‘Ghazal’ singer enthrals audience at Lok Virsa

Islamabad: A jam-packed audience was enthralled when they were walked through the contours of Sindhi ‘ghazal’ through the ages by a prominent poet and a famous ‘ghazal’ singer from Sindh.
The ‘Sham-e-Ghazal’ with poet Ayaz Gul and singer Ashiq Nizamani was arranged by newly formed Indus Cultural Forum (ICF) in collaboration with the Lok Virsa at the Media Centre of Lok Virsa.
Ayaz Gul, who is an acclaimed poet of 'ghazal' from Sindh, teaches Sindhi language and literature at Shah Abdul Lateef Bhitai University, Khairpur, and is director of the Sachal Chair, dedicated to research and promotion of message of Sachal Sarmast and sufism.
In his keynote speech, Ayaz Gul outlined the evolution of Sindhi Ghazal from classical to pre-partition period and from post-partition period to contemporary times. “'Ghazal' was considered to be an alien genre in Sindhi poetry as it was dominated by Kafi, Wai and Baits in the classical periods, but it was evolved to be a Sindhi genre in pre-partition and post-partition modern Sindhi poetry,” he said.
Ayaz Gul said that the likes of Kishanchand Bewas, Sheikh Ayaz, Narain Shyam, Ustad Bukhari, Imdad Husssaini, and many others have beautifully Sindhianised the ‘ghazal’ to the extent that it has become one of the most famous genre among the contemporary poets and looks like its Sindhi’s very own genre. He said many poets of Sindh have coloured the ‘ghazal’ as orange, which symbolises the influence of Sufism on the Sindhi poetry and literature in general. However, one can find variety and diversity of subjects and expressions in Sindhi ‘ghazal’ and it stands at par with Persian and Urdu ‘ghazals’ in the contemporary periods.
Ayaz Gul received big rounds of applauses when he recited his ‘ghazals’. He recited over a dozen of his ‘ghazals’ demonstrating the beauty, diversity and delicacy of modern Sindhi ‘Ghazal’. Ayaz Gul has published seven books of his poetry with largest number of ‘Ghazals’ in all of them. He has earned wide recognition in the Sindhi literati in Sindh and across the border and received many prestigious awards, including Writers Guild Award, Pakistan Academy of Letters’ and Sindhi Language Authority’s best poet awards.
Ayaz Gul’s keynote speech and recitation of ‘Ghazals’ set the tone for the evening which led to the performance by Aashiq Nizamani, who is also a very well recognised semi-classical and ‘Ghazal’ singer in Sindh. It was his first-ever visit to the federal capital. Aashiq captivated the audience with his soft and melodious voice. Starting his performance with Shah Abdul Lateef Bhittai’s poetry, Aashiq performed ‘Ghazals’ by classical as well as contemporary poets of Sindhi.