PESHAWAR: Popular young Pashto singer Gulpanra presented a musical tribute to two senior ghazal maestros, Khial Mohammad and Mahjabeen Qazalbash, at a function here on Tuesday.

She, in collaboration with some private production houses, conducted the event at the city’s lone theatre, Nishtar Hall. A large number of music lovers, artists, writers, young enthusiasts and fans attended the function.

Bakhtiar Khattak and Swaibia Khan hosted the musical show in a befitting manner. The young duo sprinkled catchy phrases during the function and kept the audience glued to their seats for hours. A considerable number of women also showed up at the musical concert.

Mahjabeen Qazalbash while addressing the participants as chief guest said that artists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been having a hard life owing to militancy and growing philistinism.

Young Pashto singer says Khial Mohammad and Mahjabeen Qazalbash have set golden trends in traditional Pashto music

She said that honouring senior artists was a symbol of cultured people. She said that Gulpanra despite being a young singer scaled the heights of success in a relatively short span of time.

The participants gave a standing ovation to Ms Qazalbash on her arrival on the stage.

Six Pashto noted poets were given best songwriters awards on behalf of Gulpanra. The recipients of the awards included Rahmat Shah Sail, Shakir Zeb, Gulzada Kurmawaal, Waheedur Rahman Zia, Wisal Mohammad Khalil and Shanaz.

Ghazal maestro Khial Mohammad couldn’t participate in the event due to his ailing health. Special awards were announced, one each for Mahjabeen Qazalbash and Khial Mohammad. Wisal Khial received award of his legendary father.

Speaking on the occasion, Gulpanra said that since long she had been craving to honour living legends of Pashto music but some unfavourable conditions hampered her way. She said that out of many senior artists, she selected only two prominent voices because of their huge contributions to Pashto music.

She said that artists, writers and art lovers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata suffered great losses and rendered sacrifices to safeguard their cultural identity. She said that Khial Mohammad and Mahjabeen Qazalbash had already earned the titles of ‘Shahenshah-i- Ghazal’ and ‘Nightingale of Frontier’ many years ago for their tremendous services to traditional Pashto music.

“We need to recognise and honour our art and music legends as we have learnt a lot from their experiences and skills. Senior artists like Khial Mohammad and Mahjabeen Qazalbash have always remained a great source of inspiration for young singers. Being role models, they have set golden trends in traditional Pashto music,” said Gulpanra.

Senior progressive poet Rahmat Shah Sail in his remarks said that artists and poets kept society and its people connected to their cultural roots and social norms. He said that being the most sensitive segment of the society, artists and writers kept people alive to ever changing trends in the world around.

“Young artists like Gulpanra should be encouraged as our conservative society gives little or no space to women to groom up and display their rare talent,” said Mr Sail.

Later, Gulpanra sang popular numbers of Prof Abasin Yousafzai, Durwaish Durrani, Shakir Zeb and Gulzada Kurmawaal. Young singers including Khalid Malik, Shaukat Mahmood, Wisal Khial and Mudassar Zaman also performed and received a round of applause from the participants.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2016