Abrar-ul-Haq (Urdu/Punjabi: ابرار الحق) (born July 21, 1968) is a Pakistani pop, bhangra and folk legend singer. On his first album "Billo De Ghar" his name appears as simply "Abrar". His best-known work is the song "Billo De Ghar". Before becoming a singer, he was a geography teacher at the Aitchison College in Lahore.
Life
Abrar has kept the year of his birth a secret, so as to not reveal his age. Recently, in an interview, Abrar claimed he was born in 1968 at NAROWAL.[citation needed] He has often claimed that 'he was still young and not that old' and 'was born in the 60s'. He got his initial education from Gujrat and Rawalpindi. Took his Bachelor's degree from Sir Syed College (Rawalpindi) and acquired Master's degree in social sciences from Quaid-i-Azam University, (Islamabad).
He joined Aitchison College’s permanent faculty in 1996. He had to quit teaching to pursue his career in pop music; although he considers the day he joined Aitchison College the proudest day of his life.
He primarily sings in Punjabi which is the main language of bhangra genre, language of most populated province of Pakistan and Abrar's native language. He sings in Urdu too. His popular single "Sanu Tere Nal" is in English and Punjabi.
Abrar's first single "Billo De Ghar" was an instant hit along with his album. That song is still remembered today even though it was one of his oldest songs. According to his website more than 16 million copies of his debut album have been sold.
Abrar states " I was very secure in my formative years because of the tremendous love and support my parents gave me. I always idolized my father but my mother was my main anchor in my life. Her tremendous encouragement and faith in me was the driving force behind everything I did. I could talk every thing with her and therefore it was with great pride that I went and presented her my appointment letter. She held me close and said "I knew that you will get this job, I prayed for you"".
About singing he is quotes "I was always fond of singing. While studying in Islamabad I organized fund raising concerts. I still remember trying to sell the tickets of my functions. I use to tell the people that there is an excellent singer who will perform at this concert. I am sure that they use to be surprised at seeing me on the stage. However, It never bothered me, as the money I collected from these concerts would go to help the needy students. When I joined as teacher in Aitcheson, I could not get over my love for singing and it was here that I composed my song "Billo Day Ghar". My popularity as a singer grew, but I always looked for approval from my mother. No success was complete till my mother approved. I was really my mother's boy."+
Abrar-ul-Haq has immensely come to age as a popular pop bhangra singer. His every album has brought about massive hits that topped the charts. From "Billo Day Ghar" to "Majajni", "Bay Ja Cycle Tay" to "Punjabi Touch", every thing was on people's lips.
Recently, Abrar Ul Haq was asked to play a lead role in a Punjabi movie along with Gurdas Maan. Gurdas had been asking Abrar for a long time but Abrar refused because of personal issues.
He belongs to Jat clan of Kahloon based in District Narowal. His elder brother Maj (R) Israr ul Haq Kahloon is an active politician in Narowal District.
His first cousin Jawad Kahloon is also a singer,Jawad revealed that in a TV interview but he never used Abrar's popularity as a support for his music career. Jawad's debut song was 'Udeekan' featuring Shahzaman, which was a hit, he reportely has released an album named 'Lyallpur Kare Aashiqi'.
Controversies
Like many other famous singers Abrars's musical work also has caused public debates.
Billo De Ghar
His debut single, Billo De Ghar, erupted great controversy and gathered much debate. Billo is a fairly common female nickname among predominantly Muslim Punjabis of Pakistan. First line of the song, Assan Tay Jaana Billo De Ghar, Kinnay Kinnay Jaana Billo De Ghar (Punjabi: We will go to Billo's home, who else will go to Billo's home), was used as tease by street bullies for Billo named young-adult females. This caused a fierce reaction from the families of female victims, often resulting in physical fights. In order to avoid any more of such situations in his another single, Preeto, Abrar used a non-Muslim female nickname Preeto. This name is almost extinct in Pakistan.
Nach Punjaban Nach
Nach Punjaban Nach (Punjabi: Dance Punjabi (woman) Dance; Punjaban is Punjabi for female.), second line of Abrar's single Punjabi Touch also caused a public outrage as it was taken as an address to all Punjabi women of Pakistan (99% of Pakistani Punjabis are Muslims). Abrar was sued in Lahore High Court. He personally went to the court and told the judge that he would change the word Punjaban to Majajan. He re-recorded the song and new batch of copies of his album, Assan Jana Mall-o Mall, has the modified version of the song. However, copies of the album with older version are still available and were never pulled from the market. During a TV interview, he was asked about the meaning of Majajan. He said, "Majajan is not a word. Real word is Majajni. I changed it to Majajan."
Parveen
Abrar has created some controversy with his newest album's song "Parmeen." He has been criticized for the usage of Parveen, a common female name in Pakistan, in an odd way. The renowned columnist Javaid Chaudhury wrote a column in protest of Abrar's song when Javaid received a letter from a girl name Parveen on the effects of the song on her life. The girl claimed that she had stopped attending college in Lahore because of harassment from male students. The case was taken to Pakistan's Supreme Court, which ordered Abrar to change the lyrics. He stated that he would abide by the court's decision.[1]
SAHARA for Life Trust
He is the founder and chairman of SAHARA for Life Trust (tax exempted charity organization), a charitable organisation promoting health and education in remote areas. The term SAHARA stands for: "Services Aimed at Health and Awakening in Remote Areas".
The abbreviation SAHARA has been chosen very cleverly as it is Roman script or transliteration for a word of Urdu (سہارا) which means aid or assistance.
On 4 June during a TV show a controversory arose as Abrar and Jawad Ahamad (A Known Singer in Pakistan)fought on the issue of corruption in NGOs. Jawad Ahmad blammed Abrar about withdrawing of salary by his brother Israr Ul Haq. The TV show was aired without editing in which Abrar explained that it is true that his brother is drawing salary 85,000.
Musical collaborations
Recently, Abrar has teamed up with Gurdas Mann and Sukshinder Shinda in a Punjabi single called Collaborations. The song was an immediate success. (2006)[2] he is a very popular singer in Pakistan and India. He is not only popular in India and Pakistan but worldwide. He had done concerts in many countries of the world like Denmark, USA, Canada, UK, UAE and etc.
Abrar-ul-Haq has collaborated with Khiza on the album titled "Turning Point" by Khiza. Abrar has also collaborated with ADH which will NOT release on the album 'Taubah Taubah' but as a single. Veronica's album 'Sanam' will be releasing soon which will feature Abrar-ul-Haq produced by Rishi Rich. Abrar-ul-Haq's own album will be releasing towards the end of 2009 which is rumoured to feature Gurdas Mann and Sukshinder Shinda.