Dama Dam Mastqalandar / Original Singer : Runa Laila

Dama Dam Mastqalandar /Singer : Runa Laila/Lyricists : S Gilani And N.Qureshi /Music : Mohammad Arshad/Release year:1974 (in Hindi film_Ek Se Badkar Ek)/About Runa Laila 

"Dama Dam Mast Qalandar" دما دم مست قلندر is a song made famous by ghazal/pop singer Runa Laila."Dama Dam Mast Qalandar" most popular Qawwali, about Sufi saint Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (Usman Marvandhi ), It has been a hot favorite with all singers, notably qawwals and these days the reality show contestants. Some of the known names who have lent their voice to this - Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Abida Parveen, Madam Noor Jehan, Wadali Brothers, Reshma, Sabri Brothers, Jagjit Singh, Lata Mangeshkar, bands like Junoon,mika singh,hani sing and this list endlessly goes on.

To understand this Qawwali, you need to know a little about the History of the Sufi Saints. Jhoole Lal .This famous song is in honour of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177--1274) who was born in Marwand (Afghanistan) as Syed Shah Hussain Marwandi. A saint from Sindh who as a child was always found on a swing reciting the name of almighty ALLAH. A contemporary of Rumi, he settled in Serwan or Sehwan (currently in Sindh, Pakistan) where his shrine is still worshipped. He preached religious tolerance between Hindus and Muslims. He was fluent in many languages including Sindhi and Sanskrit. Hindus regarded him as the incarnation of Bhrithari. 

He was called Laal (red) after his red attire, Shahbaz (noble falcon) due to his noble spirit, and Qalandar for his Sufi orientations.

Born in a family of music lovers in Bangladesh, Runa Laila was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Her father was from Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Her early music training was done when her family lived in Karachi Federal B area in 1960. Ustad Qader, later known as Piya Rang, was her teacher. Runa started learning classicalmusic at a very early age, and received vigorous training from Ustad Habibiddin Khan. She made her first public debut as a singer at the age of six and cut her first disc for a Pakistani film called "Jugnu" at the age of twelve. Runa's carrier as a singer came by accident. It was her elder sister Dina who first got the break, but on the day of her performance, she developed a sore throat and Runa was asked to stand in. She was so little that she could not hold the 'tanpura'. She held it horizontally and sang a 'kheyal'. And she became an instant hit. Sister Dina would have followed in her footsteps, but she had to give up singing when she married. She later died of cancer. In memory of her sister, Runa held six concerts in Bangladesh and donated the entire proceeds to a children's hospital in Dhaka to build a cancer ward which has been named after her sister.

Runa has sung and recorded well over 5000 songs to date. She will feature in the Guiness Book of Records for recording the largest number of songs in a single day. This happened in Bombay, where she cut four albums recording 40 songs: 30 of these in three days.

Besided being a household name in her home country, Bangladesh, she is famous in neighboring India and Pakistan too. She is also well known among the Asian expatriates all over the world, including the United States, Europe and the Middle East and Far East.

In India, she is the Dama dam girl, who almost posed a threat to the near-monopoly of the invincible singing sisters of Lata Mangeskar and Asha Bhosle. Runa was an over-night hit when she made a sensational entry into the Hindi filmdom with her Ek Se Badkar Ek which she sang for the film Ek Se Badkar Ek in 1974. Music lovers all over India were swinging to the rhythmic beat of Dama Dam Mast Qalander. Her songs in Gharonda, which was released later, also went down very well with Indian audience. After that she withdrew from Bombay, but still remained popular in the south Asian country. She has since made occasional forays to the "Hollywood of the East" to make albums, all of which turned out to be best-sellers. Her toe-tapping "Super-Runa", which she cut for EMI Music Company along with Bappi Lahiri, has won her gold and platinum discs. She recorded "Loves of RUna Laila", with celebrated film music director of Pakistan Nayyar which has gone double platinum. She has recorded in some more Hindi films since including "Jane-Bahar", "Sapan Ka Mandir" and the Amitabh Bachchan starred "Agni Path".She is equally popular in the Bengali pop music space with songs like "Sadher Lau Banailo Morey" and "Bondhu Tin Din Tor Barite Gelam,Runa has been married twice, most recently in 2006 to the Bangladeshi film actor, Alamgir.During her long and distinguished career in music, she has received around 150 awards in various countries. They include the Saigal Award in India, Nigar Award (twice), Critics Award, Graduate Award (twice) as well as gold medals by the National Council of Music as the best singer of the year in Pakistan and the Independence Day Award and National Film Award (twice) in Bangladesh.

        

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