I first heard Master Madan’s soulful voice some two decades ago, and was captivated by this young prodigy’s divine talent.

It was a voice that captivated even the legendary KL Saigal who saw the birth of a great new talent in the name of Master Madan. He was fittingly called Maestro Master Madan.

Master Madan’s first public performance was at the tender age of three and half years… an age at which most children would struggle to speak coherently. However, this boy was churning out classical vocals with such fluency, mastery, and depth in his voice that the audience was spellbound.

Those were the days when vocals were everything and music was seen only as an accompaniment to fill in the breathers the singer took. Therefore, any flaw in the voice could have been easily found out by experts. But, MM was better than the best… and it’s hardly an exaggeration.

MM was cast in the Saigal mould like most of the singers belonging to that era. But, it was his voice that was distinct and it had a flavour of its own… something that made me feel I was with the Gods. A soulful, haunting voice that always made me forget my world whenever I listened to this miracle boy.

I sense your impatience… you want to interrupt me and ask why this boy still remains ‘Master Madan’ if he sang in the era of Saigal… surely, he should have gone on to become someone very famous and popular.

Yes, indeed, that would have been the logical conclusion with just one minor rephrasing… had this boy lived a normal life he would have indeed gone on to become The Most Famous singer in the entire subcontinent including Pakistan and Bangladesh, even surpassing KL Saigal. This boy wasn’t just another child prodigy… he was a genius in the field of music like none other.

MM lived for a mere 14 years and died in 1942. In this tiny capsule of a lifetime he had startled the world with his singing genius. The people who poisoned him, to serve their own petty ends, would surely be rotting in Hell, but that’s little consolation to a world deprived of the magical voice of the Prince of Music.

Out of the many songs he had sung live on stage only 8 were recorded and out of these only 2 ghazals renditions exist today, both written by Sagar Nizami. They are the ones that I continue to listen no matter what time of the day or night it is… because these ghazals make any time of the day look magical.

Lyrics of Sagar Nizami’s two ghazals rendered by Maestro Master Madan are given here but who will bring these mere words to life like MM did?

~mbf~