Pashto Focus

[Bengal_Tiger]

History 101: Pashto book simplifies Gandhara civilisation to educate all

By Hidayat Khan

Published: August 10, 2016

Compiled by Khalid Khan Kheshgi, the book stated Gandhara has 21 sites of great importance. It has been written in simple Pashto language for everybody to understand.




PESHAWAR: A history book on the ancient Gandhara civilisation was launched at the Peshawar Museum’s hall on Tuesday.

It details 21 historical sites of the civilisation and is considered the first book on the history of the ancient settlement in Pashto language. It has been published by Radio Mashal, also known as Radio Free Europe.

The launch ceremony was attended by K-P Minister for Sports and Culture Mehmood Khan, Bacha Khan University Vice Chancellor Fazal Rahim Marwat and other senior officials. Mehmood Khan said the book aims to promote the culture and archaeology of the province.

He added the provincial government was making efforts to preserve the rich history of K-P and three new museums had been approved for construction this year. The minister said efforts were also under way to restore historic monuments as section four was imposed at a site in Swat to keep the land protected.

According to government officials, there are 6,000 sites of historic importance in the province and just 100 of those were given recognition.

Compiled by Khalid Khan Kheshgi, the book stated Gandhara has 21 sites of great importance. It has been written in simple Pashto language for everybody to understand.

K-P Archaeology and Museums Director Dr Abdul Samad said it was necessary to create awareness among people to better protect historic sites. He added besides archeological sites, K-P has 12 museums, but none of them were developed for sustainable tourism.

History 11: Pashto book simplifies Gandhara civilisation to educate all - The Express Tribune

[Bengal_Tiger]

Lack of preservation: Glorious era of Pashto music dying a slow death

By Hidayat Khan / Creative: Sobia KhanPublished: August 14, 2016



DESIGN BY SOBIA KHAN

PESHAWAR: Almost every house in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa—in rural and urban areas—buzzed and roared with Pashto music in the early 1970s. However, unfortunately, that entire era of original Pashto music is now rolling in the sands of forgotten times.

Pashto musicians started recording and distributing their music throughout the country through cassettes almost five decades ago. Soon after, cassettes had become a major source of music transmission in the country.

According to Layaq Zada Layaq, author of famous work Fankar Na Mri (Artist never dies), Pashto music had thrived through cassettes.

“Most of the big names in the industry today recorded their work through cassettes but unfortunately, this medium is almost dead now,” he said, adding the cassettes were part of the province’s history and needed preservation.

The emergence of compact disks and online music portals also caused the culture of tapes and cassettes to die a slow, painful death.

Former trends

The latest music playing at full volume in each shop attracted many listeners and guided all those who were looking to buy some records in and around Qissa Khwani Bazaar and on Cinema Road in the city.

The name of the singer or the form of music a listener was searching for were adequate clues for shopkeepers selling cassettes in spaces grouped together.



Heaps and piles of cassettes neatly arranged in categories in these places lured even those who did not have a passion for music—various forms of poetry sung melodiously—ghazals, badalas and different folk songs were also recorded according to the demand of listeners.

Peshawar dominated the production of such tapes which were then distributed in shops scattered throughout towns and villages in the city.

The famous music centres of the era include Sangam music, Watan music, Sher Wali music, Odeon music and Mehran music. The first three centres that recorded and produced high quality music for generations, are no longer functional. Odeon and Mehran music centres have also stopped producing music but still own a huge stock of records. While there is slight joy in this news, it must be borne in mind that once the prevailing number is sold out, no new copy will ever be produced and that music record will be lost forever.

Gradual death

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Ansar Hayat of Sikandar music centre on Cinema Road said, “We have very little music on tapes and cassettes left from the glorious era.”

He said the company which used to produce cassettes has stopped manufacturing them due to lack of demand and almost all music has been shifted either to compact discs or on some online music forum. “Cassettes were popular till 2012 after which CDs, DVDs and now digital downloads killed the culture,” he said.

