Shabnam Majeed to teach music to street children
Majeed lent her vocals to Saiyaan Bole Na Bole, a song featured in Shoaib Mansoor’s Bol. PHOTO: FILE
While begging us to let them wipe our windscreen clean at the traffic signal, being at the receiving end of constant neglect and abuse, and gazing at the sky with questioning eyes, not many of these forsaken children in the street stumble upon chances of a better life. One would come across many who may have given up, accepting regress as the only constant in their turbulence.
However, singer Shabnam Majeed feels otherwise. Collaborating with Alhamra Arts Council, she has decided to teach music to those who may have become renowned artistes had equal opportunities been provided to them. The paperwork is almost complete and auditions will soon be announced. If all goes well, Majeed will be able to rescue many of these neglected pupils and give them a new lease on life.
“I believe music brings society together. It serves as a binding force and will prove to be a constructive instrument for rehabilitating these children,” she tells The Express Tribune. Having achieved considerably over an elongated career, Majeed had initially decided to conduct music classes for children and pass on whatever tricks of the trade she had learnt.
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But then street children crossed her mind and she decided to bring them into the fold as well, especially those who have lapsed into drug addiction. With help from the council, she will approach these children in various parts of the city and enable them to sit in the classrooms alongside pupils from well-to-do families.
Shabnam started singing at a tender age for TV programme, Roshan Tara, and soon rose to fame. Since then she has crooned for a number of Pakistani films; her last notable work being Shoaib Mansoor’s Bol, in which she sang Saiyaan Bole Na Bole, a song that featured actor Iman Ali. Then what made her take a break and adopt tutoring? “Actually the death of my seven-year-old son Naqi Ali changed everything. My sensitive side took over and I began to think,” she discloses.
Seven years also happens to be the age when Majeed started learning music. What she wanted for her boy is now perhaps what she wants to give to the children of others. “I will select children between the ages of five and 15 for my classes.”
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Majeed has devised a six-month planner for the course. “There are a number of music academies that work along these lines. I think Alhamra taking this project up is a good start,” she states. Classes will be conducted on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the semester and the admission criteria is simple — whoever is interested in singing, will be let in.
On the professional front, Majeed hasn’t given up. “I think there’s a dearth of those who are doing good work. I have had the privilege of working under some of the best that this country has produced. For the past several years, many who believe in copying the work of others have entered the industry,” she maintains. “So many good films came out in the past few years and the industry has almost seen a revival. But how many songs do you remember from these movies?”
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She also runs a recording studio on the side and says she is still game for playback singing. “I want to focus on quality even if that means singing only one song,” Majeed says.
For now, she has diverted her attention to one cause alone; enabling street children to put food on the table by providing them with food for the soul.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2016.