PESHAWAR: A young singer has asked culture department to preserve Pashto folk music because it resonates local culture, history and a way of social life of people.

The artist, Salman Tabassum, has close resemblance to his mentor late Kifayat Shah Bacha in style and talent to create low and high pitch sounds to add extra charm to folk singing.

A resident of Swabi district, he has numerous albums to his credit and enjoys widespread popularity owing to his versatile singing style and unique selection of folk poems.

During his studio recording for Eid release in Peshawar, Salman Tabassum sliced out time from his busy schedule to talk to this scribe and dwell upon his singing career and future initiatives. He said that he was in the city for recoding some folk items for a foreign Pashto online radio and TV channel.

“I was born to a farming family but with a talent of remembering long Pashto folk songs because their contents would always motivate me. Late Kifayat Shah Bacha was one great inspiration that I finally drifted into a magic world of folk singing. I met him during a musical concert in our village,” he said.

Salman says folk songs feature local culture, history and social values

Since his early age, Salman Tabassum became a pupil of Kifayat Shah in music. In 2000, he brought out his first Pashto album titled ‘Nadan’ that shot him to fame. He told this scribe that he not only followed singing style of Kifayat Shah but also grew long hair, which his mentor used to brandish with Chitrali sitar in his hands.

Talking about traditional musical instruments, he said that traditional music orchestra was inherently in synch with lengthy Pashto folk songs. He added that most folk songs featured local culture, history and social values.

“Pashto folklore contains description of our long history spanning over centuries. Folk poets have explored references to historic events with cultural significance, therefore, my humble request to KP culture department is to preserve our folk music,” he said.

Regarding future plans, Salman Tabassum said that he was working on collecting audio and video of noted folk singers so that those could serve as resource kit for research scholars. He said that Swabi district had been home to noted literati, scholars and eminent folk singers.

“Pashto folk music is rich in contents like popular long poems narrating historical events, typical romance and code of Pashtunwali. Folk poetry and folk music both connect us to our cultural roots, its preservation is a must to do job,” said the young artist.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2023