Iqbal Bano passes away, her ghazals remain by Salman Siddiqui

A pupil of Ustad Chaand Khan, Bano was born in 1935 in Delhi. She moved to Pakistan in 1952 where she started her career with Radio Pakistan. She married a landlord the same year at age 17, who promised her that he would support her endeavors in music. Her first public concert was in 1957 at the Lahore Arts Council.

Although she is known more for singing ghazals, particularly those of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Bano also did playback singing for Pakistani films such as Gumnaam (1954), Qatil (1955), Inteqaam (1955), Sarfarosh (1956), Ishq-i-Laila (1957), and Nagin (1959).

She was also awarded the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Pride of Performance) medal in 1974.
‘Iqbal Bano will always have a special place in the hearts and minds of our family,’ says Salima Hashmi, the daughter of the legendary Pakistani poet Faiz, whose verses the late singer rendered most eloquently.