Daily Times

Renowned folk Singer Allan Faqeer is being remembered on his 18th death anniversary, folklorist marked this day by paying tribute to this legendary artist.

The Sindhi folk singer was born in the ancient village of Jamshoroo district of Sindh in the cottage of Dhamaali Faqeer in 1932. He spent his childhood in Manjhand.
At the initial stage of his artistic carrier Allan Faqeer sang at the local hotels, trains and buses to entertain the people.
Undoubtedly, he is one of the prominent figures in folk singing of Sindh and is well known around the globe for his devotional singing and traditional folk dancing; score of Allan’s songs were based on the verses and poetry of Latif Sirkar.
In an interview his son, Faheem Allan Faqeer, shared that Baba saen spent more than 20 years of his life at the shrine of Shah Abdul Latif, singing his poetry there. With the passage of time and massive support of Mumtaz Mirza, Baba was introduced to Radio Pakistan and Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) in 2nd largest city of Sindh, Hyderabad.

Allan Faqeer’s theme was to spread the message of spiritualism through his songs. His prominent song till due date is “Allah Allah Kar Bhaiya”, recorded in the year of 1986. The growing generation still possesses the power of affection with Faqeer saen . Moreover, one his patriotic song “itnay baray jeewan sagar main” is also largely recognized.
Furthermore, the reason behind his fame is Sindhi songs, but he has also sung a number of Urdu songs as well. Many growing artists fused his songs with modern musical modification and tunes but the vision of Allan is still with his songs in same message.
Allan Faqeer was honoured with many appreciation awards, and undoubtedly his dedications and commitments with music made him worthy of the awards. President’s Pride of Performance Award, Shah Latif Award and many other rewards are in his name. He died on July 4, 2000, in Karachi’s Liaquat National Hospital after he suffered a paralysis attack.
Faheem further added that, he is on the mission to continue the legacy of his father by promoting diverse Sindhi local music.
“My fondness for Faqeeri Nizam and music is the result of my father’s company. Since my childhood I was with my father. I had to adopt this thing because my father wanted, before he died, anyone of us children to continue this, it should not be stopped. I have learnt from my father from very early age, not only music but perks of spending life, with simplicity it should be spent”, he concluded.
Peace Ambassador, Sanober Shoro hailing from Jamshoro shared that, folk singer of Sindh, who sang Sufis and projected tolerant picture of Sindhi people through his melodic voice. People love to listen to his songs for their spiritual awakening and uplifting, one can forget his healing voice.

Lok Virsa will pay tribute to Alan Faqeer during their event “Raag Rung”, on July 6th at Bali Jatti Rooftop theatre at Lok Virsa Islamabad.