Azam Khan, an unparalleled friend

Azam Khan is a magician of Bengali pop song, who also took part in the Liberation War. He was not just the king of pop or just a name, he was also the innovator of a new genre of Bengali music – who himself can be regarded as an incident or history which cannot be overlooked. If he was alive, we would have celebrated his 70th birth anniversary today. His earthly endeavour ended in a fight with cancer. Among his friends in the cultural sector, we talked with Ferdous Wahid and Fakir Alamgir. Their reminiscence revealed that how was Azam Khan as a human being and friend.

Knocking on his memory, Ferdous Wahid remembered an incident in 1974. At that time, musical shows were held in the cinema halls too. Azam Khan and Ferdous Wahid were invited in such a programme once. Everything was ready. However, Azam Khan bent down at the last moment. Remembering that day Ferdous Wahid said, “A programme was arranged in Jonaki Cinema hall. We were about to leave for the venue when Azam Khan came with a smiling face and said, ‘I am not feeling well. I won’t go. Make arrangements to take me in a different way.’ Later, a car was arranged but he still did not go. We even called for a rickshaw, which too did not work. Then we all decided to arrange a van for him. Seeing the van he said, ‘It is perfect now.’ He literally took the van to reach the venue.”

Ferdous Wahid still cannot forget this incident with Azam Khan. I asked, have you ever asked him why he did that? In reply Ferdous Wahid said, “He did it just for fun. However, he got off the van before reaching the cinema hall. He was on the van on his way from Kamalapur to Motijheel. Then he walked to reach the cinema hall. He often made such kind of fun. He loved to have fun and mischief. I will never forget these memories.”

Five days before death, Azam Khan talked with his friend Ferdous Wahid. He shared some words with his friend (Azam Khan). Ferdous Wahid also remembered this conversation yesterday. He said, “Azam was supposed to go to Singapore for treatment before his demise. I knew he was going to Singapore and called him. After finishing the conversation he said to me, "Do not stop your music in anger. The field is empty. The people are different now-a-days. Then we remained silent for some moment. I changed the topic to make him easy. These were my last words with him.”

Azam Khan and Fakir Alamgir lived near each other. One lived in Kamalapur, the other in Khilgaon. They both were affiliated with “Kranti Shilpigosthi” (cultural organisation). Their leader was Nijamul Haque and Kamal Lohani, said Fakir Alamgir.

He said, “From his childhood, he was very fond of sports, music and hangouts. We used to walk through the rail lines. I still can remember our hangouts in Kamalapur rail line, Manumita Hotel, Chittagong Hotel and Motijheel petrol pump. There was music too, there was everything!”

Fakir Alamgir still remembers artiste Azam Khan at different times.

He said, “Not only me, all the Bangladeshis including the expatriates, still miss him. I always miss the human Azam Khan. He loved all of us secretly. But he never showed that. He was very introvert in this regard.”

Ferdous Wahid said, Azam khan is unparalleled as a friend.

He said, “This must be said that he is a very sweet friend. He was different as an artiste. He had two groups of friends. One group consisted of the people with whom he grew up. The other group consisted of us, who are affiliated with the cultural sector. Azam would never merge the two quarters of his friends.”