From left: Dr.Haroon Sayeed, president of Socio-Reform society; Dr.Fareed Khaja; Mohammed Al Mohammedi, organizer and founder of DESI Entertainers; Aijaz Ahmed Khan, president of Khakey Tayyaba Trust; Aleem Khan Falkieh and Aamir Ghaffar. Munawarunissa Nazneen Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – The DESI Entertainers organized a musical evening to pay tribute to the legends of the Ghazal (poetry) world – Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh – on Thursday at a local restaurant here. The chief guests of the evening were Tarik Mishkash, chief editor of Urdu News and Engr. Samir Bahkaly, director of Asian countries Saudia airline. Versatile Indian Ghazal singer Mohammed Vakil lent his voice to some of Hassan and Singh's classic hits. Vakil, who is on a short trip to the Kingdom with his mother to perform Umrah, put the audiences in a state of trance when he sang “Rangishyn hi sahi,” “Ahista ahista,” “Hosh waloon ko kabar kya bekhudi kya cheez hai,” “Bujhi bujhi si zazar,” “Main to mar kar bhi meri jaan tujhe chahoon ga,” “Aaya tere dar par dewaana,” “Damadam mast kalandar,” among others. He further mesmerized the music lovers of Jeddah with more soulful renditions of the legends like “Hotoon se chulo tum,” “Tum itni jo muskura rahi ho,” “Tera chera kitna suhana lagta hai,” “Mujhe aaisi jannat nahi chahiye,” “Wo kagaz ki kashti,” “Pyaar ka pehla khat likhne main,” “Main hawa hoon kahan watan mera,” “Maussam bhi suhana hai,” “Chaodvi ka Chand ho,”and others. The 37-year-old singer, who is the winner of the singing reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, has four music albums to his credit. He has also done playback singing for blockbuster “Veer Zaara.” A short skit on the malicious act of dowry was presented by Aamir Ghaffar at the event where he highlighted the consequences of practicing this evil social custom. Dr. Haroon Sayeed, president of socio-reform society felicitated Aleem Falkieh for his good work in the community. He was also presented with a painting from Aijaz Ahmed Khan and the chief guests. Falkieh spoke on the women's rights in Islam and stressed the importance of eradicating the dowry system. The event was hosted by Mohammed Al Mohammedi, founder of DESI Entertainers, and Ghaffar. Mohammedi hosted a “Jugalbandi” round in which prizes were distributed to the winners. He said that they have once again done something unique, and were able to gather the different Asian communities under one roof for a musical evening. Mohammedi also said that their next assignment would be to get the international laughter champions for the Jeddawis. The event was sponsored by Style Islam, Fuchs, Mehfil restaurant, Batook Chewing Gum and sky clinics. The successful musical evening would not have been possible without the cooperation and sincere efforts of Abdul Mannan Bawazeer, Adil Atique, Arshad Sharief, Asim Mazher, Faisal Khaja, Fareed Khaja, Mohammedi, Shaista Baig, Waheed Al Idrees, Hafiz, and Zubair Siddiqui.
