Aziz Mian

Aziz Mian died from complications of hepatitis in Tehran, Iran on 6 December 2000. He was in Iran at the invitation of the Government of Iran, to perform on the occasion of Imam Ali's death anniversary. He is buried in Multan, on the brink of Nau Bahar Nehar[Canal]. His death anniversary (Urs) is celebrated every year on the first Thursday of May, the Urs celebrations commence with the 'Ghusal' ceremony conducted by Mian Saheb's son Shibli Aziz and Rasm e Sandal of Baba Nadir Hussain famously known as 'Tootan Waali Sarkar' who is Peer O Murshid (Spiritual Master) of Aziz Mian. The Urs celebrations continue for three days, starting with 'Ghusal' followed by 'Chadar Poshi' and 'Mehfil e Samaa' (Urdu: Mehfil-e-Samaa) of Qawwali ('samaa' means the listening audience in Urdu and Arabic). Around seven to eight qawwal groups perform. The celebration terminates after the last ritual of 'Qul'. The Urs (death anniversary) celebration are organized by Shibli Aziz Mian, who is more interested in mysticism and Sufi traditions. He is promoting and propagating this spiritual heritage of his father and have quite a number of disciples (mureeds) and followers.

He first began performing at private gatherings. However, his official ‘start' came in 1966, when he performed in front of the Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi. The Shah of Iran was so moved by his performance that he gave Aziz Mian a gold medal. From this moment on, Aziz Mian gained popularity and started releasing albums. In addition to singing qawwalis, he was also an expert at singing ghazals. He became a noted member of the qawwal community due to his unique and crisp voice. In the early days of his career, he was nicknamed Fauji Qawwal (Urdu: فوجی قوال) (meaning "Military Qawwal") because most of his early stage-performances were in military barracks for the army personnel. He was known for a "more recitative, more dramatic diction" and was inclined toward qawwali's religious rather than entertainment qualities, though he also enjoyed success in more ashiqana sufi qawwalis.

Aziz Mian was born as Abdul Aziz (Urdu: عبد العزیز) in Delhi, British India. The exclamation Mian, which he often used in his qawwalis, became part of his stage name. He began to introduce himself as Aziz Mian Meeruthi. The word Meeruthi refers to Meerut, a city in northern India, from where he migrated to Pakistan in 1947.

Aziz Mian Qawwal (Urdu: عزیز میاں قوال) (17 April 1942 – 6 December 2000) was a Pakistani traditional qawwal famous for singing ghazals in his own style of qawwali and is considered one of the greatest qawwals in South Asia. He holds the record for singing the longest commercially released qawwali, Hashr Ke Roz Yeh Poochhunga, which runs slightly over 150 minutes and. Aziz is known by sobriquets — "Shahenshah-e-Qawwali" (King of qawwali), "Fauji Qawwal"(Military Singer) since his early performances were often in army barracks, and "the Nietzschean qawwal".