Hayat said earlier there was a large music library that represented the past but very few records exist in the present.

“A large part of what is lost was work produced and recorded by local artists who used to perform in village,” he said, adding their music was extremely popular among people.

He said people lack the enthusiasm to preserve records today and added he owned some master copies which were being converted digitally and provided only on demand.

Haji Shahid who runs Odeon music centre, the oldest music recording centre of the province, has copies of almost all music records but fears they will soon be destroyed if they are not preserved. Although he has not written dates on the copies, they still reveal a lot about the past.

The need to preserve

“Our entire music industry spread and developed through cassettes, but Pukhtuns have little interest in their past,” Layaq told The Express Tribune. He said almost 99% of the work of ghazal legend Khyal Muhammad is in cassettes. “The work of other legends like Kishwar Sultan, Gulnar Begum, Rafiq Shinari, Hidayatullah, late Zarshad Ustad, famous folk singer Habib Noor, Wahid Gul Ustad, Farzana who relinquished music when she was at the top of her career, Sardar Ali Takkar, Gulzar Alam, Qamar Gula, Gul Meena, Wagma, Naghma and southern district artists from Said Ahsan to Rasool Bacha are all in cassettes.”

Layaq said it was the duty of the culture department to take master copies and convert them into modern forms of accessible music. He said the music of the past era was historic and needed preservation in the form of a library for future research. Directorate of Culture Director Abdul Basit told The Express Tribune they have started a new project for conserving culture which includes collecting old music and film records. “However, the project is in its initial stages and was always subject to availability of funds,” he added.

The background

Pashto musicians first recorded their music through recording discs in 1930s. Soon after, spool recorders which could record six songs on one side and six on other side took over. However, the device was not easily accessible to the public and did not thrive.

When cassettes emerged, the entire scenario of music change – a new epoch of Pashto music started to take shape where local artists began recording their work and people began to buy them excessively. Soon every house in the city and the province owned tape recorders that gave a huge boost to the music industry.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14th, 2016.

Lack of preservation: Glorious era of Pashto music dying a slow death - The Express Tribune

[Bengal_Tiger]

Music to my ears: Book on Pashto music producers hits the stands

By Hidayat KhanPublished: August 18, 2016



Author says veneration composers deserve is lost in entertainment process.


PESHAWAR: Pashto music and the contribution of singers have been enjoyed a great deal over the years. However, the amount of effort the families of musicians put in to produce great work and the veneration they deserve, is lost in the process of entertainment.

In order to give recognition to producers without which singers who reached the pinnacle of their careers and gave melodious tunes to the world would not have been possible, writer and poet Layyeq Zada Layyeq published Fankar Na Mri part-2 (Artist Never Dies) on Wednesday.

The book—follows from its first part that had cast light on famous Pashto singers of the past—elucidates the contributions and work of 33 families of musicians. “The vocalist just brings his or her voice – after the poet, the music composer deserves credit, however, 90% of Pukhtuns have no information about them,” Layyeq told The Express Tribune.

Rejuvenating

“Searching for melodious musicians and singers of the past has been my ambition,” Layyeq told The Express Tribune. He added after writing about singers, he tried to find people who could speak through beats and understood the sur and taal.

He said these people evoke emotions in a song where lyrics incite listeners to search for their pain and find solace.



According to Layyeq some musicians were not even Pukhtuns but had served Pashto music, adding new colours to the art. “They accepted this land as their own and the book brings to life their contributions and sacrifices,” Layyeq said.

Endowed

The author said most producers come from a family of composers and their work and talent passes on from generations with varying degrees of success. The famous singer Hashmat Sahar followed the work of his father Ustad Qadam Khan, a musician from Khyber Agency. “The family has rendered great service to Pashto music and their work has been kept alive,” Layyeq said. He also gave the example of senior music producer Ustad Nazir Gul who continued the legacy of his father, Ustad Khaista Gul.

