A galaxy of budding stars showcase their vocal talent

Obhartay Sitaray, or Budding Stars. Yes! That’s what they were: a galaxy of promising young people harbouring superlative musical talent. Saturday evening was memorable in the city’s calendar of activities, with a large number of school students displaying their vocal talent.

The occasion: an inter-schools competition of youngsters displaying their vocal talent. It was so reassuring to see that our young people are second to none when it comes to music. The function was held under the aegis of The Citizens Foundation (TCF) and its supporters at a local hotel.

The event was most egalitarian in nature as it included children from the most trendy and elitist of schools in town to schools in low-income localities, which fail to command the glamour synonymous with the Grammar School or St Patrick’s. All the children, regardless of the schools they were from, exhibited the same sea of talent.

Right in the beginning, a large group of children from one of the TCF schools presented the national song that is on everybody’s lips: ‘Dil, dil Pakistan’. It was an absolute pleasure to see the group, both boys and girls, singing with all the gusto, rocking and swaying in rhythm.

Not once did any of them go out of tune, not once did any of them fumble. It sure was a perfect rendition. None of them could have been more than 15, yet their voices were so well trained, so seasoned.

Not only that, but it was such a wonderful trip back in time when Muhammad Haseeb Jehangir from the South Shore College sang on old Saleem Raza hit, ‘Aye dil kisi ki yaad mein hota hai beqarar kyun’, from the 1963 Pakistani film ‘Ik Tera Sahara’.

Obviously, this lad of not over 16 was not even there when the film was produced. Even the singer of this number, Saleem Raza, bade farewell to this world back in September 1983. Yet it is a tribute to the child’s musical taste that he specialises in songs of an age gone by, of the golden 50s and 60s, and renders them with perfection.

Another child, Fizza Fatima from the Dawood Public School, sang the lively song ‘Mera piya ghar aaya’. Her perky rendition, complete with absolute voice control and control over her cadences made it a wonderful presentation.

Syed Mostahsin Hussain of the City School, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, presented the number ‘Tum naaraz ho’. He left nothing to be desired and injected real profound feeling into the rendition. Incidentally, this number was also rendered by two other youngsters, Syed Wasi Raza of St Patrick’s High School and Dua Adnan of St Joseph’s Convent. All three showed lots and lots of promise.

However, these were some, just some, of the youngsters who displayed their talent among well over a hundred, and all of them touching perfection. Space would not permit the mention of all those myriads.

Suffice it to say that it was really heart-warming to know that our country, especially our city of Karachi, is brimming over with musical talent and that we have young people who could be the shining stars of tomorrow and bring Pakistan on the world’s talent map.

Among the judges at the competition were Tina Sani, Arshad Mehmood, Salman Alvi and Afshan Ahmed. US Consul General in Karachi Grace Shelton was the guest of honour.

According to the final results, the  primary level winners were Tarab Nafees, the Hampton School, Pop genre, and Nida Fatima, Beaconhouse School, National songs. Runners-up: Muhammad Abdullah, Beaconhouse School, Pop genre, and Ali Abbas, Beaconhouse School, National songs.

Secondary level winners: Sakina Haider, Beaconhouse School, Pop genre, and Ali Abbas, Beaconhouse School, National songs. Runners-up: Mujtaba Mehdi, Beaconhouse School, Pop genre, and Rejjah Zabir, St Joseph’s Convent, National songs.

College level winners: Khillat Zehra, Nixor College, Ghazal, Natasha Rasool, Nixor College, National songs, and Zuha Adnan, Nixor College, Pop genre. Runners-up: Bilal Hassan, Karachi Grammar School, National songs, and Maria Malik, Karachi Grammar School, Pop genre.

The winning team at the primary level was from the Beaconhouse School’s Jauhar campus, and that at the secondary level was from the Happy Home School’s Society campus.