Sami Naeemullah and his band of visually impaired musicians cannot see, they still have a vision. They hope to bring peace and promote love in a land fraught with hatred and fear.
The plains of Dera Ismail Khan sit at the gateway to South Waziristan, a militant stronghold that has often spewed violence into the settled district in the form of radical Islamism and Shia-Sunni rivalry. This has sent many local singers and musicians packing, and they have either wound up their business or left the country. But a few, like Naeemullah, the visually impaired 19-year-old, have stuck around and still practice their art.
The young Saraiki artist started learning singing eight years ago as part of his education at a local government institute for the blind, and now performs alongside five other youngsters, all blind or visually impaired, hailing from different villages of Dera Ismail Khan. The band mixes modern and folk Pashto and Saraiki songs. They often perform at weddings, and once even the district administration officials of Dera Ismail Khan invited them to a musical event.
“We are singing to promote the message of peace and love as there is violence all around, and music is one of the ways to promote happiness in our broken society,” he says.
