Bacha Zareen Jan ( – 26 July 2012; sometimes spelled Bacha Zarin), known by her

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Bibi Gul, also by the honorary title "Queen of Pashto Ghazals", was a

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

multilingual Pakistani gazal singer, lyricist and musician who primarily sung songs in different languages such as

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Hindko Hindko (, , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Pun ...

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

, Seraiki,

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

and predominantly in Pashto language. She debuted in

music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

with a song titled "Gila Da Khpalo Keegi" at

Radio Pakistan The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (); also known as ''Radio Pakistan'', serves as the national public broadcaster for radio in Pakistan. Although some local stations predate its founding, it is the oldest existing broadcasting network in P ...

in 1948. Her next songs were "Za Pana Walarha", "Rao Ra Bandai", "Halaka Balai Ma Narhawa" and a

sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

devotional song titled "Allah Ho Sha".

Life and background

Zareen was born in 1942 at Kalpanay, Par Hoti,

Mardan Mardān is a city in the Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Located in the Valley of Peshawar, Mardan is the List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, second-largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (after Peshawar). ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

. She belonged to musician family. Before she was born, her family was originally belonged to Calcutta (now

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

), India, later they moved to

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

, Pakistan following the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

. Her father, Ustad Abdur Rahim Khan was a musician who taught her basics of music. It is also believed that she never saw her father. She learnt

Pashto music Pashto music () or ''Də ṭang-ṭakór'' is commonly performed in Afghanistan and Pakistan among Pashtun people. Genres Tappa Tappa () is the oldest and most popular genre of the Pashto poetry. The Tappa is a composition of two unequal met ...

and ghazal singing from Pashto artists such as Gul Pazir Khan and Ghulam Fareed Khan. During her childhood, she used to sung songs that became prominent ones in her native area and in

Federally Administered Tribal Areas The Federally Administered Tribal Areas, commonly known as FATA, was a semi-autonomous tribal region in north-western Pakistan that existed from 1947 until being merged with the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018 through the ...

(FATA).

Career

Zareen started her singing career in 1948 with a Radio station at the age of seven where she used to sang songs in

regional language * A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area. Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority La ...

s such as Pashto, Punjabi, Hindko, Urdu, Seraiki, and Persian. Later, her elder sister played a significant role teaching her singing. She also contributed her voice to

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

's musical programs. For sometime, Zareen was also involved in singing patriotic songs associated with Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. During her lifetime career, she later participated in a

mehfil Mehfil or ''mahfil'' (Urdu: محفل), alternatively known as Bazm (Urdu: بزم) is a formal venue where indoor recreational activities such as poetry ( mushaira), singing, music, and dance are entertained in parts of the Indian subcontinent. ...

called Mehfil-e-Samaa and used to sung Sufi devotional songs where she was recognized as a "spiritual daughter" of a Pashto composer Rafiq Shinwari. Before her musical journey was started, her father Ustad Abdur Rahim Khan, a

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

player introduced her to the

Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (); also known as ''Radio Pakistan'', serves as the national public broadcaster for radio in Pakistan. Although some local stations predate its founding, it is the oldest existing broadcasting network in P ...

(PBC) for an audition. During the early 1950s to the late 1970s, she was the only multilingual Pashtun singer, performing

live concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

s and became a prominent classical ghazal, and

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

of Pakistan, primarily in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She wrote more than 200 songs in Urdu and Pashto language under pen-name Bibi Gul. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, she sung patriotic songs in favor of the nation for which the president and military dictator

Ayub Khan Mohammad Ayub Khan (14 May 1907 – 19 April 1974) was a Pakistani military dictator who served as the second president of Pakistan from 1958 until his resignation on 1969. He was the first native commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army, se ...

gave her

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

and

pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...

in recognition of her contribution to the nation. Zareen's prominent songs include "Alaka Bali Ma Narawa", "Ma Pre Sezi Ze", "Da Bama Olwegy Che Za", "Jenaki Daly Daly", "Tambal Wahi", and numerous other songs, leading her to earn national recognition. On 23 March 2000, the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, con ...

awarded her

Tamgha-e-Imtiaz Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (), also spelled as Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, is a state-organised honour of Pakistan. It is given to any civilian in Pakistan based on their achievements. While it is a civilian/military award, it can be bestowed upon officers of the ...

and earlier presidential

Pride of Performance The Pride of Performance (), officially known as the Presidential Pride of Performance, is an award bestowed by the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan to recognize people with "notable achievements in the field of art, science, literature, sp ...

for her contribution to

that covers classical music of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Pashtun diaspora Pashtun diaspora () comprises all ethnic Pashtuns. There are millions of Pashtuns who are living outside of their traditional homeland of Pashtunistan, a historic region that is today situated over parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. While the ( ...

, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

and FATA provinces.

Personal life

Zareen was born to Ustad Abdul Rahim Khan. She had six sisters, including her elder sister Dilbar Jan Balalily who taught her music. Due to

social issue A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control. Soc ...

s and

cultural conflict Cultural conflict is a type of conflict (process), conflict that occurs when different culture, cultural Value (personal and cultural), values and beliefs clash. Broad and narrow definitions exist for the concept, both of which have been used to ...

(

glass ceiling A glass ceiling is a metaphor usually applied to women, used to represent an invisible barrier that prevents a given demographic from rising beyond a certain level in a hierarchy.Federal Glass Ceiling Commission''Solid Investments: Making Ful ...

) in

, she moved to Peshawar. After seeing her little sister was facing

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

or the atrocities of her husband, she spent her entire life without a

marital relationship Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

, fearing she would face the same. She spent her last days in extremely difficult situations due to

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

and deteriorating health. It is believed Zareen and her nephew lived in a rented house in Peshawar, and later requested the provincial government-led cultural department of the

Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ), is the provincial government of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1 ...

for financial assistance. The cultural department provided her a monthly fund of PKR2,500 that was later discontinued by the government. In 2008, state cultural minister Syed Aqil Shah came to her home and gave her PKR3,000. After the minister's visit was published by the

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public. These include News agency, news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, News broadcasting, news channels etc. History Some of the fir ...

, it is believed her home appeared crowded by the mortgage lenders demanded a recovery of their loans borrowed by Zareen.

Death

She was suffering from multiple health ailments, she was subsequently admitted to medical institutions for treatment. On 26 July 2012, she died of

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

in Peshawar city.

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zareen, Bacha 1942 births Pashtun singers Urdu-language singers Persian-language singers of Pakistan Pakistani women singers Punjabi-language singers Pakistani ghazal singers Musicians from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Recipients of the Pride of Performance 2012 deaths