Munir Niazi's Urdu poetry is the second big milestone in the timeline of Modern Urdu poetry . . . Majeed Amjad being the pioneer in this field.
Munir Niazi wrote magical verses which is apparent right from the very first poem in his first collection of poetry
تیز ہوا اور تنہا پھوُل
As I describe in my Intro to Munir's poetry on my website Dareechah, the uniqueness of Munir Niazi's poems is rooted in three main attributes:
Firstly, Munir Niazi is a maestro of narrative poetry and many of his poems are mini-stories.
Secondly, Munir Niazi is a master word craftsman. His choice of Urdu words is very diverse. Like all great poets, he exhausts his era's Urdu diction.
Thirdly, Munir Niazi championed the art of imagistic poetry. Munir excels in painting mesmerizing images of the colorful universe he is surrounded by and with which he communicates in an awed child's innocence and directness !
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This video was broadcast from Lahore, Pakistan in the mid-1980's
Here are a few more small pieces of information about Munir Niazi . . .
Munir Niazi's real father passed away when he was still a young boy. He never got along with his stepfather when his Mom was forced by the Pathan clan she belonged to, to get married again. Because of this, Munir Niazi often changed high schools and colleges and traveled to various towns and cities in an effort to fit in and belong somewhere . . .
The Urdu poem he recites in this interview with Parveen Shakir is about Khanpur . . . the Pathan clan he belonged to originally lived somewhere West of Khanpur, maybe somewhere in what is now called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in British days was called North west frontier province . . . after what I imagine was a bloody feud, there must have been a Jirga or Grand Meeting of clans and the decision handed down was that this clan to which Munir's family belonged were to leave the area and migrate Eastwards . . . that is how this clan arrived and settled in what eventually became known as Khanpur . . . . listen to Munir Niazi reciting his poem "Sapna aagay jaataa kaisay" in this interview and the family history references will become clearer from the various lines of this poem . . .
Manzur Ejaz, who is a Punjabi Literary critic now residing in USA, was a close friend of Munir Niazi in the 1970s in Lahore . . . in this interview for Wichaar YouTube channel,
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Manzur Ejaz talks about how Munir Niazi's stepfather and elder brothers owned a Bus Service in Sahiwal (Montgomery) in Pakistani Punjab immediately after they arrived here in 1947. While his stepfather and elder brothers got busy in setting up this private Bus Service, Munir had graduated with a B.A. Arts degree in 1948. Munir Niazi's Mom wanted him to marry after getting his B.A. degree. In 1948, she arranged a marriage with a Pathan girl from Munir's clan. Munir in turn asked for his share of the Bus Service business which his stepfather gave to him. After this arranged marriage and getting his inheritance money, Munir set up an Urdu Publishing Company and published a collection of poems by the famous Urdu poet Noon Meem Rashid as well as launching his own Urdu Literary magazine Saat Rang. He also interacted with the pioneer of Modern Urdu Poetry, the poet Majeed Amjad during his stay in Sahiwal. Munir then moved permanently to Lahore and rented a small, humble house near Shama Cinema at Ferozepur Road where a jute bag hung on his door as a humble curtain. Munir Niazi's friend, Manzur Ejaz the Punjabi critic, talks about those days in this Wichaar YouTube channel video:
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As for me, my maternal uncle or Maamoon jaan was A. Hameed, an Urdu novelist, short story writer, newspaper columnist and author of children's books. A. Hameed was a close friend of Munir Niazi.
I hope that that more viewers will comment here on the exchange of ideas between Munir Niazi and Parveen Shakir . . .
Munir Niazi's Collected Urdu Poetry is entitled Kulliyaat e Munir and has been published by Khazeena Ilm O Adab, Al Kareem Market, Urdu Bazaar, Lahore Telephone Number 011-92-042-7314169
Munir Niazi's Punjabi Collected Poems is entitled Aukhiyaan Raahvaan and has been published by Dost Publications, Plot 110, Street 15, Sector I-9/2, Post Box Number 2958, Islamabad, Pakistan Telephone number 011-92-051-4102784, 011-051-4102785 Email: dostpub@comsats.net.pk
