Though her family migrated to Karachi shortly after Partition, her voice took listeners into the deserts of Rajasthan.
LAHORE: Legendary folk singer Reshma passed away on November 3. The great singer has gone on a “Lambi judai”. Farzana Versey rightly commented while tweeting on her death that “she broke the silence of the desert. A voice so wounded, her pain became the song.” Not only is this true in literal terms, but this actually happened; her throat cancer was proof of this.
Reshma was the most popular folk singer of Pakistan. She was from Rajasthan’s Banjara community. Though her family migrated to Karachi shortly after Partition, her voice took the listeners into the deserts of Rajasthan. No director or producer making a film or television serial on desert life missed having Reshma’s voice as part of the soundtrack. She got recognition and awards too, yet the government did not do what it should have done in a befitting manner. But this has happened with all legends in Pakistan. May God rest her soul in eternal peace.
Marya Mufty
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2013.
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