On the invitation of Mahir Siddiqui' Saaz Aur Aawaz group, the upcoming new star of Bollywood's playback singing genre of music, Raja Hassan is in Jeddah to perform at the Indian International School Jeddah (IISJ) on Thursday. This is Hassan's first performance in the Kingdom. In an exclusive interview with Saudi Gazette, Hassan remarked that he had a wish to come to Saudi Arabia after performing in other countries in the region. “It was a dream to come to this prestigious country and having come here, I now feel that I will succeed in every aspect of my life,” he said. I had hoped to bring my parents here to perform Umra, and that has finally been done. I will now try to visit Saudi Arabia whenever possible.” Having completed his Umra, Hassan feels that there is no place in the world he would want to visit or see. “After the Umra I experienced peace in my heart and I will retain this feeling until my death and hope to visit the Kingdom again and again and get the chance to perform the Haj,” he added. Formerly known by the first name of Raza, Hassan changed his name to Raja, his pet name. He is happy with the change of name but doesn't find anything remarkable in it. “I became famous with my pet name ‘Raja' because my mother calls me that as does the whole world now. I don't think that it had a special effect on my life though because it was Allah's wish that I become famous as Raja so here I am,” he said. Raja Hassan belongs to a family with a serious musical background. He began learning music at a very early age from his grandfather Allah Rakha Khan Sahib, who was the royal singer at the Jodhpur Palace and his father Rafique Sager Sahib who also attained fame through his talent. “Music was in my blood and I wanted to follow my family's trend and become a music composer when I arrived in Mumbai,” he explained. “However, there were some obstacles for me and I turned to singing for survival. I have struggled quite a lot as I used to walk 13 kilometers every day to work at a restaurant in Malhar, because the last bus from Malhar to Santa Clause was at 2.10 A.M. and my work only finished at 2.30 A.M. I earned only 60-80 rupees a day at that time which was not enough to take a bus or rickshaw so I had to walk all the way home.” Hassan spent almost eight years struggling in this manner before his big break. The break came in the form of the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa show on Zee TV, where he was chosen amongst thousands of participants and then selected by music composers Vishal and Shekhar in their team. He was the first runner-up in that show and began his singing career soon after. “Though my family was very happy, they have never said so to my face for fear that I'll become proud and arrogant and still scold me on my mistakes,” he confessed. Hassan is very happy with his wife Aysha and children: 12-year-old Saniya and four-month-old Adil. Hassan has also face many problems for marrying a Hindu even though she converted to Islam. “I think I'm the luckiest man on earth because I have a wife who understands me completely. We faced many threats because of our relationship and had to elope and live away from our parents for four years,” he said. “It was a difficult period and we had to struggle a lot but after a while everyone accepted our marriage.” He believes that education comes foremost for his children and wants them to study hard but even before that, to become good human beings. Hassan has sung more than 200 songs to date and participated in a number of TV shows and films. His first Bollywood song was for renowned music composer Shankar Mahadevan called “Ye Duniya Oot Patanga”. However, his first solo playback recording was for the film “De Taali”s “Mari tetree”. Soon after this he released his first solo album called “Yaar Milade Re”. “I want to reach a level where people look at me with pride, respect and remember me for my good work. I want to become a commercially successful singer who can sing all types of songs,” he said. Hassan gained stardom for his classical, sufi style of singing but he is adamant that he can sing other styles as well. “In the coming five years I want to become as versatile as Sonu Nigam and the late Mohammad Rafi, as well as a good husband, father and son and the winner of multiple awards.” Not many people know that Hassan has also trained as a theater actor for two years and would like to try his hand at acting. As for his fan following in Pakistan, Hassan says: “If there is ever an offer to sing from Pakistan, I would like to visit them and ask them to pray for me,” he said.
