Ghazal and Geet Archives

Ghazal and Geet archives include such great artists as Begum Akhtar, K. L. Saigal, Hemant Kumar, C. H. Atma, Talat Mahmood, Muhammad Rafi, Jagjit and Chitra Singh, Talat Aziz, Pankaj Udhas, Manhar Udhas and many others.

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and Ghazal is the soul of this language. Urdu poetry has always been a dominant part of cultural and film heritage of the subcontinent. There appeared on the scene many great poets, like Ghalib, Haali, Bahadur Shah Zafar of yesteryears, and Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Tanveer Naqvi, Qateel Shifai, Ahmas Sarfaraz and a large number of others of the recent generations. Those great ghazals were given life by the artistry and voice of many great singers, like Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Farida Khnum, Abida Parveen, Munni Begum and a large number of others. Among Sangeet Mahal archives lies a great treasure of those poets and voices of yesteryears.

Classical Music Archives

Classical music treasures include works of Ravi Shanker, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pannalal Ghosh, Bismillah Khan, Amir Khan, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amjad Ali Khan, Chitti Babu, Laxmanprasad Jaipurwala, and other who made history in classical music.

The art of music practiced in the subcontinent has a special significance, as it has developed from the ritualistic music in association with folk music and other musical expressions of neighboring nations. One of the strongest and most significant influences has perhaps been that of Islam (and of Persian music); a few centuries of Muslim invasion and rule of Indo-Pakistan sub-continent brought in its wake a changed perspective in the style of Pakistani music, rather than in its structure. Matured through ``thought, experience and expression'', Pakistani classical music has become a unique characteristic art.

Traditional Music Archives

Traditional music has been arranged into two categories, Cultural and Devotional. There are great many songs by famous singers that have been part of life during weddings, cultural and seasonal festivals. Included in these archives are famous and memorable cultural songs of holi, diwali, wedding, harvest festivals, and devotional qawalis and bhajans from well-known singers. Sangeet Mahal has collected most of those memorable contributions of famous artists, including Aziz Nazan, Juthika Roy to Anup Jalota, and added to its archives.

Pakistani traditional music expresses the central social values of a society. It serves as a symbol in many ways. It can represent nonmusical ideas or events, and it can underscore ideas that are verbally presented in opera, film and television drama, and often in songs. It also symbolizes human bonds, happy occasions, military, patriotic, and funerary moods and events.

Traditional Punjabi Archives

Contemporary Punjabi music presents folk songs, ghazals, bhangra, and opera. There have been large number of memorable songs sung by great singers of yesteryears, like Surinder Kaur, Prakash Kaur, Asa Singh Mastana, Narinder Biba, Mohd. Siddique Rampuri, Harcharan Singh Grewal, Lalchand Yamla Jatt, Kuldip Manak, Pushpa Hans, S. Balbir, Minoo Purshottam, Narindra Chanchal, Pushpa Hans, Nina Mehta and others.

Punjab is rich with poetry and heritage of folk music. Just naming Waris Shah brings in memory a huge treasure of poetry named "Heer Waris Shah". However, Mirza Sahiban, Billo Mahiya, and many other legends have great themes for poetry and each rendered in its own style by famous singers. Sangeet Mahal archives include all those great creations in music.