PESHAWAR, Nov 5: A newly-formed Pashto band, “Ahang” entertained audience at a musical event organised to pay tribute to journalists, who lost their lives in the line of duty.

Popular singers, Humayun Khan and Bakthiar Khattak, sang folk and modern Pashto music to a limited number of audiences at the event organised by the US Consulate in Peshawar at the residence of the US Consul General, Dr Marie Richards.

Ahang is a fusion band to mix folk and modern Pashto music, something that has caught the imagination of many other young lads in the field including Khumaryan and Ismail and Junaid. The event was organised to pay tribute to journalists killed in the ongoing violence particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata, as part of the Daniel Pearl World Music Days Concert.

Daniel Pearl, a reporter with the Wall Street Journal, had arrived in Peshawar, shortly before the US invasion of Afghanistan and had worked on many a story before going to Karachi, where he was kidnapped and later murdered in February, 2002.

More than 40 journalists have lost their lives in Pakistan since 2001, half of them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata.  Portraits of the slain journalists adorned the back-stage in a well-lit shamiyana

The duo performed traditional, folk and hip Pashto songs to enthrall the audience including journalists, diplomats and men and women from different walks of life. Some Peshawar-based US diplomats and staff were also present on the occasion. Bakthiar Khattak began the evening show with a song written by poet and teacher, Abasaeen Yusufzai, followed by a folk genre called ‘Athanr’ by Humayun Khattak.  Athanr is a traditional Pashto dance music, favoured by Pakhtuns, in the past mostly when men would prepare for a battle.

In her Pashto speech, Dr Marie Richards welcomed guests and paid tribute to Daniel Pearl, who along with being a renowned Journalist was also an avid fiddle player, he joined musical groups wherever he lived, including Pakistan.

She seemed to have well-rehearsed her Pashto, appeared to have been written in Roman, but she had trouble pronouncing the word “khabaryalan” or journalists and admitted it in so many words. “Through music we honour not how he died, but the joy and vibrancy of how he lived,” she said. “Concerts like this support Daniel’s belief, and mine, that music and dialogue can build bridges across cultural divides and help achieve international friendship,” added Dr Marie.

She said that music transcended borders and helped to bridge the gap between different cultures and promote friendship between countries.

“Music and dialogue can build bridges across cultural divides and help achieve international friendship,” she remarked.

Provincial Minister for Tourism Syed Aqil Shah, who was to be the chief guest, did not show up, apparently owing to an un-announced restriction placed on government officials and cabinet ministers to avoid interaction with the US diplomats. —Bureau Report