It was a technical glitch: Shafqat Amanat Ali

Pakistani singer Shafqat Amanat Ali’s performance at the T20 match between India and Pakistan at the Eden Gardens cricket stadium in Kolkata drew angry responses from his fellow countrymen, accusing him of getting the lyrics wrong. In his recent visit to the capital, the singer clarified about his rendition of “Qaumi Tarana”, the national anthem of Pakistan.

Many criticised his performance and have been unforgiving in their comments on various online platforms. The Mitwa singer however, denied any mistake on his part, blaming “a few audio and technical glitches”. Soon after the incident, he took to micro-blogging sites in what seemed like an apology to his countrymen. It read: “I admit that there were a few audio and technical glitches that may have sounded like lyrical errors and I will surely apologise for not being able to win your praises this time, but assure you I had by no means ‘forgotten’ our beloved ‘Qaumi Tarana’.”

However, the singer stated that he took to the micro-blogging site only to reach out to people and explain about the real situation. “Many took my statement issued on Twitter as an apology but I would like to clarify that it wasn’t. It was an explanation on what went wrong and the reason behind it,” he said, adding, “I just wanted to tell my countrymen that I had neither forgotten the lyrics nor got my tune wrong. Because of the rain, we didn’t get a chance to do a sound check.

We went straight into the performance. There was one air-monitor in my right ear which was playing the track a little out of sync because of which the sound was coming with a little delay. However, we realised it within a second and it was rectified immediately,” shared the artist.

He further added, “I was also trying my best to not go out of tempo. “Many people told me that the overall sound of my performance was a little low and a few words might have sounded differently. The original words are ‘Parcham-e-Sitara’ but due to the sound problem, people heard it as ‘Parcham-o-Sitara’. It was as if I had forgotten an entire para of my own national anthem or rephrased a sentence from it. I would again like to clarify that it was solely a technical glitch. What’s going on right now is a bit overwhelming for me, and I think it has blown out of proportion. ”

Asked about what was running in his mind when he realised that the performance was not up to the mark, he said, “At that time, my only thought was to sing the national anthem with all my heart and not to stop it in between, irrespective of any challenge or hurdle. If I would have stopped the anthem in the middle and started all over again from the beginning,  it would have been a bigger disaster.”

He feels if his countrymen were so unhappy with his performance, then they should have directly reached out to him in a different way. “I just wish they had chosen a better way to connect with me instead of taking it out on an international platform. I did not dishonour my country in any way.”