. Tell us about the entire process of creating this and your experience.

It was an extraordinary experience. This is the first time I did a spiritual track and it was a dua! It was a prayer to God from all of humankind experiencing a severe crisis because of this pandemic. As I usually do, this time, I didn’t have a verse of a ghazal to compose with, so I just thought and in one of my inspirations a melody started to form in my mind. I immediately noted it down and recorded it on my home system. Then I sent it to Hasan Kazmi in Lucknow who I know and have worked with previously with specific ideas like the opening line ‘Maula Mere Maula‘, which eventually became the title . After a rough draft was ready, I had one of the most talented young composers Piyush Shankar and his father to program the music track and here also I had specific ideas of what the mood should be and the instrumentation to be used. Will not go into the details as that would be boring but after a lot of adjustments and corrections we all were satisfied with the audio.
What were the challenges you faced during the shooting of this video?

It was a tough time. The month of May and June we were all indoors and going outside was restricted to essential things only. So we literally had to make do with shootings when we could, in the rain. My son, Shayaan Aziz who is a photographer, took some nice shots on the beach near our house initially, and we made the first draft. Then after a few days, we had another young man Ashray Goyal to join the shoot process and we shot at various locations where we could and on the beach. The results are amazing. I think it was ordained and blessed by the Almighty otherwise this kind of a shoot couldn’t have been possible. The audio and video are something which I believe is one of my best and I pray to God that He accepts this dua prayer.
Last year, in Feb 2020, you celebrated 40 years of your career with concert at a South Mumbai auditorium. You have seen a lot in this industry in the last four decades. How has it been?

Yes I have seen lots of ups and downs in the last four decades, right from the techniques and sound engineering changing from analog to digital and now the process of recording is completely different than when I started out. But the one thing which is constant is the soul of music. Unless the music and the lyrics have soul they won’t stand the test of time. That is one thing I have learnt. And I think I have been blessed by God that I have journeyed so far with dignity. And even now have so many fans all around the world.