By Umer Nangiana


A large number of members of Pakistani community gathered to celebrate their country’s Independence Day with music recently. Singers invited from Pakistan and Nepal especially for the occasion enthralled the audience at Deccan Hall with Pakistani national songs and other evergreen melodic tunes from famous Pakistani singers.
Punjab Music Group (PMG) organised the cultural show and invited Ustand Kherat Ali Khan from Lahore, Pakistan besides singers Aruna KC and Rama Aryal from Nepal to perform at the event.
Khan, who is a disciple of renowned ghazals legend Ghulam Ali, set the mood with a national song, Yeh watan humara hai (It is our country), originally sung by Mehdi Hasan, at the beginning of the show.
Rizwan, an upcoming singer who is a local music teacher from the United Kingdom, added to the fervour with Dil Dil Pakistan, the famous tune by pop band Vital Signs from 90s.
Khan, who is a popular radio and TV artiste, went on to sing evergreen ghazals originally sung by his master Ghulam Ali. The audience swung with the tune when he picked up Chupke Chupke, the ghazal (form of poetry) that shot Ghulam Ali to fame. He also presented a ghazal that he claimed he had composed for Ali as his disciple. The crowd applauded the Pakistani classical singer’s music and voice with a standing ovation.   
“I am very pleased to be here to get this opportunity to perform in front of such a lovely audience and I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience,” said Khan while thanking the audience for their applause.
Delivering a great punch of music, female singer from Nepal, Aruna KC also presented famous Pakistani songs, Main tenu samghawan ke, originally sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and the legendary Iqbal Bano’s Dagh-e-dil hum ko yaad anay lage (Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry).
KC sung the songs with exceptional control, keeping the original spirit alive. She was ably assisted by her colleague from Nepal, Rama Aryal.
There was a plethora of other singers from Qatar who were given a chance to showcase their talent. Besides the exceptionally talented 12-year-old Hadiya Zacharia from Kerala, India, Qatar-based singers Sher Ali, Javed Bajwa, Jamshed Bajwa, Jalandhary, Ustad Tanver Khan and Guitarist Kancheon also performed.
The programme was anchored by Shahid Rasheed and Nailah T Ali Khan. The chief organiser of the show Nazakat Ali Khan, thanked the hosts Deccan Hall for providing the venue for the show and putting together a “great evening.”
“We are happy that we have been able to come together to celebrate the Independence Day of our country with some great music and an evening that we will remember for a very long time,’ said Nazakat while speaking to the audience.
The chief organiser went on to thank the sponsors for the programme which included L’etoile Hotel, Habib Qatar International Exchange, My Trips, FFC and Al Zaman Exchange for a very entertaining programme. Manager L’etoile Hotel, Imran Baig thanked the organisers for inviting him and giving him the opportunity to be part of such an entertaining show.