PESHAWAR: Pashto folk singers at a ghazal night event captivated audience with traditional music here on Tuesday evening.

The event was arranged under the auspices of a private TV channel to revive the genre of Pashto ghazal and live performance. The folk singers spellbound the participants by singing numbers of both classical and modern Pashto poets and received round of applause.

Bilal Jamshed, Bahadur Zeb, Adil Yar, Muntazir Khan and Zafar Farooq performed and sang ghazals of Hameed Baba, Hamza Baba, Sahib Shah Sabir, Rahmat Shah Sail, Naqeeb Khan, Faqir Rahman, Laiqzada Laiq and Aziz Manirwal.

The participants of the event were of the view that quality poetry and music would continue reigning and winning over hearts of the audience and such voices would never die and would keep on casting magical impact on the listeners.

“The ghazal night has completed its five years but still has strong urge among its fans as it has introduced more than 12 young singers,” said Syed Adnan Shah, the chief organiser of the event.

Senior Pashto poet Prof Aseer Mangal was chief at the event. He said that ghazal had been the most popular literary genre and also gained large audience since the arrival of radio during the early 20th century.

He said that Ameer Hamza Khan Shinwari perfected the art of ghazal writing and Khial Mohammad, Shah Wali and many others popularised genre of ghazal singing.

Noted poet Laiqzada Laiq, who chaired the event, said that young singers should sing ghazals of poets, who enjoyed reputation for substance and purpose blended in romanticism.

He said that they should avoid picking up substandard stuff. He added that the singers, who chose quality poetry, would stay long and also would remain alive in the hearts of audience and fans.

“Ghazal is a classical literary genre but light ghazal has its roots in folk music played with traditional instruments. Rafiq Shinwari and a few music directors laid the foundation of light ghazal singing in folk style,” said Mr Laiq.

Young singer Muntazir from Malakand said that he had sung ghazals of Rahmat Shah Sail, Hamza Baba and several other poets and had a penchant for singing ghazal. He said that he loved romantic ghazal and most often his fans wanted him to sing quality poetry.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2020