MUHAMMAD ALAM LOHAR: The True Legend Of Punjabi Folk Singing

HISTORY.
Alam Lohar was born in a small village of Aach Goch, Lalamusa [Punjab]. Born to traditional Mughal caste Blacksmith [Lohar] family that follows a historical link to the Mughal Empire. From the early age of 6 Alam Lohar used to listen to small gatherings in his village where old traditional folk stories and Punjabi mystic poetry such as Heer, Mirza Sahiban, Saif-ul-Malook, Sassi Punnu, Sohni Mahiwal, Baba Bhulley Shah, Waris Shah just to name a few were read and sung by local villagers. In relation to this Alam Lohar started to develop an interest in listening and acquiring knowledge about these Sufi Saints and folk tales. From the early age of 9 Alam Lohar sang infront of some elders in his village, and it was from this historical point that the first great international Punjabi folk singer emerged and started his career which spanned from the mid 1930's up till his unfortunate death in 3rd July 1979 from a car accident near Sargodha by Lahore.

RECORDINGS.
His first recording was with EMI-HMV Pakistan at the tender age of 11 and from this point onwards he became one of Pakistans most recorded singers with over thousands of songs on record format. To his credit he received 15 Gold LP disc awards for evergreen songs such as Saif-ul-Malook [1956] Mirza Sahiban [1960] Heer [1962] Jugni [1965] just to name a few. He was the first person to introduce folk tales such as Heer, Yusuf Zulekhan or literature such as Saif-ul-Malook in the format of a song. In relation the word JUGNI was introduced by Alam Lohar to the Punjabi language in the 1950's, the word means 'Jaagnewali Cheezey' and stands for a persons understanding of the world, needs or aims, for example Alam Lohar sings: Awwal naam Allah da laiye fair darood Nabi noon kahiye har dam aajizee wich rahiye, peer mereya Jugni kehndiya jherra naam Allah da lehndiya. These words and song of Alam Lohar has been sung and used by many singers throughout the world. In addition to his success he used to travel far and wide throughout the Punjab and entire world, being the first Pakistani singer ambassador to travel out of Pakistan in 1961. Singing at Mela, Mandi, Sufi Shrines, Cultural days, Vaisakhi and Eid festivals is well accomplished by this singer. Throughout his career Alam Lohar has sung from dusk till dawn and without limited sound systems, in some situations where access to sound systems was limited he used to sing with no mikes or p.a. sy