Miandad Khan

Born in Jalandhar, Ustad Miandad Khan (1935-1985) along with his brothers Ustad Akram Khan and Ustad Hafiz Khan hailed from an illustrious family of Qawwals. His ancestor, Sahib Dab Khan Qawwal, was a famed 16th Century musician who had learnt Qawwali from the Qawwal Bacchas at the shrine of Hz Nizamuddin Auliya (RA) in Delhi. Amongst Sahib Dad Khan’s great-great grandchildren was Ustad Misri Khan, one of the leading Qawwals of Jalandhar at the end of the 19th Century. Ustad Miandad Khan’s father Ustad Ahmed Din Khan was the eldest son of Baba Misri Khan, while the middle son was the legendary Din Muhammad Jalandhari Qawwal (1890 – 1945). Ustad Miandad Khan learned the rudiments of Qawwali from his father, Ustad Ahmed Din Khan, and after the latter’s death in 1948, from his mother Barkat Bibi. Settling in Pakpattan after the partition of the subcontinent, Ustad Miandad led his Qawwali party from 1948 to his death in 1985, becoming known as Miandad Hafiz Dad Fareedi Qawwal and Party. He performed regularly on Radio and Television, as well as in shrines and mehfils all across Pakistan. He also released a number of recordings for EMI Pakistan and Rehmat Gramophone House.

Ustad Miandad Khan’s style of Qawwali was unique from other Qawwals of the ‘do-aba angg’. Usually singing in the upper register and eschewing the traditional slow alaap, Ustad Miandad Khan led his party’s performances with a spirited, energetic and deeply emotional vocal style. His repertoire included Urdu, Punjabi and Farsi kalaams, and he was especially famous for his renditions of Seraiki Kafis such as Khwaja Ghulam Farid’s “Sanwal Mor Muharaan”. Equally adept in Urdu, Punjabi and Seraiki, Ustad Miandad Khan was the consummate ‘Darbaari’ Qawwal, able to transport his listeners to heights of ecstasy and emotion with his powerful voice. After his death in 1985 at the age of 50 years, his son Badar Miandad Khan was chosen to continue his legacy as his designated successor. Badar Miandad Khan (1962-2007) continued his father’s style of Qawwali, all the while infusing his own, more mellow and unhurried style to it, and became one of the leading Qawwals of the subcontinent before his own untimely death at the age of forty-six.