Mumbai, Nov 4 — Veteran ghazal singer Talat Aziz has managed to salvage his harmonium after a horrifying inferno gutted his house in the Juhu area of Mumbai.
On Wednesday, the singer took to his Instagram, and shared a video of himself playing his harmonium. While the instrument sounded perfect with every note, his fingers could be seen covered in the ashes from the fire.
He also penned a long note in the caption, as he wrote, “Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, my harmonium came alive again. After the devastating fire at our home, I checked on a very special harmonium of mine, a 13-scale instrument that I had specially commissioned with premium-quality reeds and used extensively for my online music classes. When I first examined it after the fire, it wouldn’t play at all. I sent a photograph to a harmonium maker and repairer, who took one look and told me it was beyond repair and should be disposed of. But something extraordinary happened yesterday”.
He further mentioned, “While I was at my residence, I decided to take it out once again. The fire had certainly touched it, and initially there was no sound. But as I gently began playing, it suddenly came alive. I cannot describe the joy and pleasant shock I experienced at that moment. It was almost as though the harmonium had risen like a phoenix from the ashes, refusing to surrender to the devastation around it. And it reminded me of something profound, never give up hope”.
“Music has a soul, and if Allah Wills, it can survive even the fiercest of fires. Yes, there is some superficial damage on the outside, but the reeds are intact and the heart is still strong. Perhaps there is a message in this for all of us. Life may leave its scars, but what is strong within us can still find its voice again. I bow my head in gratitude to Allah, the Almighty, for this little miracle and for reminding me once again that hope and faith must never be abandoned. Alhamdulillah”, he added.
The fire broke out at the singer’s residence on October 2, 2026. The blaze reportedly started near an air-conditioner on the ground floor and rapidly spread, filling the duplex apartment with thick smoke. Talat Aziz, his wife Bina, their two sons and trainer Sikandar Singh were affected.
Bina was trapped upstairs and rescued through a bathroom window with the help of a ladder. Five people were hospitalised for suffocation but were subsequently discharged. The fire destroyed valuable belongings, including Aziz’s harmoniums and Bina’s paintings.