PESHAWAR: Veteran music composer ST Sunny has advised young artists to focus on quality stuff if they want to reclaim the past glory of rhythmical traditions be it folk, film or pop music.

Born on July 23, 1944 in Peshawar Kohati Gate area, Samuel Thakur Dass alias ST Sunny did his graduation from Edwardes College Peshawar and developed a penchant for music.

“Owing to my passion, my father Thakur Dass, a lawyer by profession, allowed me to learn the basic intricacies of music from a teacher. After 15 years, I was able to play harmonium and some notes of classical music,” he told this scribe.

Veteran musician ST Sunny says Pashto folk singers have great talent

He said that in the golden era of Pashto film industry, he was given the opportunity to compose music for Pashto movie ‘Baaz Au Shahbaz’ released in 1974 and its songs proved a milestone. Soon he became the most sought after musician for radio, TV, stage and film.

“I don’t have a record of my works but I can safely say that my compositions exceed 10,000 including Urdu, Hindko and Punjabi in addition to Pashto. Pashtun audience catapulted my image in the world of music. Long ago, I have shifted to Lahore but my heart throbbed with Peshwarites. I would advise young artists to remain focused on the quality of music contents as it used to be the strength of Pashto cinema,” said the musician.

Talking about past glory of pollywood, he said that quality music was among the perquisites for a super hit flick.

He said that musicians were trained to produce playback music contents that suited the situation and mood of the film overall disposition and anything below that would never fit into scheme of things.

Mr Sunny said that he had even sung for few Pashto movies but his forte was composition for other top black icons including Hidayatullah, Khial Mohammad, Gulnar Begum and Kishwar Sultana because their voices would guarantee the ‘on screen’ success of the movies.

The veteran musician drifted away from the music world in late 90s when Pashto cinema was blurred by what he dubbed as ‘vulgarity, violence and obscenity’ however he said that quality composition could revive the silver screen if budding artists devoted attention to notes of strength.

“I still believe if given a chance, I can craft sound images for playback singers as Pashto music scene has large space for new experiments. With horizons of new digital world, voices could do wonders. Pashto folk singers have great talent,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2022