Music, lights, food and lots of eminent people in attendance marked the intimate musical evening hosted by socialite and former top model Iffat Omar along with Yousaf Salahuddin to welcome award-winning singer Hadiqa Kiani onstage. The musical evening was held at the historic Haveli Baroodkhana on Friday. Hadiqa Kiani’s live performance was for ‘Virsa’, which saw the likes of people from the media and entertainment industry in anticipation to hear the powerful songstress breathe life into the gathering. After a compelling introduction by Iffat Omar, the evening began with Hadiqa performing live on some of her most popular and critically acclaimed tracks that included ‘Boohay baariyan’, ‘Sajna ve sajna’ and ‘Kamli’, concluding the evening with Sufi poet and musician Amir Khusrow’s kalaam ‘Aaj runng hai’. One of the tracks from the album, which Hadiqa also performed on during the evening, pays tribute to the noted Sindhi Sufi scholar and mystic Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and features live instruments and no auto-tunes Some of the tracks that Hadiqa performed on were from her latest album ‘Wajd’, which has been compiled, produced, mastered, mixed and recorded by leading music producer, who also happens to be Hadiqa’s brother Irfan Kiani. Irfan Kiani was in attendance as well and talked about the revival of music album culture through ‘Wajd’. “When we were recording the songs, we realised that people either listen to their favourite tracks on their USB drives containing 5,000 songs, or just singles. So we were in a fix in the start. However, we were sure that what we were bringing to the audience was a powerful mix of beautifully composed tracks sung by Hadiqa. The response has been overwhelming and we are so happy to receive all the love,” Irfan said. One of the tracks from the album, which Hadiqa also performed on during the evening, pays tribute to the noted Sindhi Sufi scholar and mystic Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and features live instruments and no auto-tunes. The ‘Dupatta’ singer, who has seemingly mastered the art of belting out hits in a variety of languages, has highlighting six regional languages in the album including Punjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi, Balochi, Pashto and Urdu. In the past, the singer has proved her mettle in performing on songs in not just her home country’s languages but also in French and Chinese. Expressing at the event, Hadiqa said, “I have this talent of picking up accents very easily and so in all these languages that I have sung in, I have it a point to perform in the same accents and these languages require. Growing up, when I used to participate at Lahore Arts Council events and represented Pakistan internationally, we were trained to pick up accents with ease and sing in foreign languages in their required accents, so I’ve been groomed like that.” The highlight of the event for us personally was when Hadiqa completely mesmerised the audience to the beat and variations of “Yaad sajan di aavay.” While talking to Daily Times, Yousaf Salahuddin said, “It was one of the most satisfying performance of my show ‘Virsa’.‘Virsa – Heritage Revived’ is a programme which airs on PTV. Salahuddin is behind the initiative and the programme is produced by Hameed Qazi. “I thrive off of my live shows. It’s this energy that can’t be recreated or explained. However, last night at Haveli Baroodkhana I was surrounded with the love and support of my family and friends. On top of everything, I had my mother in the audience. It was the first time she had seen me perform in years due to her paralysis. It was overwhelming for me. With the perfect spring weather, the historical ambiance for the haveli and the energy of loved ones, it was all the prime pairing for the divine musical structure of ‘Wajd’. I, with my world class musicians, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves during the performance. It was magical,” Hadiqa told us the following day. It’s true when she mentions how much she enjoyed as it was visible through her effortless charm, her facial expressions and the ease with she belted top notes on Friday. She truly is a remarkable star! The evening ended with a lavish dinner for all the attendees hosted by Salahuddin. Published in Daily Times, April 8th 2018.