An evening of music with Sham-e-Ghazal

Renowned Ghazal and Sufi singer Mohammed Vakil mesmerised the Muscat audience with his soulful voice, wit and spontaneity at the packed Al Bustan Palace’s Oman Auditorium. The event titled Sham-e-Ghazal had an audience drawn from a wide range of music lovers.

The event was presented by The Desert Stories as a mark of celebration for entrepreneurs.

Vakil engaged the audience for more than three hours, while another singer Bhumika Malik sang selected songs from Bollywood and lifted the mood of the audience. Vakil took over the dais again and took the audience to a different level of music with the fusion of popular Ghazals, Sufi songs, Bollywood beats and his own compositions.

The highlight of the evening was Omani singer Asma Mohammed Rafi, who regaled the audience with Bollywood songs. Asma was an instant sensation among Indians and Omanis when she took part in Zee TV’s popular programme ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2009’. Her presence during the Sham-e-Ghazal event worked as a warm-up session for the programme. Everyone in the audience enjoyed Asma’s singing. She left the dais amid shouts of ‘more’ from the audience.

Mohammed Vakil’s accompanists included, Gulzar Hussain on violin, Rahbar Hussain -- Keyboard, Mehraj – Tabla and Fareed Khan on Octopad. They kept on engaging with audience with their ‘jugalbandi’ whenever Vakil needed a pause from singing.

Vakil stole the show with his famous and sought after Qawwali ‘Aaya tere dar pe deewana’ from film Veer Zara. He had sung the song in Shahrukh Khan starred film. There were timeless traditional ghazals and Bollywood numbers that he presented during the programme.

The audience was so much under his control that they came to the floor and started dancing when he started singing ‘Damadam Mast Kalandar’.

This was Vakil’s third performance in Muscat. “I love Muscat and its people. It has unique charm and I feel it like home due to love of the people and their interest in Music.”



Asked about Muscat and he replied with a song: “Tumhare shaher ka mausam bada suhana lage, Main ek sham chura loon agar bura na lage” (The weather in your city is very pleasant, I will steal an evening if you don’t mind).”

He kept the audience spellbound with mesmerising and soulful renditions like “Hoton se choo lo tum,” “Tum ko dekha to ye khayal aaya”, “Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho”,“Aaj jaane ki zid na karo”, “Chhap tilak sab chheenee” and “Damadum mast Qalander” and many others.

“I see Oman a unique destination for music and when I see the Royal Opera House, it feels like an epitome of music,” he says.

Vakil grew up listening to Ghalib and his favourite Urdu poets are Waseem Barelvi and Bashir Badr. Along with his masters Ustaad Ahmed Hussain and Mohammed Hussain, Vakil admires the Ghazal renditions of Mehdi Hassan, Jagjit Singh and Ghulam Ali.

Dr Ghaur Abbas Naqvi from The Desert Stories did compearing of the programme. He welcomed the guests and thanked the sponsors for their support.