The Music of Pakistan includes diverse elements ranging from music from various parts of South Asia as well as Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and modern-day Western popular music influences. With these multiple influences, a distinctive Pakistani music has emerged.
Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan was among the foremost Khyal vocalists in Pakistan, and a leading exponent of the Patiala Gharana tradition of music. He was the younger of the legendary singing duo Amanat Ali and Fateh Ali, who enjoyed immense prestige and success across the subcontinent and beyond until the sudden and unexpected death of Ustad Amanat Ali Khan in 1974. For his contributions to classical music, Fateh Ali was honoured with the highest national literary award of Pakistan — the Pride of Performance — by the President of Pakistan in 1969.
Roshan Ara Begum was a vocalist belonging to the Kirana gharana of Hindustani classical music. She is also known by her honorific title Malika-e-Mauseeqi and The Queen of Classical Music in both Pakistan and India.
Paṅjāb Gharānā, is a style and technique of tabla playing that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, now split between present-day Pakistan and India. The Punjab Gharana is considered one of the six main styles of tabla, the others being Delhi, Ajrada, Banares, Lucknow, and Farrukhabad. The repertoire of the Punjab Gharana is heavily influenced by the Pakhawaj.
Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan is a Pakistani pop and classical singer, songwriter, and composer belonging to the Patiala Gharana tradition of music. He was the lead vocalist of the Pakistani pop rock band Fuzön until 2006 and is a prominent playback singer in the Indian film industry and Pakistani television industry. The youngest son of noted classical vocalist Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, Ali started his musical training at the age of four under the tutelage of his uncle, Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan, who was widely regarded as the foremost exponent of Hindustani classical music in Pakistan.
The Patiala gharana is one of the vocal gharanas of Hindustani classical music, named after the city of Patiala in Punjab, India where it was established. The gharana was founded in the mid to late 19th century by Mian Kallu, a sārangi player of the Jaipur durbar. He received his musical training from the last Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar’s court musician Qutub Bakhsh ‘Tanras’ Khan and went on to become the court musician to the Maharaja of Patiala. Eventually, the mantle was passed on to his son, ‘General’ Ali Baksh Khan and his close friend ‘Colonel’ Fateh Ali Khan, both of whom became court musicians in the court of Maharaja Rajinder Singh. The titles of 'general' and 'colonel' of music were bestowed upon them by the Victor Alexander Bruce, the 9th Earl of Elgin, after the duo had enthralled him with their performance. Their pairing was popularly referred to as 'Ali-a-Fattu ki Jodi.'
Ustad Amanat Ali Khan was a Pakistani classical vocalist from the Patiala gharana tradition of music and is widely regarded as one of the finest classical and ghazal singers of all time. Together with his younger brother, Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan, he formed a famed singing duo that garnered widespread popularity across the Indian subcontinent. For his contributions to classical music, Amanat Ali was honoured with the highest national literary award of Pakistan – the Pride of Performance – by the President of Pakistan in 1969. Khan was especially noted for khayal, thumri, and ghazal styles of singing and has been described as "the maestro of the Patiala gharana." He stands with singing icons like Mehdi Hassan and Ahmed Rushdi, having left behind a legacy of hundreds of classical and semi-classical songs.
In South Asia, semi-classical music is derived from Hindustani classical music that is often combined with filmi music.
Asad Amanat Ali Khan was a Pakistani classical vocalist and ghazal singer belonging to the Patiala Gharana tradition of music. In a career spanning 32 years, Khan sang over 1,000 songs for Pakistan Television and movie soundtracks, in addition to performing traditional classical music across the world. He was particularly noted for his command over the ghazal style of singing. Khan was the son of the prominent classical vocalist Ustad Amanat Ali Khan. He was awarded the highest national literary award of Pakistan, the Presidential Pride of Performance, on 23 March 2007 for his significant contributions to classical music.
Sham Chaurasi Gharana is a vocal gharana in Hindustani classical music known for the singing of vocal duets. It is also known as the cradle of drupad. It is one of the four singing gharanas of Punjab; the other three are: Patiala, Talwandi and Kapurthala. It is most notably represented in modern times by the brothers Nazakat and Salamat Ali Khan.
Ustad Hamid Ali Khan is a Pakistani classical singer. He belongs to the Patiala gharana. Being a representative of the Patiala gharana, Hamid Ali Khan is an exponent of ghazal and classical singing. He has released several records and performed with other famous Indian artists. He has also collaborated with many UK-based artists, some of the recent ones being Partha Sarathi Mukherjee (tabla) and Fida Hussain (harmonium).
The All Pakistan Music Conference (APMC) is a volunteer organization founded in 1959 for the promotion of classical arts in Pakistan and continues to preserve and promote Pakistani classical and folk music and dance. It hosts a concert of music every month and a 5 day annual festival in Lahore, Pakistan typically in the last weekend of October. It has a chapter in Karachi as well. Ever since its inception, it has been a constant source of inspiration for thousands of music lovers nationwide.
Abdul Sattar Khan, popularly known as Ustad Tari Khan, is a Pakistani tabla player and vocalist. Tari Khan hails from the Punjab gharana and is the student of Ustad Miyan Shaukat Hussain. He has been awarded with many accolades such as Taj Poshi, the Hazrat Amir Khusrow Award, as well as Pakistan's Pride of Performance Award in 2008. Tari Khan belongs to the tabla playing gharana called the Punjab gharana. Today, he is acknowledged as one of the foremost Tabla players of all time by musicians all over the world.
Badar uz Zaman was a Pakistani classical singer. He contributed to Pakistani Classical Music by promoting and re-interpreting compositions of the sub-continent's Muslim composers. Zaman performed with his brother, Ustad Qamar-uz-Zaman, carrying forward the Pakistan's own "Kasur Gharana" traditions of the art of Khayal music. Classical singers typically represent Indian Gharanas of Music.
Amjad Parvez was a Pakistani engineer, writer, and singer.
Mian Shaukat Hussain was a Pakistani tabla player who belonged to the Punjab gharana of tabla-playing music artists.
Ustad Rafaqat Ali Khan is a Pakistani singer-songwriter and musician. Trained as a classical singer, he is the son of the classical music singer Nazakat Ali Khan and nephew of Salamat Ali Khan of Sham Chaurasia gharana. He is the cousin of classical music singer Shafqat Ali Khan. With his career spanning over two decades, Rafaqat Ali Khan has established himself as a successful artist releasing a total of eleven albums.
Mian Sheheryar was a Pakistani television and film music composer.
Salamat Ali Khan was a Pakistani vocalist and touring artist known for his contribution to the Hindustani classical music.
Sharafat Ali Khan was a Pakistani classical singer. He used to sing in various Hindustani classical genres such as thumri, kafi, khayal and ghazal throughout his career.
