Suraiya Multanikar

Surriya Multanikar was born in 1940 in Multan. He earliest childhood memories are of wanting to excel as a singer. No one in her immediate family could either teach or advise her, so she taught herself by listening to film songs and copying their tunes and lyrics. Surriya was only seven years old when Roshan Ara Begum visited her house in Multan. She taught Surriya a ghazal which Surriya skillfully presented the next day. Impressed by the child’s voice, Roshan Ara asked her parents to provide her with a qualified teacher. A year later she sang for Pir Sharif, who predicted that the child would someday be famous. Because her family could not afford to pay for her training, Pir Sharif asked Fauji Khan, his disciple and a well-known music teacher of Multan, to give Surriya her initial training free of charge. Three months later, when Pir Sharif died, Surriya went home. No one spoke of music until three years later, when Fauji Khan came to visit the family. With great difficulty, he persuaded them to let him teach the young girl in fulfillment of the wishes of his Pir. At the age of thirteen Surriya sang in front of Ustad Khan Sahib Bundoo Khan, a well-known classical singer, who was impressed by her voice. She later auditioned for radio, and soon her career as a child star began. She sang under the name Surriya Begum until her first public performance in Karachi, where Ustad Khan Sahib Bandoo Khan gave her the name Multanikar. She started her career in mid fifties and won popularity on the basis of “Barey Bey Murawwat Hein Yeh Husn waley”. She is considered to be a top class singer of Seraiki folk songs and Khawaja Farid’s Kafis. She is equally excellent at rendering ghazals and some of her best performances are reflected in the singing of Ghalib’s ghazals. In her highly individual style of singing there is a unique combination of folk and classical traditions. Now in semi-retirement, Surriya Multankiar still sings for Radio Multan on a regular monthly basis and also performs for Pakistan Television occasionally. She yearns to teach someone who would learn with the same passion with which she would teach, but she has yet to find a pupil who fulfills those requirements. She vows that she will continue singing until the last breath leaves her body. “Music is and will always be my life and soul. it is an integral part of me which I treasure most religiously,” she says. She was awarded pride of performance medal in 1986. [Special thanks to Akanksha Joshi for sending this info]