Noor Jehan, the Melody Queen, affected the lives and standards of Pakistan’s impressionable society as no singer has done in the sub-continent before her. There have been many more brilliant crooners in this region ever since the Mughal Period; but there’s no past example of such a singer who has influenced people of the two parts of sub-continent in so many various aspects of the social life. There is no other singer of such influence and long-term personal response as Noor Jehan in the 80-year film history of the sub-continent.
Noor Jehan the reigned supreme over the South Asian music scene for more than six decades. She rose from near oblivion of thebackwaters of Kasur, then hardly more than middle-sized Punjab town, to the dizzy heights of stardom as far back as the 40s, with songs ranging from classical to folk and ghazal to geet. Her mastery over melody with a strong background of classical music remains unmatched. She sang Punjabi songs and Urdu ghazals with equal ease and amazing finesse.