Manzoor Hussain Santu

In an interview, his son Manzoor Hussain Santu Qawwal (1934-), born in Garhi Shau, Lahore, who learned the art of qawwali singing from his father, told that his grandfather Ustad Mola Buksh started qawwali in the family and learned from Tanrus Khan's Gharana. By profession, the family were farmers at that time, and their ancestors came from Saudi Arabia. His grandfather became the disciple of Mian Inam Bukhsh in Amritsar and learned traditional classical music, and so admired the genre of qawwali that he began practicing it.

Santu Khan was admired internationally. Manzoor Hussain Santu, who toured Saudi Arabia extensively, mentioned with pride that when he told some of the people there that his name was Manzoor Santu, one of them stepped forward and touched his feet and said that his ancestors belonged to that land and that he was a family member. He then took him to his village where the whole family welcomed him.

Santu Khan was inspired by Sufi thought. When he became the disciple of Bhai Lal in Amritsar, he met Pir Nawazish Ali Shah, who was a follower of the Sabri silsila. Santu Khan became a devoted follower of the Sufi order and became the disciple of Pir Nawazish Ali Shah as well. On his advice he went to Bengal and sang a qawwali — "taen ta mera yar na milaya mein ki jana teri khudae" — for the film Bhagat Surdaas, which became an instant hit. He also sang with K.L. Saigal.

Santu Khan had in his vocal formation the peculiarities of khayal gayaki, with intricacies and subtle delicacies that set him apart from the qawwals of his time. He had a sweet and melodious voice. Logically, the features of singing observable in different forms such as khayal, thumri, dhrupad, and qawwali have a common root: the mind of the artist. It would not be farfetched to say that had Santu Khan not adopted the genre of qawwali, he would have been a great khayal singer of his time and possibly of all time.