PESHAWAR: Popular Pashto folk singers spellbound audience through their velvety voices and quality numbers at a ghazal night in Nishtar Hall here on Thursday.

A large number of families, students and music-buffs showed up at the event organised under the auspices of culture directorate. Mushtaq Ghani, the speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, and Khushal Khan, the secretary of culture department, were also among the participants.

Pashto folk artists including Karan Khan, Fayyaz Kheshgi, Hashmat Sahar, Meena Gul, Sarfaraz, Sardar Ali Banusi, Dilraj, and Rajwali performed and sang numbers of noted poets with traditional orchestra. The occasional thump ups in the jam-packed Nishtar Hall kept the audience gluing to their seats for hours.

Sardar Ali Banusi from district Bannu stole the show owing to his excellent choice of poetry and lively performance.

In her opening remarks, Shama Naimat, the culture director, said that KP people loved traditional art, poetry and music as they considered them a significant part of their cultural identity.

Govt urged to arrange cultural activities at district level

She said that ghazal night was arranged to promote cultural activities and provide a platform to the local artists to entertain audience through their live performance.

Prof Abaseen Yousafzai said that such events required to be held on weekly basis in Peshawar and should not be limited to music shows rather also include poetry recitation sessions, art exhibitions and peace lectures. He said that art and cultural activities should be organised at district level so that the people of entire province could be benefited.

Karan Khan said that after a long time he had the opportunity to perform live in Nishtar Hall along with his five-member orchestra. He added that government should speed up measures to revive traditional music and also help ameliorate the miserable plight of the folk artists and musicians.

Laiqzada, noted poet, said the troika of Hamza Baba, Rafiq Shinwari and Khial Mohammad played important role in popularising the genre of Pashto ghazal and radio Peshawar produced many ghazal singers.

Natasha Yasmin and Kifayat Khan, a couple, told this scribe that they drove from Mardan to enjoy the ghazal night along with their two children. Appreciating the event, the couple said that traditional music served as a great treat for entertainment-starved audience.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2020