Folk Music of Pakistan

Pakistan was created by the partition of British India in 1947; Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, gained independence in 1971. This 1951 recording presents selections from both present-day countries and documents songs for many occasions — marriage, harvest festivals, village fairs, and courtship. There are a river boatmen’s song from the east and several songs and dances from the northwest, as well as Sindh and Punjab. The music features instruments typical to the Subcontinent, such as the sitar, tabla drums, and bansri, a type of flute. Liner notes include a brief history of Pakistani music, a description of the songs and instruments, and some translated lyrics.

Note: Some names and spellings referenced in the song titles have changed since these recordings were made. Sind province is now known as Sindh, the Northwest Frontier Province is now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the language Pushtu is now more commonly spelled Pashto.

Track Listing

101	Dholak Geet (Punjabi Folk Song)	Munawar Sultana and Iqbal Bano	03:44
102	Mahiya (Punjabi Love Song)	Ali Bakhsh Zahoor and Munawar Sultana	03:37
103	Bhatiali (Boatmen's Song)	Abdul Halim Chowdhry	03:24
104	Frontier Melody	Tabla player, clarinet player	02:15
105	Folk Dance	Tabla player, flute player, Algōjā player	04:05
106	Kohiyari	Ali Mohammed	04:43
201	Dholak Geet	Munawar Sultana and Iqbal Bano	03:54
202	Tangtakore	Drummer, Sarinda player	04:05
203	Pushtu Love Song	Drummer, Sarinda player	04:17
204	Bhawaiya	Mumtaz Ali Khan	03:53
205	Folk Tune	Algōjā player, Ghatam player	02:15
206	Khatak Dance: Dance Music from the Katak People in the Frontier Province (1)	Drummer, bagpipe player, duff player	02:07
207	Khatak Dance: Dance Music from the Katak People in the Frontier Province (2)	Drummer, bagpipe player, duff player	01:04