Munni Begum enthralls Peshawarites

PESHAWAR:  Famous Ghazal singer Munni Begum mesmerised the audience at a function at the only five-star hotel in the provincial capital here on Thursday night and received standing ovation from the listeners.

The acclaimed singer kept the audience spellbound by singing her popular ghazals like Jhoom Barabar Jhoom Sharabi, Ek Bar Muskura Do, Tumhare Sheher Ka Mausam Bada Suhana Lage, Idhar Zindagi Ka Janaza Uthey Ga.

A large number of music lovers including bureaucrats, elites, businessmen, and officials from the local administration attended the first ever musical concert by Munni Begum with their families.

It was a rare event of a famous artiste in entertainment-strived Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has been passing through the worst kind of militancy for the last many years.

The show continued late into the night as the audience requested Munni Begum to sing ghazals of their choice.

The youngsters in the jam-packed hall not only danced to the melodious lyrics but made selfies with Munni Begum, who was in the city after quite a long time.

Born in Murshidabad, West Bengal, India, Munni Begum first started taking music lessons from the famous singer Ustad Khwaja Ghulam Mustafa Warsi.

Subsequently, she studied at a school of music for three years. Her parents migrated from India to East Pakistan in the early 1950s. She studied in BAF Shaheen School, Dhaka. However, she moved to the then West Pakistan before graduating from high school.

She began her career as a singer in Karachi in the 1970s and released her first album of ghazals in 1976. As some of her ghazals became hits, she earned fame as a popular ghazal singer.

In recognition of her services, the government awarded her the President’s Pride of Performance award in 2008.

The guests appreciated the efforts of Rashid Banday, General Manager of the hotel, Tahir Mahmood Khan, who is the hotel’s Vice President Media, Marketing and Communications and Imtiaz Ali, its manager public relations for arranging the ghazal night.

Tahir Mahmood Khan, who also is a noted singer and has his own style in ghazal singing, also entertained the audience.

Speaking on the occasion Rashid Banday thanked the audience for showing interest in such events at the hotel and said the ghazal night was organised to pay tribute to Munni Begum.

He said that ghazal singing was a great medium of expression and it portrayed the message of peace and love.