From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Pakistani film industry — Lollywood — was a song factory, and its playback singers became the biggest stars in the country. Much of it is pure gold.
The immortals
Noor Jehan, the Queen of Melody, was the industry's defining voice. Mehdi Hassan brought ghazal-level craft to film song. And Ahmed Rushdi — whose 'Ko Ko Korina' is often called the subcontinent's first pop song — was the male voice of a generation (Tumhain Kaise Bata Dun).
The voices of an era
Mala (Gham-e-Dil), Naseem Begum, Saleem Raza and Naheed Akhtar filled the era's soundtracks; A. Nayyar and Alamgir then carried film and pop into the 1980s. Habib Wali Mohammad gave us an early, cherished 'Aaj Jane Ki Zid Na Karo'.
Wander the whole golden age through the artist directory on Patari.