Kishwar Sultan
Kishwar Sultan was a Pakistani classical singer and a film playback singer. She was a leading voice in Pashto folk music and did playback singing for films.
Early life
Sultan was born in 1926 at NWFP during British India. Her father, Chaudhary Roshan Khan, and her mother, Bakht Nissa, as well as her aunts, were singers. Mehr-un-Nisa, Chishti Chaman Jan and Sabr-un-Nisa were associated with the field of music. Kishwar was trained in music education by Farah Sher Shama, Sohbat Khan Baba and Rafiq Shinwari.Later, her husband trained her in basic education, teaching her to read and write Pashto and Urdu.
Career
Sultan started singing on Radio Peshawar in the 1951. She recorded her first song, "Ya Illahi Rawalay Yao Zal Guli Khandan", which was written by the poet Gulistan. Sultan's distinctive, emotional voice, rich with soz and dard, quickly made her a favorite among listeners.In 1965, she was transferred to Lahore and she sang many songs for the army to boast their morale in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and events of Kashmir.
n 1971, Sultan moved permanently to Peshawar from Mardan and began to sing on Radio and Pakistan Television. Her fame spread throughout Pakistan. Her songs "Hoy Tappe" and "Loba" becamse very popular. Filmmakers included her songs in their films.
She also did live performances and sang many songs on television. In 1975, she recorded the song "Ruk Da Meenay Noom Sha Dagha Hall Ta Chi Nazar Kri Sook" for the Pashto film Deedan, which was written by Ustaz Amir Ghulam Sadiq.
In 1979, she was honored by the Government of Pakistan with the Pride of Performance award for her contributions to the music industry.
In the 1980s, she sang many songs on PTV musical programs and music shows.
In 1991, she sang a remix of her own old song "Zar Sham Maida Maida Maida Maida, Qurban Sham Warray, Warra Warra Raza" on Radio Pakistan. Then she retired and went to live with one of her sons at Mardan.