Mohammed Ali Shehki (born 9 July 1957) is a Persian Pakistani

pop singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

. Shehki entered the music scene in the 1970s with his originally composed and written songs, with a touch of Persian music. He later earned a name for himself in Pakistani pop music and as a playback singer. He represented Pakistan at the 1985 ABU Popular Song Contest.

Early life

Though Shehki is Persian by origin, he has been living in Pakistan as a Pakistani national for most of his life. His family name 'Shehki' comes from his Iranian father, who used to work at the Iranian Consulate in Karachi. His father married a half-Iranian, half-Pashtun woman living in Karachi at the time. He studied engineering at the

NED University of Engineering and Technology The NED University of Engineering & Technology is a public university located in the urban area of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It is one of the oldest engineering universities in Pakistan, acknowledged for its best teaching practices and graduat ...

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, Pakistan, and graduated from there in 1981. Later, he made a career in aviation. Due to his originality, Shehki is the first ever pop singer to receive national awards for consecutive years by

Pakistan Television Corporation Pakistan Television Corporation (; reporting name: PTV); also known as ''Pakistan Television'', is the Pakistani state-owned broadcaster founded by the Government of Pakistan, operating under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. I ...

(PTV), film, and other national and international awards and recognitions.

Playback singing

Shehki's passion for music took him to the forefront of the Pakistani

show business Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz (since 1945), is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry.''Oxford English Dictionary'' 2nd Ed. (1989) From the business side (including managers, agents, produce ...

Sohail Rana Sohail Rana (born 31 March 1938) is a Pakistani music composer for films and television. He was introduced by actor Waheed Murad in Pakistan film industry and gained popularity when singer Ahmed Rushdi sang his compositions in such films as ...

, a well-known Pakistani film and television music composer, conducted an audition for PTV, a

television station, in 1973. Many boys and girls, including Shehki participated in that audition. In fact, Shehki was

’s first choice because he had gained the top position in that audition.

Career

Shehki's debut song was ‘Sambhal, sambhal kar chalna hai.’ The music composer was Sohail Rana, the song was live telecast as an introduction by Karachi television station's program, 'Naghma Zaar'. Then the first full song "Mere pyaar ke tu sung sung میرے پیار کے تو سنگ سنگ" by TV music composer Niaz Ahmed and producer Ghazanfar Ali. Blessed with a good, strong voice and trained in the basics of music by his ustad Habib Ahmed Khan, and then Sohail Rana, Shehki soon gained public recognition. He lent his voice to Sehba Akhtar’s national song (quomi naghma), ‘Mein bhee Pakistan hoon, tu bhee Pakistan hay میں بھی پاکستان ہوں تو بھی پاکستان ہے.’ a big hit of the time, and 'Aye Watan Tere Betay Hain' by music composer

. After doing a five years stint as a main feature in PTV Program "Jharney", produced by

Shoaib Mansoor Shoaib Mansoor (; born 4 February 1951 Karachi) is a Pakistani television and film director, writer, producer, lyricist and musician of Mahajir (Pakistan), Muhajir origin. Active in the Television in Pakistan, television industry since 1976, w ...

, he ended up as a highly popular artist, with many hits like "Meri Ankhon se iss dunya ko dekho, phir jo chaho tau chali janaمیری آنکھوں سے اس دنیا کو دیکھو پھر چاہو تو چلی جانا ", "Tumse bicharker", "Nazaray" and several other hit songs. He teamed up with

Sultana Siddiqui Sultana Siddiqui also known as Sultana Apa ( Sindhi: سلطانا آپي) is a Pakistani media mogul, television director, and producer who is the founder of Hum Network Limited. Siddiqui is an active director of Hum Network Limited and the ...

doing a regular quarterly PTV show ''Dhanak'' as a singer and presenter. Then with Sahira Kazimi in PTV show ''Rang Tarang'' again for a long span of time. From that show, he piled up his hit songs like "Mere Bachpan Ke Din, Kitnay Achay thay Din" and "Ye Pehli Pehli Barish". He appeared with famous folk singer

Allan Fakir Allan Fakir or Allan Faqir (1932 – 4 July 2000) (), was a Sindhis, Sindhi folk singer from Sindh, Pakistan. He was particularly known for his ecstatic style of performance, marked with devotional rhetoric and Sufi dance-singing. Personal life ...

to record this folk song, ‘Teray ishq mein jo doob gaya, Allah, Allah kar bhaiyya". "Ham Raat Bohat Roi" written by the poet

Ibn-e-Insha Sher Muhammad Khan (), ( Punjabi, ), better known by his pen name Ibn-e-Insha, (), ( Punjabi, ) (15 June 1927 – 11 January 1978) was a Pakistani Urdu poet, humorist, travelogue writer and newspaper columnist. Along with his poetry, he ...

again earned him the national award as the best singer. Due to his origin and fluency in Persian language, he did all Persian poetry programs on PTV of

Allama Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

with its true essence. His numerous film songs are still remembered fondly, especially songs composed by Indian composer Babul Bose for film "Raaz". In Pakistani TV film ''Shorr'' with actress

Babra Sharif Babra Sharif (; born 10 December 1954) is a Pakistani film actress, best known for her acting roles from the mid-1970s to the 1990s. She is one of the most popular actress of 1970s, 1980s and 1990s as well a leading actress in urdu films. She ...

, written and directed by Ghazanfar Ali, Shehki, besides playing the lead, also did the music score and film songs.

Film career

In his film career, he acted in a total of 9 films, his films achieved some success at the box office, but the industry was already on the decline, so he left films. His films are ''Dekh Tamasha'' (Piyar do ya maardo), ''Choron ka Badshah'' (1988 film) celebrated

platinum jubilee A platinum jubilee is a celebration held to mark an anniversary. Among Monarchy, monarchies, it usually refers to a 70th anniversary. The most recent monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee is Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the ...

, ''Son of Andata'' (1987), ''Zor Awar'', ''Sonia'', ''Guide'', ''Wachan'', TV film ''Shorr''.

References

External links

Mohammad Ali Shehki on YouTube
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shehki, Muhammad Ali Pakistani playback singers Living people 1957 births Pakistani pop singers Muhajir people Pakistani people of Iranian descent Pakistani television people Musicians from Karachi