Farooq Qaiser with his alter ego Uncle Sargam | Guddu Film Archive
Pakistan Television has produced countless gems over a period of time but not all of them were timeless. Characters such as Uncle Jedi, Qabacha and Hasnat Bhai inspired a generation but ultimately faded away with the passage of time. But one character never faded from memory Uncle Sargam, created by the legendary Farooq Qaiser, became a household name the moment the character debuted in 1976.
Those were the days when music director Sohail Rana used to do a weekly music show Saaray Dost Hamaray from Pakistan Television’s (PTV’s) Karachi centre. The kids who participated in the show addressed Sohail Rana as ‘uncle’, and used to sway sideways while singing. When Kaliyaan debuted in 1976, Uncle Sargam made sure the puppets performed in the same manner as the kids in the music show, and sang, ‘Aao mil ke gayein, aayen baayen shaayen, sur ka tiah paancha kar ke waapas ghar ko jayein’ [Come let us sing sing t
Romania
Pakistan
Karachi
Sindh
Pakistani
Maasi-museebatay
Allah-mian
Kamal-ahmed-rizvi
Nazia-hassan
Maasi-museebtay
Akkarr-bakkarr
Pyare-allah-mian
Japanese printmaker Kenji Suzuki (1906-1987), who themed his works on antiwar and labor issues, created a woodblock print titled Shomei (Signature).
It shows a woman carrying an infant on her back as she signs her name on a signature form with a determined frown. Done in bold strokes in black and white, it is a powerful work.
I lingered before it when I saw it the other day at the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts in western Tokyo. It conveyed the gravity of the act of signing one s name to a cause that really matters.
Completed in 1960, Suzuki apparently drew inspiration from a movement to protect workers rights.
Aichi
Japan
Nagoya
Tokyo
Japanese
Asahi-shimbun
Takahiro-tanaka
Hideaki-omura
Kenji-suzuki
Machida-city-museum-of-graphic-arts
Suzuki
Hydrogen-bombs