Lahore, March 26: The Lahore Arts Council will honour the great ghazal singer Farida Khanum on Wednesday by awarding her the first Alhamra Excellence Award.

The LAC has initiated a series of tributes to distinguished names of art.

Farida Khanum is a celebrated ghazal exponent who is equally popular in Pakistan and India and was awarded Hilal-i-Imtiaz by Pervez Musharraf. Many luminaries from film and television will attend the evening.

Karachi-based music composer and TV actor Arshad Mehmood has been specially invited by the council to have an up and close conversation with the singer covering various phases of her majestic singing career.

Two leading names from classical and ghazal singing, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan Hyderabadi and Ghulam Abbas, will come up with a special performance. Ghulam Abbas will sing ghazals sung by Farida Khanum and Khan Sahib will perform classical ragas and thumri.The award carries a cash prize of Rs500,000.