Yaad Piya Ki Aaye

Salamat Ali is a renowned and famous singer from Pakistan who has been living in Brooklyn and Queens for several years. A famed teacher as well as singer, Salamat Ali is a mentor to many singers studying the traditional gazhal and murthi traditions of Pakistan. He specializes in Ghazal and Thumri style.  "Yaad Piya Ki Aaye" was performed at the Midwood Public Library in Brooklyn to an empty auditorium as part of the Brooklyn Folk Arts and Artists Series. This program was a revival of a previous program that featured a collaboration between the Brooklyn Public Library and Brooklyn Arts Council. 

The song is in the Thumri style which is essentially a lament. that was written by the great Maestro Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. The song is translated as follows: 

Oh memories of my beloved haunt me! Alas, I cannot bear this grief! I am yet young but my bed is forlorn; my youth is passing by – Alas! The cuckoo, my enemy, coos his song. Bereft of my beloved, my heart burns. Yes, I am kept awake all night without my beloved! Alas!