Background to Edinburgh's Mushaira

Edinburgh City Libraries hosted its first Mushaira in 1989. The idea came from Haree Krishan Ahlu Walia, the first Ethnic Services Librarian in Edinburgh. Ahlu Walia approached Jalal Chaudry, who is well-known for his love of arts and literature, to co-ordinate this literary event. The event was chaired by Maqsood Elahi Sheikh from Bradford, who has made a great contribution to the advancement of the Urdu language and literature in UK. Invited poets from all over UK participated, reciting their own poetry.

Since 1991, Shahida Allauddin, Senior Library Officer, has raised the profile of Edinburgh’s Mushaira. She secured funding from a variety of sources – both from public and private sectors. The Mushaira is now recognised not just within the UK but in many countries, with poets in attendance from Pakistan, India, USA and other European countries. Shahida has also built a repertoire with national organisations, such as Edinburgh Urdu Circle and Bazme-Urdu Scotland.

When the Mushaira began, the management committee included Jalal Chaudry, Mussa Jogee, Lord Yusaf Inait, Ishaq Khan, Mohammad Aslam, Hafeez-u-Rahman and Shahida Allauddin. The present committee members are Saeed Majeed Khan, Professor Tariq Muneer, Muhammad Aslam, Roy Parekh, Tahir Bashir, Jalal Chaudry and Shahida Allauddin.

Keeping up with the tradition, the yearly event is chaired by a prominent Urdu poet and the audience enjoys listening to literary personalities from Scotland and England. Some of those names are: Hussain Musheer Alvi, Maqsood Ilahi Sheikh, Dr Shaffi Kausir, Rahat Zahid, Akbar Hyderabadi, Bashabi Fraser, Daljeet Singh Dilbar, Sabir Raza, Saeed Majeed Khan, Sewa Singh Koli, Sultan Hasan Farooqi, Aqueel Danish, Gurdeep Singh Puri, Dr Gautam Sachdev, Pakeeza Baig, Farzana Naeena, and Noor Jehan Nori. An encouraging fact of this Mushaira is that young people like Isa Ameen Sher and Shamylla Syed have also participated in poetry recitation and contributed with an increased fervour and enthusiasm.

Poster for the first Edinburgh Mushaira in 1989 (PDF, 104kb) (104 kB)