Sahawat Ali

Sahawat Ali is a harmonium player who — despite having retired— still teaches students to play the harmonium. He started playing music when he was only seven, with his chacha, or paternal uncle, Liaquat Ali having taught him. He was then taught by an elder named Abdul Rashid. He learned music from the music director Akhtar Hussain Akhiyan, as well as the music director Wazir Afzal. Apart from playing on radio and television, he recorded several music cassettes as well, and has participated in some music festivals like the Jashn-e-Kabul and the Jashn-e-Iran, and has also toured some Middle East countries like Oman, the UAE, Bahrain etc. In addition to this, he once worked at Sachal Studios, a group working to restore Pakistani classical music by mingling it with jazz, and has worked with famous musical personalities like Mohsin Raza or Mashir Manzoor. Nowadays, he mainly teaches students to earn a living.