PESHAWAR: Gulwareen Bacha, rising folk artist, has urged musicians to take steps for reviving conventional Pashto music through fine selection of poetry alongside traditional orchestra. “The art of light Pashto ghazal singing is fast dying, so is the tradition of poetry. So, efforts should be made to revive conventional music,” Mr Bacha said while talking to Dawn.

Gulwareen Bacha released his first compete album ‘Da Meeny Ghag’ (call for love) here at a local music studio here to pay tribute to late Dr Khaliq Ziyar, a renowned progressive Pashto poet, who was though a medic by profession, but was a humanist, pacifist and healer of souls. His poems reflected sufferings of the poor as his poetry was a strong voice for spreading the message of social justice, inclusivity and mutual respect laden in romance.

Mr Bacha said the album carried eight items, which hit the Pashto music charts soon after being uploaded online, while attracting audience from around the Pashtun diaspora.

The folk artist said the trend of light ghazal singing had suffered during the last decades owing to poor selection of poetry and substandard electronic musical instruments. “My album dedicated to the great soul of late Ziyar is expected to help revive the art of light ghazal tradition, and others should follow suit,” Mr Bacha said.

“My first complete Pashto album is in fact a collection of ghazals selected from an anthology of Dr Khaliq Ziyar. It took me one year to compose with a traditional orchestra with an objective to revive conventional music trends.”

Hailing from Swabi, Gulwareen Bacha is an amateur singer and has released a number of songs, which have acclaimed widespread fame and name during the last four years since he had launched his music career.

He said the recent release was his first complete Pashto album with a refined selection from the poetry collection of late Dr Khaliq Ziyar, titled ‘Khpal rabab Khpla Naghma’, a popular progressive Pashto poetry volume.

Bacha’s album is sponsored by Domination Heights, a private music production house, with musicians, including Waqar Atal rabab player, Shaukat Panyal clarinet, Haroon Pakhtun virtual drum beater, Fazal Ustad tabla player, Saddam Tariq recordist, and Sanwal Hassan keyboard player.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2024