Ghazal singers perform at PNCA music gala

Islamabad : Pakistan National Council of the Arts director general Jamal Shah said consistent efforts would be made to revive ghazal, the rich old realm of music.

"A ghazal that can't pierce your heart completely and instantly like an arrow has no value as a work of art,” he said during the PNCA’s Ghazal Night held at the council's Open Air Theatre in connection with the National Music Mela 2019.

Jamal Shah said ghazal was the form of music that had its roots deep into the soil of music in Indo-Pak and would keep growing by the passage of time.

"Ghazal is a poetic form consisting of couplets, which share a rhyme and a refrain. Each line must share the same meter. Etymologically, the word ghazal literally refers to the mortal cry of a gazelle. A Ghazal can thus be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation of the lover and the beauty of love in spite of that pain," he said.

The PNCA DG said most Ghazal singers were trained in classical music and sang in either ‘khyal’ or ‘thumri’. "Pakistan has some of the best Ghazal singers, who have explored the meanings and nuance of Urdu verse in traditional rhythms," he said.