QUETTA: Balochi folk singer Bashir Baloch, who won the presidential pride of performance and several other awards thanks to his excellent performances, passed away on Sunday.

Mr Baloch, who started his career as a Balochi language singer in the mid-60s, was suffering from kidney disease. He is survived by his wife and three children, including two sons and a daughter.

He was buried in the Akhund Baba graveyard near Killi Deba area of Quetta. A large number of people, including music lovers, attended his funeral prayer.

Mr Baloch started singing in Balochi language from Radio Pakistan, Quetta. With the passage of time, he also started taking part in music shows in Quetta and other cities where he also performed in other languages, including Urdu, Brahui, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, Hindko and Punjabi.

In 1974, when the Pakistan Television Corporation set up its station in Quetta, local folk singers got a chance to show their performances.

Mr Baloch’s excellent performance soon propelled him to the national scene and his musical programmes started to be telecast from Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. He has many national songs to his credit.

In 2018, he was awarded the presidential pride of performance for his services to promote music and folk singing. He clinched 130 different awards during his singing career.

“Bashir was a great singer who had full command on all musical notes, as he remained under the training of senior singers and musicians from across the country,” Ustad Eid Muhammad Ali, another famous folk singer who sings in multiple languages, said of Mr Baloch.

Mr Baloch had a “very sweet voice and always sang every song with passion”, Mr Ali told Dawn.

Expressing deep sorrow over Mr Baloch’s demise, Mr Ali said the highly talented artist and singer would be remembered forever “due to his dedication and love for his profession”. Mohammad Raza, the son of Mr Baloch, said his father spent his last days in very painful condition due to his illness and “ignorance of the government”.

“My father was not able to get treatment of his kidneys due to poor financial condition.”

Mr Ali also said that the last days of his father were “deplorable”.

“We have to give importance to our singers and artists who rendered their entire lives in keeping music and singing alive,” he said.

Bashir Baloch once himself complained about his state of affairs, wishing that he could trade his numerous awards for something to feed his family.

“One should take away all my awards but provide something for my children whom I cannot feed with a meagre cheque,” he told Dawn News in an interview some five years ago.

Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo expressed sorrow over the death of Mr Baloch, saying that the legendary folk singer achieved a prominent position in Balochi music with his hard work and dedication. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also paid his condolences over Mr Baloch’s demise.

The folk singer lived in a squalid house, given to him by a PPP leader in Balochistan during the party’s previous tenure in power.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2023