Lutfullah Khan Sahab

Lutfullah Sahab and his favourite Revox

I met Lutfullah Sahab (LS) in 1964 when I was a Merchant Navy sailor. He was a friend of my Phupa, Shah Mujtaba Husain, and visited my maternal uncle (who lived with me) frequently. My Khalü, Asad Ali Sahab was a great lover of music, and had one of the finest collections of old 78RPM Records..

LS was a great collector of records, mushaerahs, and also of many things that he taped himself, specially musicians and poets. Once I asked him why he had never taped Ustad Munshi Raziuddin and he said “He pronounces his Qaaf so badly, like vomit, that I never taped him”.

LS was, as many may know, also a great photographer. His photographs were kept in a series of cupboards that he had made. I once met him on a plane to Lahore where he was going to shoot a flower which only blossomed once a year. He was going to wait near it and snap it a the peak of its bloom.

I used to visit him often at his house near Gul-e-Rana Club. I loved listening to the brilliant collection he had built … and adored the detailed catalogues that he maintained. There was also a Light Arrangement that was mounted on the wall. It was most amazing to watch the lights play around on it in time with the music. This was way before the usual Laser Lights we see now.

Among his large collection of 78RPM records he had taped, almost all belonged to my Uncle, Asad Ali, and to me. He spent hours cleaning them and playing them as best as he could. I think it was the work of a genius.

When I was at sea he used to find out when I was coming back and came to the house the day I arrived. I used to have 20 to 30 LPs that I bought outside Pakistan and he'd always say don't play them until I have taped them myself. He'd borrow those and tape them and then return them to me because he wanted to play and record them the first time.

LS used to wonder how he’d shift these and his other collections  (and there were loads that he collected) to another house. But he finally did, and it was a treat to see.

Sadly, while he had a wonderful collection, he was rather poor at sharing things, even if they were borrowed stuff. I remember a tape of Jafri Mamooñ (S M Jafri  our humorous poet) that I had recorded and he copied it. When my tape got destroyed and I asked him for a copy, he said “that's mine now and I don't ever share it with others”. This really shocked me specially since a lot of his record collection was partly ours. But I did respect him for the work he did. Always. Even this idiosyncrasy never took away my love for him.

When Rashid (Bhai) Latif Ansari Sahab came from Canada and went to see him, LS said he had an LP that he owned but didn't have a cover. Could Rashid Bhai get it from somewhere. Rashid Bhai said that I have the LP and he will ask me. LS said 'Don't tell Zaheer it's for me'. Rather strange, because I would have happily given it to him. Rashid Bhai phoned me and asked me if I have a fight with him. Of course not, I said. He said to send LS the cover but he should not know that it was mine … and laughed. In fact I finally posted it to his wife, Zahida Bhabi, and said just give it to him but don't mention my name :)

LS wanted to sell his collection to Libraries in USA but there were some problems and it never got through. There was a person in Karachi — whom I won't name — among many others who wanted to purchase the lot and set it up as a Lutfullah Library. Sabeen Mahmud asked LS as to why he hadn’t given it to that really famous person, and LS said “I will never give it to a jaahil ādmi”.

Recently it has been great to see that Mohammad Khursheed Abdullah has had an arrangement with his family and is releasing some of his tapes on YouTube. Its so wonderful to see and hear some of the old poets on his postings.

I hope we will see the entire collection somewhere. Perhaps our Government can buy it and set it up as Lutfullah Library. It is a remarkable collection of poetry, prose, music and more.