Sufi opera star to perform at PNCA today

Islamabad :Renowned London-based Pakistan first Sufi Opera Star Saira Peter will perform here in musical concert at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) today (Monday). She will give performance on her recently released National song “’Aye Sar Zameen’” and also songs from her new album.

Saira Peter said that she had been in the world of music for the last 16 years. Talking to this agency, she said she has performed in many places in the world but there is nothing like coming home. “The love for my country and its people is the greatest motivation in anything, I do,” she added.

She said that singing Sufi spiritual poetry was her passion and she was proud to spread Sufi teachings across the world. She said that Opera music was spiritual and that was why it helped spread message of peace across the world.

These days Saira Peter is working on her new Sufi musical album ’Tu Habib, Tu Tabib’, which is comprised poetry of renowned Sufi saints Baba Buleh Shah and Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. Born in Karachi, Saira has lived in London for the last many years.

She trained as an operatic singer under Paul Knight, who was a student of English composer Benjamin Britten, a legend in Western classical music. “I am proud to have trained under Paul Knight and think of him as my ‘ustaad’,” she said adding Sufism is an important part of the Pakistani culture. “Sufi poets such as Bulleh Shah and Shah Abdul Lateef Bhittai have woven beautiful messages of peace and love in their poetry and I wanted to bring this tradition to the West in their own musical language,” she said.