Adil Najam
Today, December 26, marks the death anniversaries of both Parveen Shakir and Munir Niazi. Two great voices in Pakistani poetry.
In idiom, in metaphor and in demeanor they were were different poets. But both were voices of defiance whose metaphor was romanticism but whose subject were the harsh (talkh is a much more expressive word) realities of life. There are a number of reviews of the poetic legacies of both at ATP and I hope you will read them:
Munir Niazi: here, here, and here;
Parveen Shakir: here, here and here.
For now, let me only leave you with a video rendition of each… something to remember them with on this day (first video is of Parveen Shakir, and the second of Munir Niazi). Other great works by both are included in the posts mentioned above.
Thank you very much for reminding us the two great poets of Pakistan during the last 50 years. We need to emphasize their contributions in shaping up the cultural diversity of our nation – and confront the extremist tendencies unleashed since the draconian Gen. Zia era of 11 long years.
Please ignore the spelling mistakes…Parvin Shakir and ‘staple’..
Though a good post, I feel there are some poets who are being remembered too often while a host of other good voices have been simply neglected.
From Ahsan Danish to Ubaidullah Aleem, there is a long list of great Urdu poets and you shouldn’t stop at Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Parvin Shakri, Majeed Amjad, Munir Niazi and of course, the usual stable of Iqbal and Faiz (or Ghalib).
If Ghalib, then why not Zauq or Momin or even Jigar and Josh, Adam and Firaq, Majaz and Wamiq, Makhdoom and NM Rashid.
I know some people will not like my saying so, but I think that Munir Niazi was one of the most under-appreciated Pakistani poet and Parveen Shakir one of the most over-appreciated.
Crisis always produces the best intellect in human creativity-to give us hope in our hour of need.Uplifts our spirits and makes us ready to combat .