PESHAWAR, June 20: A musical concert was held on Sunday night in connection with the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-formed Artistes Welfare Association Zoom (Awaz).

The function was held at the Zubair Mir Hall here, which is the only venue in the provincial metropolis where musical shows are still being organized after the MMA government banned musical shows.

Apart from other performers, Gulzar Alam, Fazle Akbar Rahi, Taj Akbar, Noor Jehan, Anjum and Shabnam mesmerized the audience that included radio and TV artistes and journalists.

The function was interrupted for an hour because of load shedding but music enthusiasts kept waiting for the concert to resume. But a local comedian, Tawab Sarhadi, outperformed everyone else making the participants let loose a barrage of witty hooting making up for the dearth of entertainment.

Dances performed by Almazeb Mujahid, Sajjad Khalil and others drew a good response from the audience. Earlier, PTV's Programme Manager Shaukat Ali spoke about lack of facilities and staff at the PTV's Peshawar centre, but praised the performance of artistes associated with it.

President of Awaz Tariq Jamal complained about what he called the step-motherly attitude towards local artistes so far as nominating and conferring of the national awards was concerned.

Expressing incomprehension about the criteria of awarding the President's Pride of Performance awards, he said: "Many of the local artistes sacrificed their entire lives performing their best and entertaining people but they are not considered worthy of being given these awards."