her: sufi music

["Arvind M. Melwani" <amelwan@ATTGLOBAL.NET>]

Sufi music, ghazals dying
out in Pakistan: singer 
By Mridula Krishna 
DUBAI: A noted Pakistani singer, regretting the
lack of encouragement for new generation musicians as well as audience in
her country, believes "ghazal singing will die with Mehdi Hasan and
Ghulam Ali." 
"The old forms are dying out because artistes are dying out. Abida
Parveen is the only remaining exponent of the Sufi folk music tradition,
and ghazal will die with Mehdi Hasan and Ghulam Ali," Tahira Sayed,
one of Pakistan's most accomplished singers, told the Khaleej Times
Weekend magazine. 
"There's no singing institute in Lahore. There's no audience. And if
a child shows interest in singing or music, his or her family is ready to
whip off their shoes and beat any ambitions out of the poor child,"
said Tahira, daughter of India-born melody queen Malika Pukharaj. 
"How can there be passion when thrashings are the only reward?"
she asked, in an interview from Lahore. 
"Our musical tradition is dying out because the great musicians of
our time have not taught their children (to sing)," she said.
"After all, I wasn't inclined towards singing but my mother taught
me anyway, and I sang professionally because it seemed such a waste not
to since I had been taught."