Rubina Qureshi, TI ( sd, روبينہ قريشي; also ''Rubeena''; 19 October 1940 – 13 July 2022) was a Pakistani
Sindhi language
Sindhi ( ; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status. It is also spoken by a further 1.7 million people in India, where it is a Scheduled languages of India ...
folk singer. She was popularly known as ''Nightingale of Sindh'' as she performed most of her songs in Sindhi, Urdu, Punjabi and Saraiki languages.
Early life
Rubina was born on 19 October 1940 in
Hyderabad, Sindh
Hyderabad ( Sindhi and ur, ; ) is a city and the capital of Hyderabad Division in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the second-largest city in Sindh, and the eighth largest in Pakistan.
Founded in 1768 by Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro of th ...
,
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
(now Pakistan). Her maiden name was Aisha Shaikh and her father's name was Illahi Bux Shaikh. Though she did not belong to a typical singer's family, her brother Abdul Ghafoor Shaikh was a local singer. She started singing in school functions and events when she was studying in a primary school. Educationist and musician Dadi Leela Wati encouraged and inspired her singing.
On 17 August 1955, Radio Pakistan Hyderabad was established. The administration of this newly established Radio Station wrote letter to all major schools of Hyderabad for introducing talented boys and girls on the Radio. Rubeena was studying in class IX, when she gave audition at Radio Pakistan Hyderabad as a child singer. Broadcaster M. B. Ansari and musician and singer Master Muhammad Ibrahim took her audition. She passed audition in the first attempt. Her first Sindhi song recorded for Radio was "Paren pawadee san, chawandi san, rahi waj rat bhanbhor men" ( Sindhi: پيرين پوندي سان چوندي سان، رهي وڃ رات ڀنڀور ۾). Along with her singing career, she studied at the
University of Sindh
The University of Sindh ( ur, ; sd, سنڌ يونيورسٽي; informally known as Sindh University) is a public research university in Pakistan located in the city of Jamshoro. It is one of the oldest universities in Pakistan and was certifi ...
and received the Master of Arts degree in Muslim History. She served as a high school teacher in the Himat-ul-Islam Girls High School Hyderabad in 1967–68.
Contributions
She also sang many marriage songs called "Sahera" along with her fellow singers
Zarina Baloch
Zarina Baloch ( sd, زرينه بلوچ) (29 December 1930 – 25 October 2005) was a Pakistani folk music singer, vocalist and composer. She was also an actress, Radio and TV artist, writer, teacher for over 30 years, political activist and soc ...
, Amina and
Zeb-un-Nissa
Zeb-un-Nissa ( fa, زیب النساء ) (15 February 1638 – 26 May 1702) was a Mughal princess and the eldest child of Emperor Aurangzeb and his chief consort, Dilras Banu Begum. She was also a poet, who wrote under the pseudonym of "Makhf ...
. These sehra are still popular in all over Sindh. She also sang as a
playback singer
A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...
of some
Sindhi films
Sindhi cinema ( sd, سنڌي سينيما) refers to the Sindhi language film industry in Sindh, Pakistan and among the Sindhi diaspora.
History
The first Sindhi film produced was ''Ekta'' in 1940 directed by Homi Wadia and the last film was ...
including
Ghoonghat Lah Kunwar
Ghooghat Lah Kunwar ( Sindhi: گهونگهٽ لاھ ڪنوار) is a Sindhi language
film which was released on 18 September 1970 from Karachi. Saeeda and Waseem played leading roles in this film. Famous singer Noor Jahan and Mahedi Hassan were p ...
( Sindhi: گهونگهٽ لاھ ڪنوار) and Sassi Punhoon ( Sindhi: سسئي پنهون). After her marriage to famous Film and TV actor
Mustafa Qureshi
Mustafa Qureshi is a Pakistani film and television actor.
He has acted in more than 600 movies, in Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi languages.
He is best remembered for playing the antagonist Noori Natt in ''Maula Jatt'' (1979).
He was born into ...
in 1970, she shifted to
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
with her husband. In Lahore she got music lessons from Chhottay Ghulam Ali. In Lahore, she also sang in
Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer to:
* Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
Pushto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
and
Bangali
Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of S ...
. She was the first woman artist who took part in strengthening Pak-China relations. The late Z A Bhutto sent her to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
where she sang in the Chinese language. She also went to
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
to perform for her country.
She received praise from Radio Pakistan Hyderabad (2012). The Government of Pakistan announced
Tamgha-i-Imtiaz
Tamgha-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, is a state-organised honour of Pakistan. It is given to any civilian in Pakistan based on their achievements. While it is a civilian/military award, it can be bestowed upon officers of the P ...
for her on 14 August 2021.
Death
Qureshi died on 13 July 2022 in Karachi. She was laid to rest in the Abdullah Shah Ghazi compound. She was survived by her husband
Mustafa Qureshi
Mustafa Qureshi is a Pakistani film and television actor.
He has acted in more than 600 movies, in Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi languages.
He is best remembered for playing the antagonist Noori Natt in ''Maula Jatt'' (1979).
He was born into ...
, a son, film actor Aamir Qureshi, and a daughter, Arabella.بلبل مھراڻ روبينا قريشيءَ جي ساھ جو سڳو ٽٽي پيو. سرن جي دنيا سوڳوار, Daily Ibrat Hyderabad. Dated 14 July 2022. p. 01