Amanat Ali Jazzing Up Nust
On Friday, 23rd November, in NIT seminal hall, just before another hectic week of OHT’s, NUST Media Club hosted a successful interactive session with the famous singer, Amanat Ali.
Amanat Ali, son of the esteemed ghazal and folk singer Nazakat Ali, is well known for not only his singing talent but also the way his fingers work with musical instruments. The thirty-one year old is one of the individuals having represented Pakistani talent on an international level on the Indian singing show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’. He has also been one of the phenomenal voices on Coke Studio.
The session began with a formal introduction to Amanat Ali by the hosts of the event, shortly followed by a question answer discussion. The first question answered by Mr. Ali was about the start of his musical journey to which he credited ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ for giving him a platform to begin his journey at the mere age of 18 in 2007.
Another question, probably one the audience was most curious about, was to whom his Coke Studio song ‘Aisha’ was dedicated. Amanat Ali answered humorously by saying, “There wasn’t one Aisha, rather there were many but unfortunately today there are none”.
Having been asked how he felt about being here in NUST, he declared, “I was very excited to be here and it’s honestly a dream come true for me.”
On to the rapid fire round, Ali was asked to answer a question or had to choose between 2-3 options. The guest gladly took his pick between Tahir Shah or Sahir Lodhi, Momina Mustehsan or Quratulain Balouch, and stated his thoughts on the latest Coke Studio version of ‘Ko Ko Korina’.
Leading to the ‘Never Have I Ever’ game, the hosts stated an action and Mr. Ali had to hold up the card that said ‘I have’ or ‘I have never’ which earned him quite a lot of cheering by the audience on his answers.
Next, the audience was given time to ask questions from Amanat Ali, which raised many questions on Ali’s personal life as well as his musical struggles. He stated, “To be a hit singer in Pakistan you have to have three things; good looks, early marriage and contacts.”
At the end, as a surprise, Amanat Ali had brought with him signed shirts which were distributed between a few lucky members of the audience. The event ended with a singing session in which the guest’s mesmerizing voice echoed the NIT seminar hall and left the audience astounded.
Asking one of the event heads, Ahmed Iftikhar, to give an overview of the event he said, “Basically the event was an interactive session and NMC’s third event this semester. Despite of the OHT’s, the approaching weekend and Rabbiul Awal, we were able to attract a good audience. The whole council participated in the event as a family and that is the reason why we’re on a roll this semester.”
Ahmed Ejaz, a student of SEECS, gave his view on the event. “It was a refreshing interactive session right before the start of my OHT’s. I especially loved the singing session at the end.”
