NGO Sakshi, organized an evening of Ghazals, ‘Shaam-E-Ghazal’ recently at the India Habitat Centre, where the audience saw a stellar assembly of Modern day poets Farhat Shahzad, Laxmi Shankar Bajpai, Mamta Kiran, Aalok Shrivastav, Salahuddin Haque 
Abusarim Sarim reciting from their work and interacting with the audience.The unique feature of the program was the rendering onstage of fresh Ghazals from the Masters of Contemporary Poetry, composed and sung by the very talented artiste, Shakeel Ahmed.
In this unique program, Ghazals of contemporary poets with themes relating to modern day experiences, situations and emotions were composed and sung onstage.
The poetry captured one’s heart and the musical rendering by the singer enthralled the listener. A unique and immersive program where each poet was listened to, with anticipation and delight. The joy multiplied with the chance to interact with the Masters of poetry. Shakeel Ahmed’s unforgettably beautiful composition of the ghazals did complete justice to the poems and left us with ten beautifully hummable new Ghazals.
“Ghazal is a demanding poetic format creatively, but rewards the listener with a multi-layered experience where verbal and aural imagery, combine to offer a new dimension wherein the emotions and expression of the poet are conveyed gloriously to the audience. The five poets chosen are universally acknowledged Masters of their craft. Each one has used the Ghazal as an extremely telling medium to convey the depth of their feelings in an admirable brevity as demanded by the Ghazal format”, said Dr. Mridula Tandon.
Celebrated and popular artiste, Shakeel Ahmed, provided an insight into the highly demanding and difficult art of the successful Ghazal composition. The Singer/composer must have a deep knowledge of Raagdari – Indian Classical Music, along with an easy familiarity and understanding of literature as well as a flawless pronunciation of the Hindi/ Urdu words. When these arts are exercised to perfection the resultant Ghazal is an amazingly beautiful, seemingly effortless song which “Speaks to the Heart”.
Shakeel Ahmed’s impeccable gaayaki, understanding of poetry and love of Ghazals took audience into a magical world where the poetry and music make a deep impact on the listener.
During the evening noted poet & lyricist Farhat Shahzad recited “Zara sa aap se bahar nikal ke Dekho to, Main zindagi hoon mere saath chal ke dekho to”, which had the audience enraptured. His poems show how beautiful our language is in communicating the deeply felt and unspoken emotions.
Apart from the poets Vidushi Uma Garg (Dean of the Music Faculty, Delhi University), Rajiv Kumar Shukl (DDG AIR), Poet Vandana Yadav, Dr. Rashmi, Jaya Tandon, Jayshree Jain, Pt. Vijay Shankar Mishra, Former Chairperson of National Foundation for Communal harmony- Ashok Sajjanhar and Noted poetess Baljeet Singha, Lt Gen Iqbal Sigha, were also spotted.