Zarina Baloch
Encyclopedia
Zarina Baloch (December 29, 1934 in Allahdad Chand Village, Hyderabad
Hyderabad, Sindh
is the second largest city in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the seventh largest city in the country. The city was founded in 1768 by Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro upon the ruins of a Mauryan fishing village along the bank of the Indus known as Neroon Kot...

, Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...

, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 – October 25, 2005 in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

) was a Pakistani folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 singer and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. She was also an actress, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

, political and social worker.

Early life & Family

Zarina Baloch's mother, Gulroz, died in 1940 when Zarina was six years old. At the age of 15 her family arranged her marriage
Arranged marriage
An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...

 with a distant cousin. The union yielded two children: Akhter Baloch a.k.a. Zeena (born in 1952), and Asalm Parvez (born in 1957). However, Baloch and her husband disagreed on the subject of her further education
Further education
Further education is a term mainly used in connection with education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is post-compulsory education , that is distinct from the education offered in universities...

 and the pair were separated 1958. Baloch joined Radio Hyderabad in 1960 and received her first Music Award in 1961. Her second marriage, to leading Sindhi ethnic nationalist Rasool Bux Palijo, took place in Hyderabad
Hyderabad, Sindh
is the second largest city in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the seventh largest city in the country. The city was founded in 1768 by Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro upon the ruins of a Mauryan fishing village along the bank of the Indus known as Neroon Kot...

 on September 22, 1964 and it yielded a son: Ayaz Latif Palijo
Ayaz Latif Palijo
Ayaz Latif Palijo اياز لطیف پلیجو is a Sindhi Pakistani activist, lawyer, writer and teacher. Palijo was born in Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan, to a Baloch mother, the women's rights activist and artist Jeejee Zarina Baloch, and a South Asian leftist father and founder of Awami Tahreek, Rasool Bux...

. In 1967, she became a teacher at the Model School Sindh University
University of Sindh
The University of Sindh informally known as Sindh University is the second oldest university in Pakistan accredited by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan....

. She retired in 1997, and died in 2005 of Brain Cancer
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...

 in Liaquat National Hospital
Liaquat National Hospital
The Liaquat National Hospital , is located at Stadium Road, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.Liaquat National Hospital was established on October 16, 1958.- History :...

.

Imprisonment & Political Activism

In 1979, Zarina was arrested and imprisoned in Sukkur
Sukkur
Sukkur, or Sakharu , formerly Aror and Bakar, is the third largest city of Sindh province, situated on the west bank of Indus River in Pakistan in Sukkur District. However, the word Sakharu in Sindhi means "superior", which the spelling of the city's name in Sindhi suggests is the origin of the...

 and Karachi Jails for leading the protests against President
President of Pakistan
The President of Pakistan is the head of state, as well as figurehead, of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Recently passed an XVIII Amendment , Pakistan has a parliamentary democratic system of government. According to the Constitution, the President is chosen by the Electoral College to serve a...

 General Zia ul Haq
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988...

's Martial Law. The songs and anthems sung by Zarina Baloch "Maan Chuke Balochani", "Man Yagehaan" and "Jeaey Sindh" became the musical symbols of Baloch
Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch are an ethnic group that belong to the larger Iranian peoples. Baluch people mainly inhabit the Balochistan region and Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia....

 and Sindhi
Sindhi people
Sindhis are a Sindhi speaking socio-ethnic group of people originating from Sindh, a province Formerly of British India, now in Pakistan. Today Sindhis that live in Pakistan belong to various religious denominations including Islam, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity...

 Nationalism. Because of her struggle against the ruling class
Ruling class
The term ruling class refers to the social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy - assuming there is one such particular class in the given society....

es and against gender discrimination, feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...

 and martial laws, she earned the title of JeeJee (mother) of the Sindh people. She was one of the leading founders of Sindhiani Tahreek, Women in Action Forum, Sindhi Adabi Sangat and Sindhi Haree Committee. She was fluent in Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

, Seraiki
Saraiki language
Saraiki , transliterated as Sirāikī and sometimes spelled Seraiki and Saraiki, is a standardized written language of Pakistan belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages. It is a language spoken in the heart of Pakistan...

, Balochi
Balochi language
Balochi is a Northwestern Iranian language. It is the principal language of the Baloch of Balochistan, Pakistan, eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. It is also spoken as a second language by some Brahui. It is designated as one of nine official languages of Pakistan.-Vowels:The Balochi vowel...

, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

, Arabic and Gujrati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

. http://www.atsindh.com/jjzb/biography.html.

Awards

Her recognitions include: the Shah Latif Award, the Waheed Murad
Waheed Murad
Waheed Murad was a legendary Pakistani film actor, producer and script writer. Waheed is considered to be one of the most famous and influential actors of subcontinent. Born in Sialkot, Pakistan, he was the only child of well-off film distributor Mr. Nisar Murad. He got early education from...

 Award, the Shah Sachal Sami Award, the Lal Shahbaz Award, the Sachal Award, the SGA Award, the SANA Award, the WSC Award, the Ram Panjwani Award, the PTV Award, the Sindhi Sadaeen Gad Award, the Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Faiz Ahmad Faiz was a Pakistani intellectual, poet, and one of the most famous poets of the Urdu language. He was a member of the Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind and an avowed Marxist. In 1962, he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union...

 Award and the Pride of Performance
Pride of Performance
Pride of Performance , is one of the highest civil award given and conferred by the Pakistan Government to Pakistan's citizens in recognition of distinguished merit in the fields of Literature, Arts, Sports, Medicines, and Science for civilians in most particular cases.The announcement of civil...

 Award.

Art & Literary Contributions

She wrote ethnic nationalist songs and poetry popular amongst ethnic-nationalists in Sindh and Balochistan. She was the author of several stories and poems,, and her Book "Tunhinjee Gola Tunhinjoon Galhion" was published in 1992.

Famous songs

  • Sabhka Moomal Sabbko Raarno
  • Tunhnjii Yaarii
  • Kaang Lanvain
  • Guzrii Vaii Barsaat
  • Bbii Khabar Na Aahai Par
  • Kiin Karyaan Maan
  • Jjariyan Bhar Jaaiyoon
  • Saavak Rat main Saanvara
  • Paee Yaad Aaya
  • Gehraa Gehraa Nairn

See also

  • List of Sindhi singers
  • Rasul Bux Palejo
    Rasul Bux Palejo
    Rasul Bux Palejo or Rasool Bux Palijo a Sindhi nationalist leader. He is the Chairman of Sindhi national party Awami Tehreek .-Early life:...

  • Ayaz Latif Palijo
    Ayaz Latif Palijo
    Ayaz Latif Palijo اياز لطیف پلیجو is a Sindhi Pakistani activist, lawyer, writer and teacher. Palijo was born in Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan, to a Baloch mother, the women's rights activist and artist Jeejee Zarina Baloch, and a South Asian leftist father and founder of Awami Tahreek, Rasool Bux...

  • Sassui Palijo
    Sassui Palijo
    Sassui Palijo is a liberal politician and a columnist in Pakistan. She is Member of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh from Mirpur Sakro Thatta PS-85 THATTA-II, she belongs to Pakistan Peoples Party. She is the only directly elected female assembly member in Sindh...


External links

  • http://www.atsindh.com/jjzb/index.html
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