SF Bay Area Community Leader Tashie Zaheer honored - page two

Musical Renditions: Tashie Zaheer is the founding President of the Urdu Academy of North America. He is a well-known poet with one published Diwaan (anthology of poetry) Shaam Kii Ahat.

The musical renditions of the event were dedicated to his poetry singing. Among those who presented Tashie's popular ghazals included: Syed Sarwat, Tina Mann, Talat Khan, Nagesh Avadhany, Atiya Hai and Almas Shabwani.

Interestingly Tashie had composed musical tunes for his ghazals.

Ali Shahab Uddin on keyboard and the young Mr. Singh on Tabla provided superb support to the singers.

Vijey was on the sound system.

Earlier Khalid Rana, the spirit behind the colorful, vibrant and vivid program, welcomed the guests on behalf of the Bay Area South Asian Community.

A plaque was presented to Tashie Zaheer on behalf of the Community to acknowledge his services.

The Bay Area Cricket Alliance (BACA) also presented a plaque. Abrar Ahmed, Iftekhar Khan and Yasir Farooqui of the BACA presented the plaque.

Tashie Zaheer, in his concluding remarks, thanked all the guests for sparing some of their precious time to grace the occasion. He particularly thanked Syed Sarwat, the owner of Chandni Restaurant, and Muzna Sarwat for their services to the community and taking personal interest in this event. He also thanked Sameera Sarwat who arranged the beautiful decoration of the stage.

Tashie Zaheer also thanked Amjad Noorani and Najma Noorani for arranging the fascinating Kathak dance of their beloved daughter Farah. He also thanked Farah to performance despite her clashing commitment.

The program, which began at around 8.00 pm, continued till 1.45 am.

Kathak Dance: Kathak dancer-choreographer Farah Yasmeen Shaikh, stole the show with her breathtaking performance. She transported her audience to the 16th century Mughal India with her performance of “The Twentieth Wife,” the acclaimed novel by Indian American writer Indu Sundaresan. Fara's about 45 minutes Kathak rendition brought to life the epic story of Mehrunnisa, famously known as Noor Jahan, the wife of India’s Mughal emperor Jahangir. While playing several different characters, both masculine and feminine, Farah transformed herself into the embodiment of the struggles and triumphs Mehrunnisa faced during her life, before she became the Mughal Empress of India. The dancer was accompanied by Jim Santi Owen on tabla, Ben Kunin on sarod.

Based in the Bay Area, Farah is one of the best-known soloists in the Kathak tradition, which has an ancient and rich history of storytelling through dance. Farah spent nearly two decades training under her guru, the renowned Pandit Chitresh Das. In 1998 she joined  the Chitresh Das Dance Company and toured internationally. Later she began her current successful career as a soloist. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her exceptional performances.

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