Noor
Jehan the Melody Queen reigned supreme over the South Asian music
scene for more than six decades. She rose from near oblivion of the
backwaters of Kasur, then hardly more than middle-sized Punjab town,
to the dizzy heights of stardom as far back as the 40s, with songs
ranging from classical to folk and ghazal to geet. Her
mastery over melody with a strong background of classical music
remains unmatched. She sang Punjabi songs and Urdu ghazals with
equal ease and amazing finesse.
Noor Jehan was born in Kasur on Sept 21, 1926. Her given name was
Allah Wasai. She started her career on the stage at the age of six
when Dewan Sardari Lal, financier of a theatre in Calcutta, took her
there with her two older sisters Eiden Bai and Haidri Bandi, who were
both stage singers. The three sisters instantly shot into the
limelight. Allah Wasai became Baby Noor Jehan.