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 A poor lad working in a
Karachi workshop had a bit of a rags to riches
story when his song, “Hawa Hawa”, became a
huge national hit. The singer in question was
Hasan Jahangir, and he was perhaps the perfect
blend of all the different kinds of cultural
influences that Pakistani youth were receiving
at that time: Michael Jackson, Amitabh Bachchan,
Rajni Kant, George Michael. It was not only his
extremely catchy tune which made him stand out,
but also his performances while singing.
Though by today’s
standards the performance was nothing even
remotely high class, there was a lot more
movement and style involved during his singing
that his contemporaries in Alamgir, Shehki,
Tehseen Javed etc. divulged into, either
deliberately or not.
Hasan
Jahangir’s trademark was perhaps his
sunglasses. He would be sitting normally on a
talk show, and when needed to perform, would
wear his sunglasses (mostly in a dark studio)
and start lip-synching. He also used to throw
the mic stand from one side to the other as
well, which was also something new for the
Pakistani audience as opposed to his much
‘better behaved’ contemporaries.
Hawa became one of the few ‘danceable’ songs
that came out during the Zia ul Haq
dictatorship. As his audio cassette sales
soared, another song in his album “Aaja Na….
dil hai deewana” became quite popular as well.
Weddings were the stock users of his tunes,
particularly on Mehendi functions. Hawa Hawa was
translated by people in other languages of
Pakistan like Pashto etc. and re-sung, and it
became the most commonly used song on Pakistani
stage shows.
The fan following was not just limited to
Pakistan, as the song also managed to break some
barriers and become popular in India. There were
3 or 4 low key Bollywood productions (e.g.
“Don II”) that reused his song in different
variations, though it is not known if he
permitted them or if it was plagiarism. Hassan
Jahangir became a common invitee on Indian stage
and variety shows as well, mostly coming out and
singing Hawa Hawa.
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Sound & Lights |
4 cordless, 15 Mike, Mixer, Dat, CD, Lights as per Setup
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