Photo source Aslam Khan
The first Pashto song recorded in the UK and a singer in men's clothing
Interesting History of Pashto Music:
Gohar Jan's first Pashto song recorded in UK and singer Dilbar Jan 'Balelai'
The first Pashto-language song was recorded in the UK by an Afghan woman, Gohar Jan, in 1902, and the music company took the singers and composers to the UK for the recording. This series continued after that, but recordings of Pashto songs originally recorded are not readily available today.
Pashto music enthusiasts are still searching for these early songs, claiming that there are a large number of songs that have yet to be released.
Music experts divide Pashto music into two major categories. The first part includes songs that were recorded before 1960 and recordings of these songs are rare and hardly anyone has preserved. The second period features songs recorded after 1960 that are not only preserved in cassettes but also digitally.
There are no official or confirmed statistics on how many songs were recorded regularly from the recording of Gohar Jan's first song in 1902 to 1960. But those working on Pashto music claim that their number must have been around 12,000.
Fans of Pashto music are still searching for songs recorded during this period and are continuing to preserve them.
Broadcaster Haji Aslam Khan in Peshawar began searching for and researching these songs about 16 years ago, and according to him, he has so far managed to find recordings of four and a half thousand such forgotten songs.
He has also written a book on these old Pashto songs entitled 'Tir Heer Awazoona' meaning forgotten voices.
Aslam Khan has set aside a room in his house in the village of Pubi, about 20 km from Peshawar, for his hobby, which houses musical instruments and a large number of record changer discs, cassettes and other musical instruments ۔
Hobby is worthless
Aslam Khan told the BBC that his uncle had a gramophone and other musical instruments and seeing his uncle, he also became interested in music and then he joined Radio Pakistan as an announcer.
He said that in the year 2000, he started the Pashto music program 'Tir Heer Awazuna' on Radio Pakistan. He said that when the program was launched, there were only 15 old songs in the archives of Radio Pakistan Peshawar.
He then announced on the radio that if anyone has old songs, they should provide them to Radio Pakistan and these songs will be broadcasted on Radio Pakistan Peshawar thanks to him.
Aslam Khan says that after that people started bringing recordings of old songs to him.
He also narrated an incident where a man from Charsadda brought an old box to him and said that it belonged to his grandmother who is now deceased. "That box was full of discs of very beautiful old songs that probably no one had touched. Those songs were perfectly safe."
Aslam Khan says that with the cooperation of the people and his own hard work, he has so far managed to collect four and a half thousand old songs which are now preserved in Radio Pakistan's library and his personal collection.
The first recorded song of Gohar Jan and Pashto music
Aslam Khan said that after that he became curious about when and who recorded the first song in Pashto, so he researched it and found out that the first song was recorded by an Afghan woman Gohar Jan in London. Had done
According to Aslam Khan's research, Gohar Jan was primarily a dancer. "When the song was recorded in London and reached Afghanistan and India, there was an uproar and people loved it."
He says that the British company had delivered gramophones to a few areas by that time but these gramophones were limited to the rooms of Amir Kabir where people used to come and enjoy the songs.
In 1902, most parts of the subcontinent had no electricity, so the gramophone was operated by a key, a lever was rotated to play the song, and the pin or needle of the gramophone was expensive, which ended after a few songs. People used to have this pin or needle in large numbers.
He said that after that the series started and several Pashto songs were recorded for which singers, composers and musicians were taken to the UK.
Companies were then set up in Kolkata and Delhi, and the singers would then go there to record songs and agents of the recording companies would be in Peshawar to take them.
Who was Dilbar Jan 'Balelai'?
Dilbar's elder sister Khanum Jan was a dancer and was very beautiful. He fell in love with a Khan of Mardan and married Khanum Jan. The marriage did not last long and was separated due to public ridicule.
Khanum Jan and Dilbar Jan were five sisters. Dilbarjan alias Baleli started singing because his voice was very good. According to tradition, he started singing in parties wearing men's clothes, which was very popular.
According to Aslam Khan, a music company called Columbia recorded many of Dilbarjan's songs which were popular. "The Columbia Company was then known for Dilbar Jan's songs, and large pictures of Dilbar Jan were hung in the company's studio."
Aslam Khan said that he researched these singers and artists to find out who these people were and for that he traveled far and wide and wherever he got information about them, he used to go there and get that information. And for that, he met with his family and collected their pictures and voices.
He said that the singers or musicians who were alive met them personally and those who had passed away met their sons, brothers or other relatives and got information about early Pashto music.
He says that there were a large number of singers but he researched the ones that became more popular and his book mentions 120 singers including Mir Ahmad Ustad Charsadda, Sobat, Sabz Ali Khan, Muzaffar Khan, Chishti Chaman Jan, Mehralansa, Sabralansa, Abdullah Jan, Arbab Dilbar, Wali and other very famous singers are included.
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