Saeen Ditta Qadri

Saeen Ditta Qadri was a flute player par excellence who was associated for several years with the Radio Pakistan and the movie industry. A pupil of Ustad Muhammad Hussain,the manager of the famous Babu Band of Lahore, he learnt classical music from ektara player Allah Ditta. He died in 1986.

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Raga – Des – Tabla – Ustad Talib Hussain

Munir Sarhady

Munir Sarhady, the celebrated sarinda player from Peshawar, followed the rich folk tradition of Pushtun music, receiving his early training from his father Ustad Pazeer Khan. He remained closely associated with Radio Pakistan and was a popular concert performer at home and abroad. He rep­resented Pakistan as a member of cultural delegations that toured Europe and North America in the sixties and seventies. Awarded the Pride of Performance medal in 1978, he died in 1980.

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Saeen Marna

Saeen Marna (1910-61) who practically renounced the world and took to playing the ektara,single-string instrument, because of a failed love affair, was born in 1910. His haunting compositions which were intuitive rather than part of any classical discipline made him an original. He died in 1961.

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Muhammad Sharif Khan Poonchwaley

For over 30 years, Ustad Muhammad Sharif Khan Poonchwaley (1928-80) held complete sway over the sitar in Pakistan. A worthy progeny of his father Ustad Abdur Rahim Khan, he burst upon the music scene by performing at a major music conference in Lahore in 1942. Also an accomplished player of the vichtre veena, he is to be placed in the same class of great sitar players as Ravi Shanker and Ustad Vilayat Khan. He was given the Pride of Performance medal in 1968.

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Raga Aeman

Nathoo Khan

Ustad Nathoo Khan was one of the most celebrated sarangi players of his time. A pupil of the late Ustad Ahmedi Khan, he served Radio Pakistan and the PIA Arts Academy as a composer and instrumentalist. His style of playing the sarangi was akin to that of the Delhi gharana. He composed a number of popular hits for radio, TV and films. He died in 1971.

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Raga Madh Kauns