Pashto folk singer Zarsanga living a miserable life in tent

Zarsanga, a famous Pashto singer often described as the Queen of Pashto folk music, is living in abject poverty in a tent on the roadside in Azakhel after her house was washed away in the recent floods.

Talking to The News, the 65-year-old singer said she had served the country and Pashto music for 45 long years. She said she had performed in Germany, US, France, Russia and Afghanistan but now she had been forgotten by the government. She said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had not even provided her a tent, adding that the one sheltering her family was borrowed from someone else.
Born in 1946 at Zafar Mamakhel, a small village in Lakki Marwat district, she belongs to a nomadic tribe that used to move to Afghanistan in summers and stay in Lakki Marwat during the winter. She settled in Pirpai town in Nowshera but was displaced when her house was swept away by the recent floods.
Zarsanga started her career as a folk singer at the age of 20 and recorded her first song with Radio Pakistan. She also performed on the state-run PTV. The singer said the recent floods had made her a nomad again, but neither the ANP-led provincial government, claiming to represent the Pakhtuns, nor the ministry of culture had done anything for her family.
Zarsanga has six sons Shahzada, Babu, Mudir, Muhammad Wali, Mano and Hijran. All are expert at playing different musical instruments. She was awarded the presidential Pride of Performance Award by former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan in recognition of her contribution to Pashto music. Her son Shahzada said their musical instruments were swept away by floods. “We couldn’t afford to buy new ones so we borrowed some from our friends because we want to carry forward the rich legacy of Pashto music,” he argued. He feared a bleak future for Pashto music if the artistes continued to be ignored like his mother.
Zarsanga said Afghan President Hamid Karzai had offered her to settle in Afghanistan. “I was offered a house and a car and jobs for my children, but I did not accept the offer. I could not leave my country,” she recalled. She appealed to the federal and provincial governments and the lovers of art to help her family to stand on its feet again. Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan announced to build a house for the Pashto singer soon after her interview was aired on the Geo News.