Shaukat Ali(1944-2021)

Shaukat Ali is a folk singer and a film playback singer from Pakistan.He is known to show a lot of respect for the poets he selects to sing and really puts a lot of emotion and energy into his singing.His career as a folk singer now spans for over 50 years in 2015.He was born into a family of musicians in Punjab, Pakistan.He was musically trained by his elder brother Inayat Ali Khan.Shaukat Ali began singing while at college in the 1960s. He was first introduced into the Pakistani film world as a playback singer by the renowned film music director Manzoor Ashraf in Punjabi film Tees Mar Khan (1963). He has dozens of films to his credit as a playback singer.He received Voice of Punjab award in 1976 by the Pakistan Institute of Language,Art and Culture (P.I.L.A.C.).He has been awarded the prestigious Pakistani civilian award Pride of Performance in 1990 by the President of Pakistan.He gave a live performance at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi.Shaukat Ali is most famous for singing Sufi poems with great vigor and a wide vocal range like Heer Waris Shah and Saif- UL- Maluk written by great Sufi poet of the 19th century Mian Mohammad Baksh.He also performs at live shows on Pakistan Television.He has trained his son Mohsin Shaukat Ali to replace him as he is semi-retired now in 2015 due to his old age.