Obhartay Sitaray – a storehouse of budding talent

Karachi
Over a hundred children participated in a talent show called “Obhartay Sitaray”, an event sponsored by The Citizens’ Foundation at a local hotel on Saturday.
It brought to the fore the oozing budding musical talent that lies stored in our children and their promise to grow up into seasoned vocalists. Some were just a little bigger than tiny tots.
Most impressive was Tarab, who could not have been more than eight, but her control over her vocal cords was just excellent. She presented a number, “Bol gurriya bol”, originally a Nayyara Noor masterpiece.
She showed real promise with a melodious and mellifluous voice.
Sakina Ghazal from the Beaconhouse School, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, sang an old favourite, “Mehki fizaeen”, a perfect rendition, indeed. Despite her tender age, her control over her cadences was simply remarkable.
Then there was Arooba Ahsen with “Jeevey Pakistan”. She exuded real confidence as she sang. Abdullah Shoaib, from the Beaconhouse school system, sang, “Ao bacho sair karaien tum ko Pakistan ki”, a patriotic song. Apart from his perfect voice and intonation, one could easily see his emotional involvement through his style of presentation.
In the second round comprising children of the 6th, 7th, and 8th classes, among the many promising youngsters was Mohib Irfan, who rendered a song from a film that must have been produced decades before he was born yet he had mastered it so well. The song was, “Ae mausam rangeele suhane, jiya naheen mane, tu chutti le kea a ja balma”. The hit was from a movie called Saat Laakh, produced in 1957. In fact many children presented numbers that dated back to perhaps before the time even their parents were born yet the songs were rendered with perfection.
Similarly, Abdul Basit, a 7th grader, presented another film song, “Aye dil kisi ki yaad mein, hota hai beqarar kiyun”, from a 1963 movie, “Ik Tera Sahara”, sung by the late Salim Raza. Then came the

turn of the TCF schools and among the many they sang was a jazzy, toe-tapping Punjabi folk song, “Bale bale bai tor Punjaban di”. It must have been really heart warming, especially for music lovers to see the budding musical talent, the tremendous musical potential that lies in our young people, waiting to be explored.
Another highly promising aspect was that all the songs were Pakistani, something aimed at instilling patriotic fervour among the youngsters.
Talking about the TCS Schools, Mushtaq Chappra said, “We have changed the mindset of the country. There’s tremendous talent that lies hidden here. Girls from our schools are going to the best universities, both here and overseas. A boy from an underprivileged family in Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa was enabled by the foundation to go to the University of Boston in the US.”
The Citizens’ Foundation (TCF) is a professionally managed non-profit organisation set up in 1995 by a group of concerned citizens to give impetus to education. Currently, it is one of the country’s leading organisations in the field of education. By 2015, it had set up 1060 purpose-built schools nationwide with an enrolment of 165,000 students. It maintains a 50 percent male-female ratio on its campuses.
Among many annual features is Obhartay Sitaray, an inter-schools vocal contest meant to scout talent. Ayesha Hussain hosted the programme.