Pathanay Khan Saraiki Songs
Pathanay Khan or Pathane Khan (Urdu: پٹھانے خان ; born Ghulam Mohammad; 1926 – 2000) was a legendary Saraiki folk singer from Pakistan. He mostly sang Kafis or Ghazals (in Saraiki), usually drawing on the Sufi poetry of Khwaja Ghulam Farid and Shah Hussain. He was born in 1926 in the village Basti Tambu Wali, situated in the heart of the Thal Desert, several miles from Kot Addu, (Punjab).
When he was only a few years old, his father brought his third wife to the family home, so his mother decided to leave his father. She took her young son along and went to Kot Addu to stay with her father. When the boy fell seriously ill, his mother took him to a 'syed's' house (a spiritual leader's house). The syed's wife looked after him and advised his mother to change the boy's name because it seemed 'spiritually too heavy for him. Syed's wife's daughter commented that he looked like Pathana (in that region, a name symbolising love and valour), and so from that day onwards, he was known as 'Pathanay Khan'. His mother credited the new name for saving the child's life. Pathanay Khan was very attached to his mother. She took good care of him and tried to get him educated. However, like his father, Khameesa Khan, he spent his time wandering, contemplating, and singing. His inherent nature lured him away from school after the seventh standard or grade class in his high school. He began singing, mostly the Kafis of Khwaja Ghulam Farid, the saint of Mithankot. His first teacher was Baba Mir Khan, who taught him everything he knew. Singing alone did not earn him enough, so the young Pathanay Khan started collecting firewood for his mother, who used to make bread for the villagers as a village baker. This enabled the family to earn a very modest living. It is said that remembering those days brought tears to his eyes, and he believed that his love for God, music and Khwaja Ghulam Farid gave him the strength to bear the burden. Pathanay Khan adopted singing as a profession in earnest after his mother's death.
In 1976, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, then prime minister of Pakistan, invited him to Islamabad for a private performance. When Pathanay Khan sang "Jindarri lutti tain yaar sajan, Kadi mor maharan tay wal a watan", Bhutto broke into tears. After the programme, the prime minister asked Pathanay Khan three times if he had any 'wish' to make that the Prime Minister could then fulfill. Each time the singer's reply was, "Bhutto Sahib, aap ko gharib awaam ki parat ho" (Bhutto Sahib, take care of the poor). At this, Bhutto hugged Pathanay Khan and said "I will surely take care of the poor".
This page contains the latest songs of Saraiki folk singer Pathanay Khan. Saraiki Folk Media is an archive of Saraiki poetry, music, proverbs, and riddles. It's a hand-picked collection of the greatest Saraiki folk & Sufi songs, the best of Saraiki poetry, and the classic Saraiki proverbs and riddles. This page is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, scholarship, and research about this Saraiki folk singer. You can watch their latest video songs and enjoy listening to them.
