PESHAWAR: Noted Pashto folk singer Karan Khan successfully defended his PhD thesis at Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar, on Tuesday.

A large number of fans, literati and researcher scholars attended the event. Karan Khan, a resident of Swat, gave a presentation of his doctorate thesis titled ‘Pakhto Manzoom Adab Kay Jadeed Asnaaf’ (modern literary genres in poetic tradition of Pashto poetry).

Prof Nasruallah Jan Wazir, who chaired the event, said that poetry and music had many things in common. He added that such quality research work would prove beneficial for not only students but would also help Pashto folk artists to do novel experiences.

He said that Pashto Academy had always encouraged young scholars to conduct research on unusual topics and bring out hidden treasure of knowledge to promote research pursuits.

Karan Khan calls for promoting nexus between folk poetic and musical traditions

Prof Wazir said that it was quite rare in Pashto that a popular folk artist at the peak of his career turned to research which was a time-demanding and serious business. It was long needed that such a research should be conducted that could help bridge between poetry and folk music, he added.

Sharing brief of his research thesis, Karan Khan said that he dug out around 20 modern literary genres in poetic tradition of Pashto. He said he sung most of the genres that earned him a widespread popularity due to their contents, deep romantic message and music composition.

“Social media played a significant role in popularising modern literary genres during the last two decades and also motivated poets to introduce new dimensions in the old poetic tradition,” he said.

The artist said that new experiences were required to promote nexus between folk poetic and musical traditions because both completed each other in terms of compositions and tunes.

“Though it was an uphill task for an artist like me, yet due to my love for Pashto I did it with help of hardworking teachers, who guided me to open up a new window to folk artists to work on this unique topic,” he said.

The artist also answered satisfactory queries of the participants during the question-answer session.

Prof Mohib Wazir, Prof Danish Betani and Prof Rakhshanda also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2021