ISLAMABAD: Famous Pashto singer Zarsanga and Sufi singer Saieen Zahoor Ahmed have been named the laureates of the 2022 Aga Khan Music Awards.
According to the website of Aga Khan Award, Zarsanga and Zahoor have been recognized for their extra ordinary role and contribution in Pakistan’s music industry.
Zarsanga is commonly known as Queen of Pashto Folklore while Saieen Zahoor Ahmed is also a famous Sufi singer of Pakistan.
Singers and poets from across the country termed the award as recognition of their services and extended greeting to the prominent singers.
Prominent Pashto singer Naeem Turi said that those, who love the songs of Ustad Khayal Muhammad, will have also attachment with Zarsanga. He said that people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and across the world are fans of Zarsanga. The famous singer lauded the Aga Khan Development Network for awarding the two great singers. However, he urged the government especially the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to take immediate steps to provide a home to Queen of Pashtun Folklore as she lives in the open sky during the recent floods and during Covid-19.
Commenting over the awards, Pashto poet Sardar Yousafzai expressed happiness over the recognition of the contributions of the two great singers, however, he said that it is irony of the time that great singers like Zarsanga are still living without a house. He said that award is very important for the artists to recognize their work but he insisted that the Governments and social welfare organizations should also introduce such plans to award houses to the singers and artists as well. He said that Zarsanga won many awards and the entire world recognized her contributions but her life is very miserable and having no option but to live without shelter.
Responding to a question, young poet Waqar Daryab said that Zarsanga and Sufi singer Saieen Zahoor Ahmed are leading feather in the nation cap. He said that Pashto Music and Zarsanga are like beads of one string which cannot be separated apart.
Laureates of the Aga Khan Music Awards will be celebrated at a ceremony and series of affiliated events in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, organised in conjunction with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture on 29-31 October 2022.
Zarsanga was born in 1946 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and has been in the field of singing since 1965. She performed U.S. UK, Afghanistan, Germany, UAE and other parts of the world.
Netizens also expressed their reaction over the awards and lauded the contribution of Zarsanga and Sufi singer Saieen Zahoor Ahmed.
