Alam Lohar

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Alam Lohar
Background information
Birth name	Muhammad Alam Lohar
Born	1928 Achh,Pakistan
Origin	Pakistani Punjabi
Died	July 3, 1979 Sham ki Bhaitiyan
Genres	Punjabi folk
Occupations	Vocalist, musician, Bhangra Artist, Poet
Instruments	Chimta
Years active	1936–1979
Labels	EMI (Pakistan), Oriental Star Agency
Notable instruments
chimta

Muhammad Alam Lohar (Urdu: محمد عالم لوہار), (Punjabi: ਆਲਮ ਲੋਹਾਰ was a prominent Punjabi folk music singer of Pakistan. He died in 1979 in an accident.^[1] He is also credited with popularizing the term and song Jugni.^[2]

Early life

Lohar was born in the small village Achh in Gujrat District, in Punjab, British India into a family of blacksmiths.^{[citation needed]} He was gifted with a melodious voice and began singing as a child.

Career

Alam Lohar developed a new style of singing the Punjabi Vaar, an epic or folk tale. He is famous for his rendition of Waris Shah’s Heer, which he has memorized in 36 styles and forms. He recorded his first album at the age of 13 and has outsold all other singers in Pakistan (Verified in records kept with HMV Pakistan 1979)

In his childhood he used to read sufiana kalaams, Punjabi stories and participate as a young child in local elderly gatherings expressing a vocal only art form in reading passages of great poets. From many of the gatherings out of the rural background rose a great singer that could influence his audience with elements of joy peace, happiness and sadness. Further on: he started going to festivals and gatherings on a regular basis and within these performances he rose to become one of the most listened to singers in South Asia. In the 1970s it was the Queen's Jubilee event in the UK and there was a singing competition between all Commonwealth Countries and after all performances: Alam Lohar won the award as the best performance and was handed a gold medal for his unique and God given voice.

Throughout the period of 1930s and until his death in 1979 he has dominated folk singing in Pakistan and been a major singer in Punjabi and Sufi singing throughout the entire World. In many rural villages the local traditional people have called him 'Sher-e-Punjab' or 'Heerah' meaning diamond.

Alongside his God given voice and singing in difficult high and low pitches he had a unique style of singing with his Chimta. Now the Chimta has been around for centuries as it was a tool used in gathering livestock in rural settings or used as an aid in other activities, but Alam Lohar has the unique credit that he single-handedly popularised this instrument globally and modified its use and changed its outlook.

Alam Lohar's other qualities

Other than being a famous singer, Alam lohar was also a great poet writing his own songs and kalaams and also had another quality that he used old books of Sufi saints and stories and brought them in a song format: which gave his songs overwhelming great lyrical content which could make people cry and express joy at the same time. The word "Jugni" was his creation (the word Jugni is also attributed to some runaway poet-singer duo, name unknown, who followed the Jubilee flame in the British Raj -and sang satires showing pitiable condition and sufferings of common Indians outside programme grounds, drawing huge crowds and later captured and killed by Brits. The incident goes back to the 1920s when the Silver Jubilee of George V's ascension of the throne was being celebrated in all cities around British India — Jubilee parks in many cities of India & Pakistan are proof) and he created this term from reading many Sufi writings and represented this word as a spiritual feeling of ones experience of the world. Furthermore he was the pioneer of introducing the writings of Saif Ul Mulook and Mirza Shabaan in a song format.

Alam Lohar had another quality that he had overwhelming singing stamina — he was renowned to sing all night and sometimes without the music technology we have with PA systems now-nevertheless his strong voice could be heard in large gatherings. In rural Punjab he used to sing from village to village and without any modern music technology: his voice reflected with the background of the natural echo caused by the stillness of the night.

In essence, later on Alam Lohar organised a full-fledged theatre with a complete orchestra. His troupe toured all over Punjab for religious and seasonal festivals and was one of the first Pakistani as well as South Asian singers to sing internationally in almost all countries that had people from the South Asian region.

Death

Alam Lohar died in an accident near Sham ki Bhaitiyan on July 3, 1979. He was buried in Lala Musa, Punjab, Pakistan. He was given the Pride of Performance award in 1979 by General Zia Ul Haq in Islamabad and received numerous awards in his lifetime. He was a pioneer in cultural and Folk style singing and became his own folk story. He set a benchmark and many Punjabi and other folk singers have been greatly influenced. Therefore he has left a great legacy of a unique style of singing which is still followed in Pakistan by Punjabi as well as other folk singers. One of the greatest singers of all time: he is seen and remembered through his son Arif Lohar who has continued in the same tradition.

Legacy

Decades after Alam's death his legacy is still living on, his songs are still being sung the way he used to sing them. His son has been taking his fathers music to the next level. The performance by Arif Lohar (Son of Alam) in Coke Studio shook the world, when he sung the Jugni by his father on International Television, the song hit millions of views on YouTube and was a hit again. The success even made Asha Bhosle do a exact copy of the song on Indian television. Arif Lohar is also a big Punjabi artist, he is one of the only legends alive until this day. Dr Zeus made a remix of Jugni by Alam and send it for free download, it was enacted by Kanika Kapoor and had a big budget music video with a lamborghini. Alam Lohar's Jugni was reaching new heights even after his death. Many big producers and artist have refreshed his songs by remixing them or doing covers of them. Alam Lohar's death anniversary is held every year in Pakistan, and is one of the days where Alam's song are on every single Radio channel to refresh the memory and the dedicaton he had for the Punjabi Folk industry.

Discography

His famous songs are;

• Dharti Panj Daryavan Di
• Dil wala dukhra nahin kisse noon sunayee da
• Saiful Malook
• Qissa Hazrat Yousaf
• March ke modha hauly jaye sorry akh gaye
• Bol mitti diya bawiya
• Jugni
• Mirza
• Qissa Karbala
• Kalam baba Bulle shah
• Sohni Mahiwal
• Sassi ~Pannu
• Wajan mariayan bullayah
• England di Jugni
• Maa da Pyar (maa da qissa)
• Assan hun Tur Jaa naa
• Layee beqadran naal yaarey
• Qissa Hirni
• Qissa Puran Bhagat
• Rahee Khushay daa malka
• Me neel kariyan neelka
• 36 style formats of Heer Ranjha
• Kohee tu paneey motiyar nee
• Gabrro jat punjab daa
• Allah hoo haq Allah hoo
• Mohammed miah kee tarifan sunavaa
• Ghamaa vich jind mukh gaye
• Sutee rahgee nee maa patt dee phulegey
• kee dassa me kaun teh kidhroo sharher terey vich ayyah
• Jis din merah viah hohay gaa
• mee tee viah kar ke pachtayah
• mee vakh daa hee rehgeyah me vakh daa hee rehgayaa
• many versions of Dullah Bhatti
• too merey mohabbatein daa bootah putt gaye

References

External links

• Alam Lohar at the Internet Movie Database
• Alam Lohar Profile - Folk Punjab
• Alam Lohar website