Help Pay a Tribute to Maestro Sohail Rana
By Perwaiz Ahmad
Fullerton, CA
Just as Pakistan has produced one of the finest heroes in just about every field, be it Science, Arts, Business, Metallurgy, Fine Art, Engineering, Medicine, Economics, Politics, Sport, Philanthropy, etc., our music industry has produced some memorable personalities.
Some of the notable personalities that prop up in mind immediately are people like Dr Salim uz zaman Siddiqui, Dr Usmani, Dr Qadeer Khan, Dr Abdus Salam, Dr Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, our Founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah (finest advocate), Dr Allama Iqbal, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Professor A B A Halim and last but not the least Abdul Sattar Edhi who was nominated for the Nobel Prize for his commendable humanitarian work all over Pakistan, mostly in the down-trodden segments of society - the poor and the helpless - without any support from the governmental infra- structure. Our musical industry too did not lag far behind and produced legendry figures like Sohail Rana, Nisar Bazmi, Robin Ghosh, Rasheed Atray, Khurshid Anwar, to name just a few.
For those of us who grew up in the 60s, 70s and 80s, the name of maestro Sohail Rana needs no introduction. His work takes us down the memory lane when his musical scores were played around every street corner; his songs were in the minds and on the lips of every movie-goer in schools, colleges and gully koochas. His memorable score from movies like Armaan, Ehsaan, Do Raha, Isharra, Bazi and patriotic songs like Sohni Dharti , Jeevay, Jeevay Pakistan, and Raatain thee Chandni will live forever in our minds and soul.
He earned international recognition when he was invited by the United Nations to perform in New York. That year his services were recognized and he was awarded Sitar e Imtiaz by the government of Pakistan. Besides musical scores in movies, his monumental contribution to the music industry is still alive: from Kalyon ki Maala in the late 60s to the music academy scores in Canada. He has produced many singers like Nazia Hasan who was a sensation in the Indian movie industry in the 80s.
In order to pay homage to this great musician, a program, “Tribute to Mr. Sohail Rana,” is being planned for the last part of November or early December 2011 in the Orange County, California area. Both male and female singers are urged to contact me for details if they have the talent to participate in this special program.
Mr. Sohail Rana has agreed to hold more than one program in case Pakistanis in the San Diego and Sacramento area show interest in his program. For more information please contact me immediately. Phone: 949 278 9009, email: psa9009@gmail.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
