Tribute to the legends

Shafqat Amanat Ali is a Pakistani vocalist, son of the legendary singer Ustad Amanat, widely considered one of the most influential ghazal singers of all time, who was part of the circle of Pakistan’s influential 20^th century singers that included the “Emperor of Ghazal” Mehdi Hassan Khan and Ahmed Rushdi who all contributed a time-honoured legacy of semi-classical and classical songs.

Shafqat, who traverses multiple genres such as Sufi, fusion, Bollywood films, classical and ghazal with equal ease, combines Pakistani classical musical traditions and poetry on his fourth solo album, “Shafqat Amanat Ali – Tribute to the legends – Ghulam Ali”. The album is mostly sung by Shafqat Amanat Ali while also featuring the ghazal singer Ghulam Ali’s son, Amir Ghulam Ali.

He has built his ca reer from his days as lead vocalist in the popular Pakistani band Fuzon to a nationally recognised voice for films

After his success as fusion-pop singer in his first album, Shafqat launched a successful career in films with the chartbusting song ‘Mitwa’ performed for the award-winning film award-winning Indian film, “Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna” directed by Karan Johar. ‘Mitwa’ became a massive hit leaving Indian audiences wanting to hear more. Since then, Shafqat has performed in scores of films including “Tum Mile”, “My name is Khan”, “I hate luv stories”, “Patiala House”, “Jodi Breakers” and many others.

He also has been a student of classical Pakistani and Indian music traditions since the age of four and belongs to the 9-generation old Patiala Gharana. In Pakistan and Hindustani music, vocal traditions are passed through one’s blood family and also the ‘family’ or ‘community’. In the Hindu, this is known as ‘gharana’ or ‘lineage’ and ‘Patiala Gharana’ is named after one of the vocal traditions from the city of Patiala in Punjab, India where it was established.

“Shafqat Amanat Ali – Tribute to the legends – Ghulam Ali” celebrates some of the greatest 20^th and 21^st century Pakistani poets and lyricists, such as the stirring song ‘Bhul Jaan Sab Gham’ with words from one of Pakistan’s leading film composers and lyricists, Khawaja Pervez.

“Bhul Jaan Sab Gham” translates as “Forget all sorrows” and was originally sung by Pakistani star vocalist whose career spanned six decades, Madam Noor Jahan. The lyrics of “Bhul Jaan Gam “are of longing, honour and love,

The uplifting song ‘Naina Tose Laagay’ translates as ‘Locking Eyes With You’ with beautiful poetry from Bollywood film lyricist Jaswant Rai Sharma also known as Naqsh Laillpuri who writes of a ‘kaleidescope of colours’.

Other songs that feature poetry on the album include ‘Chupkay Chupkay’ (In Hiding), written by Moulana Hassan Duhaani and the song ‘Wo Mujhse Huey Hum Qalam’ (The Honour of Conversing with Them) has lyrics penned by Pakistani Sufi scholar Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum. Tabbasum was renowned for poems of love and longing (ghazals) and rhymed verses (nazm).

“Shafqat Amanat Ali – Tribute to the legends – Ghulam Ali” also includes Pakistani poet of the Urdu language, Obaidullah Aleem whose lyrics are on ‘Tere Pyar Mein’ (In Your Love). Poetry from Indian ghazal writer and film lyricist Jaswant Rai Sharma, aka Naqsh Laillpuri also features on “Naina Tose Laagay” (Locking Eyes with You).

“Shafqat Amanat Ali – Tribute to the legends – Ghulam Ali” is being released through Sufiscore, a UK based South Asian music focused media platform.

Shafqat Amanat Ali was awarded Pakistan’s highest national literary award, the Pride of Performance from the President of Pakistan in 2007, making him the 6th member of his family to do so. Referred to as ‘The Rockstar Ustad’ by Bollywood music director Salim Merchant, Shafqat Amanat Ali has risen to become one of South Asia’s most loved vocalists.