“The children of musicians are ambitious and wish to take on the responsibility of keeping their family and ancestral tradition alive,” the author said. He examined the work of Shakir Zeb Nowshervi, the grandson of Ustad Aqal Meer, a legendry harmonium player from Nowshera. “Shakir’s father Jahanzeb Nowshervi was also an expert at harmonium and today Shakir and his brother Farrukh Zeb are famous Pashto music producers in the province with their own recording studios.”

The downfall

The author said, “However, due to the stigma attached to music in the region, children of several famous musicians have ceased to follow their parents’ footsteps.” Layyeq wrote about Zarnosh Ustad who started music with Drooza but had no one to carry his legacy forward.

He said moreover, most of the maestros were folk artists, and unlike in the past, the style of music has greatly changed today. “These musicians would take several days to bring a composition for the public but now music has become mechanised—rhythms are put into a computer—which has dealt a deathblow to many instruments.

Layyeq also said the great musicians of the past spread the magic of their work beyond Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and into Delhi and Kolkata. “However, unfortunately, unlike in the Punjab, the gharana system could not flourish in K-P and families failed to get their due recognition,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2016.

Music to my ears: Book on Pashto music producers hits the stands - The Express Tribune

[Bengal_Tiger]

Pashto singer demands assistance for son’s treatment

By Hidayat KhanPublished: August 25, 2016



The singer urged the K-P government to help him at this difficult time since he had been serving Pukhtun culture in every sense of the word for the last several decades.

PESHAWAR: A senior Pashto singer, Sardar Yousafzai, is struggling to make ends meet as his 11-year-old son fights posterior tumour. The survivor of militant attack in Swat in 2008 has pressed the government to assist in the treatment of his son who has been sick for the past six years.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Yousafzai who has released several music albums in Pashto, said his son is writhing in pain and he does not have the financial resources to afford his treatment. He said the doctors had deemed his son’s illness to be ‘mysterious’ till recently when Zaland could not even walk.



“My son used to cry in pain but no medicines were prescribed and given by the doctors here,” the singer said. “It is only recently that they identified the disease to be tumour which has now spread and is affecting more of his organs.”



He said doctors in the country have said a surgery now needed to be performed and one of Zaland’s legs would be amputated.

“The doctors say that operation is the only way to put my son out of his misery but the chances of saving his leg and curing him here are less than 1%,” Yousafzai added.

He added doctors in Islamabad told him to take his son abroad for treatment.

“They [doctors] told me there were chances that my son could get cured abroad since countries in the West were technologically advanced,” he said.

Yousafzai said his son was in extreme agony and this was a very difficult and stressful time for his family. “I do not have millions of rupees to take him abroad and pay for his treatment.”

Loyalty to music, nation

Sardar Yousafzai is a senior musician from Malakand Division. He did not give up his profession or leave the area even when militants attacked him in 2008.

“I was returning from a concert with a friend, senior harmonium player Anwar Gul Ustad, when the culprits attacked us,” he said. Yousafzai added his friend was killed while he was severely injured.

According to the singer, militants had captured Swat and banned all music activities but he refused to tolerate the imposition.

“I continued my passion and my profession and did not give up singing despite being asked and threatened to do so several times,” he told The Express Tribune.



“After the attack, I was tortured in different ways but the love for music and loyalty to the country trumped,” he added.

Yousafzai is renowned for his songs and compositions throughout the area. His rendition of ghazals by poets like Ghani Khan Baba, Rahmat Shah Sail, Ikramullah Gran and Iqbal Shakir won him recognition among Pukhtuns in Pakistan as well as in Afghanistan.

The singer urged the K-P government to help him at this difficult time since he had been serving Pukhtun culture in every sense of the word for the last several decades. “The treatment is possible abroad and Zaland and I desperately need support,” Yousafzai said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2016.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/1169286/perseverance-loyalty-pashto-singer-demands-assistance-sons-treatment/

[MENTION=1020]Feroz Afridi[/MENTION]
[MENTION=1028]Yousafzai Pakhtun[/MENTION]


I think the ANP, PMAP or even the QWP should try and help his suffering son.