Reviving folk culture: Baloch singers sway capital’s audience

Renowned artists from the province highlighted the event


Our Correspondent September 10, 2015
Muhammad Bashir Baloch, Jan Muhammad Buledi, Mohammad Asim Gulistani and Shayan Baloch were among the performers at the event. PHOTO: EXPRESS

ISLAMABAD: Educational institutes in the capital have started realizing the true significance of cultural events, the most recent of which was a grand and vibrant cultural evening featuring Balochistani musicians.

The event, organised on Thursday by Inter-University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences (IUCPSS) in collaboration with the Balochistan government and National Testing Service (NTS) at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), had as many as nine eminent Baloch artists perform.

The artists presented various folk stories of the province in a number of languages including Baloch, Pushto and Brahvi.

Folk singers who performed at the cultural evening included Muhammad Bashir Baloch, Jan Muhammad Buledi, Mohammad Asim Gulistani, Shayan Baloch.

Gulistani sang popular Pashto folk songs such as Babulala and Zima da srowzaro while Bashir Baloch performed various traditional songs in Balochi and Brahvi language including Saozo Kana Sa Ay Saozo, Barva Kana Lelimor, Laila O Laila, Lailaria La Ho.

An interesting performance at the cultural evening was Buledi’s song related the romantic story of classical Balochi poet Mast Toq Ali (Tawakkali) with Sammo and chanted various Balochi Poems composed by Mast Tawakkali.

Shayan Baloch and his colleague musicians played the various folk music instruments such as rubab, siroaz, sitar and surinda.

Following the performances, the dignitaries addressed the guests where the Balochistan Assembly Speaker announced a cash prize of Rs50,000 for the artists.

National Book Foundation Managing Director Dr Inamul Haq Javed spoke about the significance of the rich Balochi literature into other languages and effective role of higher education institutions for revival of folk culture of Pakistan.

He said that NBF has initiated its efforts to work on such projects and he further commended the efforts of the organisers in promoting the folk culture of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2015.

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