ISLAMABAD: Death anniversary of renowned singer Mehnaz Begum will be observed on January 19.

Mehnaz sang over 2,500 songs for radio, television, and films in a variety of genres like ghazal, thumri and dadra.

Mehnaz was born in 1958 and received initial training in music from her mother Kajjan Begum, a distinguished singer.

Mehnaz began her career as a playback singer in the early '70s. Her mellifluous voice and control over the sur instantly made her popular among music composers and film audiences.

She sang for a number of films a majority of which became popular.

Some of the films in which her playback singing was widely appreciated were Haider Ali, "Paristish", "Bandish", "Zindagi and Aina" and some of her famous songs were `Mujhe dil se na bhulana' (Aina), `Do piyasey dil aik huay' (Bandish), `Kion roey shehnai' (Haider Ali) and `Ja ja ri koyalia' (Haider Ali).

She had lent her voice to a number of films as a playback singer.

Mehnaz Begum also sang for television and was equally fond of ghazal gaeki.

She had command over light classical genres such as thumri, dadra khayal, and reciting salam, noha and marsiya. She died on January 19, 2013.

SOURCE: APP