A singer from Kot Addu

Pathanay Khan was a Saraiki folk singer associated with Kot Addu in southern Punjab. Radio Pakistan’s 2022 remembrance places his birth in 1926 at Basti Tambu Wali and records his death in Kot Addu on 9 March 2000. The broadcaster identifies the poets whose works he sang, including Khwaja Ghulam Farid, Bulleh Shah and Pir Mehar Ali Shah, and records the award of Pakistan’s Pride of Performance in 1979. These details connect his singing to a particular place and to several traditions of Sufi poetry. They do not imply that a single language or performer represents all music of the region.[1]

Kafi and poetic interpretation

In a 2011 essay in Pakistaniaat, Waqar Haider Hashmi discussed Pathanay Khan’s singing of kafis and ghazals and reflected on his interpretation of Khwaja Ghulam Farid’s poetry. Hashmi considered Meda Ishq Vi Toun in relation to ideas of divine love, while explicitly presenting his essay as a personal response to the singer’s work. His reading is one interpretation of the poetry and its performance, not the only possible meaning. It draws attention to the relationship between a poet’s words and a singer’s delivery, and to the different kinds of listening through which a performance can be understood.[2]

Remembering him locally

Dawn reported a 2017 remembrance in Kot Addu attended by singers and poets who performed songs associated with Pathanay Khan. His son Iqbal told the newspaper that his father was originally named Ghulam Muhammad and was born at Basti Tambu Wali. The report identified kafis associated with him, including Meda Ishq Vi Tu and Mera Ranjhan Hun Koi Hor. This account documents both a family recollection and a particular event held seventeen years after his death. The commemoration is evidence of local remembrance at that time, rather than a measure of all audiences who heard him.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Radio Pakistan. Death anniversary of Pathanay Khan observed ↗Written source · Source date: 2022-03-09 · Locator: Kot Addu, poets and Pride of Performance. Accessed 2026-11-03.Selected written evidence inspected; audio and video not reviewed.Return to A singer from Kot Addu, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Waqar Haider Hashmi. A Tribute to the Legendary Singer Pathanay Khan ↗Written source · Source date: 2011 · Locator: Pakistaniaat, vol. 3 no. 3, pp. 95–96. Accessed 2026-11-03.Selected written evidence inspected; audio and video not reviewed.Return to Kafi and poetic interpretation, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Dawn correspondent. Pathanay Khan’s death anniversary observed ↗Written source · Source date: 2017-03-11 · Locator: Family recollection and 2017 remembrance. Accessed 2026-11-03.Selected written evidence inspected; audio and video not reviewed.Return to Remembering him locally, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-PEO-0180 · English edition · human review not performed