December 27, 2007

  • Abida Parveen

    Benazir Bhutto was killed yesterday by persons as yet unknown for reasons that may never be known,   Her death is yet another stark example of what happens in a country that never managed to develop a political culture that went beyond two modes - enrichment of one's family and extended family and Islam - to a genuine commitment to the  nation.  There are historical reasons for this tragedy and my as yet unfinished book takes a good stab at telling why, but it is a ways from publication and may ultimately be posted in its entirity on the web, bypassing academic presses entirely.

    I'll have something to say about Begum Bhutto's murder later.  For now, I will leave you with glorious music by two of Pakistan's greatest singers,  Begum Abida Parveen and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,  both masters of Sufi qawalli, both singers of ghazals, a form of urdu poetry, though Nusrat Fateh Ali took a lot of flack for singing popular music....

     

    and  one when he was younger -object width="425" height="355">