It was not as if Naseem’s pairing with other music directors was any less fruitful. Sou baar chaman mehka, sou baar bahaar aayi and Us bewafa ka shehr hai from Shaam Dhaley (1960) and Shaheed (1962) respectively fetched her Nigar Awards for Best Playback singer. Doley meray paoun, chuley meray jhumke, Sanwariya man bhaiyou re and Wah ji wah from Salma (1960) remained on popularity charts for weeks. Who can forget superhit songs of Gulfaam, Shaheed, Shaam Dhaley, Al-Hilal, Salma and Zerqa. Similarly her songs for Rashid Attre were in a class of their own. He again gave her exemplary hits in Aulad (1962), with songs like Tum milay pyar mila (with Munir Hussain), Naam le le ke tera hum to jiyay jaeinge and that beautiful song for women, Tum quom kee maa ho socha zara/ Aurat se hamein yeh kehna hai! Hameed himself became a fan of Naseem Begum, and preferred her over any other female singer.
Other hit songs from Saheli included Humnai jo phool chuney (Naseem Begum with chorus) and the sad eternal duet of Naseem Kahin do dil jo mil jatey with Saleem Raza.Īfter composing the songs of Saheli, A. Hameed probably gave her the most famous song of her career Hum Bhool gayey har baat from Saheli (1960). Hameed was most fruitful and gave us some unforgettable songs.Ī.
She won four Nigar Awards for Best Female Playback Singer in a short span of five years from 1960-1964! Their singing rivalry is clearly evident in film Baji (1963), where Noor Jehan sang such beautiful solos and duets Dil kai afsaney, Ab yahan koi nahin aayey ga, Sajan lagi tori agan but the playback Award was fetched by Naseem Begum for her lone solo in the film – Chanda tori chandni mein jiya jala jayey re.Īlthough Naseem Begum worked with most music directors of her time, her pairing with music composers Rashid Attre and A. However, unlike Suman Kulyanpur who was mostly reduced to singing duets with Mohd Rafi, Naseem Begum posed serious threat to Noor Jehan. She was commonly known as Noor Jehan’s substitute. Naseem Begum started her career in late 50s when she sang Nainoun mein jal bar aayey for music composer Sheriyar in film Begunah (1958).Īs was the case with Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar and her clone Suman Kulyanpur (who was also known as poor man’s Lata), Naseem Begum’s singing style was very similar to that of Noor Jehan. She took her musical lessons from the classical singer Mukhtar Begum – elder sister of ghazal singer Farida Khanum and wife of noted poet and playwright, Agha Hashr Kashmiri. Naseem Begum was a well known Pakistani playback singer who was born in Amritsar, British India, in 1936.