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Ustad Hamid Ali Khan in Canberra (147 images)

PCA - Keeping Culture Alive

Pakistan Cultural Association delivered again another blast a very successful ghazal night with the living legend . The bliss of classical music with the taste of amazing sufi music. Proved to be a blast. Community enjoyed the Ghazal Night with the living legend Ustad Hamid Ali Khan on Sunday 02 September at the Italo Australian Club in Forrest. .

The guests included: H.E. High Commissioner of Pakistan to Australia, Mr. Abdul Malik Abdullah, H.E. Mr. Nasir Ahmad Andisha(Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan), H.E. Lt. Gen. Masud Uddin Chowdhury (High Commissioner of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh), H.E. Mr. Patrick Renault (Ambassador of Belgium), Diplomats from Turkish, Indian High commissions, some 30 VIP dignitaries and a large number of Community members.

Naheed Hafiz, Master of the ceremony opened the night by welcoming teh audience,. She paid the tribute to the King of Ghazal Late Mehdi Hassan, who passed away recently in June 2012. A small movie clip was played in his memory. Naheed opened the stage by shedding some light on Ustad Hamid Ali Khan and the history of classical music and how sufism contributed towards the rich culture of subcontinent. President of Pakistan Cultural Association, Mr. Khawar Saleem Khan welcomed the guests and gave an overview of PCAs achievements in previous years.

He also acknowledged the event's major sponsors Tag Agra restaurants and Sada-e-Watan Sydney who have always sponsored our activities and stood by us whenever required. He also emphasized that this beautiful event was not possible without the help and efforts of our executives and volunteers.

H.E. High Commissioner of Pakistan to Australia, Mr. Abdul Malik Abdullah also welcomed the guests to the great cultural night. He praised the environment and the efforts made by PCA executives to make this event successful. he Also introduced Ustaad hamid Ali Khan and his family with 150 years of classical singing excellence.

President of Forum Australia, Dr. Zakir Rahmani also welcomed the audience and praised the PCA volunteers about the arrangements and its efforts in last 8 years in bringing the culture back to canberra.

ACT MLA, Minister of Multiculture Joy Burch also spoke with the audience and praised the inspiring arrangements and emphasized on the multiculturism of ACT and the importance of the Cultural programs like SufiNight.

ACT Candidate for Molonglo, Mark Kulasingham also spoke about the night and praised the arrangements, Mark told the audience that he is also fascinated by the classical singing and the tabla playing.

Ustaad Hamid Ali Khan came, sang and conquered the audience, the stage was lit with amazing set and the lighting system. Once he started the audience was lost in his every raag. Ustaad hamid ali Khan showed the audience why he is called a living legend, with his amazing variety and diversity of singing, from Classical raagas, to thumri, to dhamal, to folk, Pashto and Farsi, classical and ghazals, everything was delivered with full power and real effort, no wonder Ustaad Hamid proved that why his patyala gharana is one of the bests in this era. The crowd enjoyed how he edelivered the most difficult ragas and ghazals in such an easy way.

From then on with his hands setup he delivered a virtuoso display in classical singing. Every note was sung with ease and the crowd was in awe of his singing right from the word go. Sufi Songs of Bulleh Shah, Khawaja Ghulam Fareed, Amir Khusroo, Mian Muhammad bakhsh, Baba Ghulam Fareed, Allama Iqbal, Ghalib, Qateel Shifai and many more poets and sufis were coming one after another. Hamid Ali Khan Sang for two hours then took a break.

During the break home cooked tasty biryani, zarda, chana chaat with popcorns were available for audience for a nominal charge, and they enjoyes it all.

When ustaad hamid Ali came back to sing he didnt stop for next two hours. At the end when he concluded the audience didn't want him to finish and asked hime to sing few more songs including "Shahbaaz Qalandar". As a result Hamid ALI Khan had to start singing again. When he stopped 300 fans gave him a standing ovation.

Mr. Mohammad Ali in the end concluded the night with the Vote of Thanks.

Special thanks are also due to all PCA volunteers, President Pakistan Australia Forum Mr Javed Butt, President Student Association Shaib Saleem, who came to the evening and helped in the arrangements without there help and valuable efforts this event was not possible.

Every one enjoyed the show and congratulated PCA on such a great effort. We are still receiving phone calls and emails which have nothing but praises.

Some of the comments and feedback we received are listed below:

  1. President, Pakistan Australia Forum Mr Javed Butt : This was a great success, PCA delivered again a great event

  2. President, Forum Australia Dr Zakir Rahmani :

    Dear Khawar Sahib and PCA Team
    Well done my friends for professionally organising such an entertaining night. I and other who were there have enjoyed very much and I received nothing but appreciations from others.
    Thank you for inviting me.


    Kind Regards
    Zakir

  3. Vice President, Forum Australia Mr Mohammad Ali :

    Congratulations for holding a memorable musical evening in Canberra. I commend you and your team for your great efforts in putting up the show and give me the privilege to listen to a real icon from Pakistan.

    Thank you for organising.

    Best regards

    Mohammed Ali

  4. Ex High Commissioner of Pakistan to AUstralia Fauzia Nasreen: Bravo. I wish I was there. He is a great singer.
  5. ACT CANDIDATE FOR MOLONGLO - Mark KulaSingham:

    Mr. Khawar Saleem,
    President,
    Pakistan Cultural Association
    Dear Khawar,

    Thank you so much for the kind invitation to the ‘SUFI NIGHT’ function you organised on Sunday Sept 2.
    It was so amazing to see such a wonderful talent like Ustad Hamid Ali Khan performing in person in Canberra. The music was spectacular!
    The work your organisation does in furthering the preservation of Pakistani cultural activities in the ACT, goes a long way to enriching Canberra as a truly culturally diverse city and we are the better for it.
    I wish you all the best in your organisation’s future activities and hope to see you soon.
    Warmest Regards
    Mark Kulasingham
    ACT Labor Candidate for Molonglo

    www.kula4molonglo.com

  6. Munawar Ahmad: this was the best event i have attended in my last 10 years in Australia
  7. President, Pakistan Student Association ANU - Mr Shhoib Saleem :

    Dear Khawar Bhai,

    Awesome work! We are looking forward for more of such events. If you need any kind of help from us, please feel free to ask. I would also like to suggest for having a 'musha'ira' event.

    Thank you.

    Shoaib

    We are still recieving alot of good feedback about the event and good words from all the community.

Please see the video clip below:

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