KARACHI: British singer Tanya Wells, who shot to fame through her delectable singing of famous ghazals and film songs on social media, is looking forward to her visit to Pakistan in August. During her interaction via Skype with journalists at the Karachi Press Club on Monday evening, she said she had grown up listening to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan songs and now she was learning Urdu. She was speaking to the media which had gathered at the invitation of two organisations (Asian Performing Arts and British Asian Culture) that are behind the concerts that she will be doing.

Ms Wells said her concert was about celebrating the beautiful culture of Pakistan. She said she would be singing ghazals during her shows in August accompanied by classical instruments such as tabla and harmonium.

Responding to a question that how she became interested in eastern music, Ms Wells said she grew up in Himachal Pradesh in India. There, she said, she listened to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s and devotional music. She said she learnt Hindustani classical music in India for a few months, after which she returned to England. There were people from the Diaspora in England who knew the art form, so she kept learning it. It also, she said, enabled her to know Pakistani songs. She said she’d learnt quite a bit about classical and Sufi music. She said she had a keen interest in that kind of music which “creates a lot of joy”.

When asked who her favourite Pakistani singer was, she said: “It has to be Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan because he is the king of qawwali.” She also took names of Mehdi Hasan, Abida Parveen and Farida Khanum. She said there were many singers from Pakistan that she liked. Answering a question about Mehdi Hasan, she said he’s the king of ghazal. “He’s so amazing.” She praised his command of the sur and remarked that the way he expressed himself was incomparable.

Replying to the question whether she could speak Urdu, she said “thoda thoda” (a little). Perhaps the highlight of the event was the moment when she was requested to sing any of Mehdi Hasan’s ghazals. She chose the famous ‘Gulon mein rang bhare’. Despite the fact that her voice could not be heard clearly as one would have liked because of a weak sound system, she sang very well, especially her rendition of the second verse ‘Qafas udaas hai yaaro’ was of high quality.

Earlier, one of the organisers of the events Shahzad Alam said there was a time when the sociopolitical situation in Pakistan did not encourage him to invite artists from abroad, but now he felt it had improved. He said Ms Wells would be coming to Pakistan in August to do three shows in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. He said he had been in touch with the Interior Ministry in that regard. He said Ms Wells had also wished to do a gig in KP.

It was sad to note that the arrangements for the press conference were poor as the organisers had not even properly prepared to use Skype. Journalists had to walk up close to the laptop to put questions to Ms Wells. Her voice, too, on occasion, was hardly audible.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2016