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By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Pak American Culture & Arts Council of Greater Sacramento held a ‘New Year Halla Gulla’ night on Saturday (1-5-2013) at the Witter Ranch Elementary School in Sacramento. The event attracted a large crowd from the Greater Sacramento as well as San Francisco Bay Area.
The evening program began after the sumptuous dinner from Kabab Corner Restaurant of West Sacramento. At the outset Naeem Syed, MC, paid homage to Dr. Manzooruddin Ahmed, Ex Vice Chancellor Karachi University, who passed away on December 27, 2012 in New York. Naeem Sayed invited Qari Aamir, Imam of the Woodland Mosque, to offer prayer for Dr. Manzooruddin and for few other members of who expired recently in the community.
The Halla Gulla night included music and poetry. Maqsood kicked off the evening with his presentations of humorous poetry. He was followed by Abdus Sattar Ghazali who amazed the audience with a Punjabi poetry presentation. He also drew applause for his comical poetry presentation.
Dr. Nirmal Maan, Dr.Zia Zafir , Dr. Shaista Rauf, Dr. Zahoor Ahmad of Woodland and Mir Shams Nazir thrilled the audience with their poetries. Dr. Nirmal Maan’s extended poem “Jawani Ke Din” (Youth Life) drew wide applause. The poem reflected Josh Malihabadi’s articulation.
Asif Haq, Nadim Mohammad and Khalid Saeed amused the audience with karaoke songs.
Popular ghazal singer, Shakila Ahmed, stole the show with her presentations of ghazals without music.
Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Shakila has given concerts all over the world. Her multilingual singing in Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali adds more zest to her singing. She captivated the audience with her melodious presentations of the ghazals of Wali Dakhni and Ahmed Faraz. These ghazals will be part of her new album to be released soon.
Aziza Rehman, niece of famous South Asian singer Gulshan Ara Syed, was another featured singer at the Halla Gulla night who drew wide applause.
Lucky draw was another interesting highlight of the Halla Gulla night. Javaid Akhtar, one of the top producers of Nationwide insurance in Sacramento area, offered a ladies suit as a prize for the lottery winner.
The dinner catered by ‘ Kabab Corner Restaurant ‘ of West Sacramento was delicious and much appreciated by the guests.
At the conclusion, Khalid Saeed of the Pak American Culture & Arts Council, thanked the audience for making the Halla Gulla night successful.
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