PAKISTAN - PASHTO MUJRA DANCE - 'Zari Shaga' - SINGER: GULNAR BEGUM

[Wait Up To 10 Seconds - Slow Bit-Chute Buffering]
This film song is interesting as the dancer is wearing a KATHAK costume from Indian culture. It is rare to see this kind of dance shown in Pushto Cinema because Middle Eastern BELLY DANCE is geographically and culturally closer to Pushto Culture. The flared skirt, tight under-trouser and ankle bells of the KATHAK showcase spins and foot-stamping. However, a lot of the dancing during musical BRIDGES is PUNJABI BHANGRA [a farmers dance from The Punjab involving shoulder-shaking and stepping in and out with one foot]. The singing is PATHAN in style from PLAYBACK SINGER [a professional vocalist who can sing in a CINE style for movie actors with average voices to mime to] GULNAR BEGUM. The musical style changes between the INSTRUMENTAL parts which are more PUNJABI to the SUNG parts which are more PUSHTO in style? The instruments are more INDIAN drums and TURKIC RABAB [A kind of two string TURKIC LUTE like Turkish SAZ].

ORCHESTRATION
The FORM [sections over time] are curious in the song, but common in Pushto Filmi Mujras. There seems to be a two strand approach to these dances which have INTRO + BRIDGES + CODA [end section] in more of a PUNJAB[I on-beat] style with the main VOCAL SECTIONS in a PATHAN 'rocking' SYNCOPATED [off-beat] pattern. This must surely be for CONTRAST and VARIETY for the listener? The more INDIAN instrumental sections maybe open more opportunity for a variety of dance movements to show off the MUJRA?

PUSHTO CINEMA
The Pushto Film Industry started late after the 1947 Partition of Indian and Pakistan. Urdu and Punjabi films were produced in Lahore from 1948. The first Pushto language film was not made until 1965. The original 1960s style was respectable and based on folk tales as family films. By the time of the The Islamic Revolution of 1979, Pushto Cinema had begun to deline under the control of local governers into what is descibed as 'soft core pornography' by some. The label of 'vulgarity' remains on contemporary Peshwari Films.

THIS MUJRA: 'Zari Shaga'
Colour films came late to the small Pakistani Film Industry mainly due to lack of facilities to process footage into colour. Hence, this late 1970s film is in black and white. MUJRA means 'entertainment dance' and comes from the palaces of The Mughal Empire. There is a cultural fascination in the Northern Indian area for men watching dancing an feeling 'comforted' by TAWAIFS [dancing girls or boys].