ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday approved conferment of Pride of Performance award upon Ustad Naseer-ud-Din Saami on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Award would be presented to Ustad Naseer-ud-Din in the forthcoming Investiture Ceremony on 23rd March, 2013. The summary in this regard said that Ustad Naseer-ud-Din Saami, a Pakistani Classical Vocalist, traces his musical lineage to Mian Saamat, a disciple of the 13th century Sufi mystic, poet and musicologist Amir Khusro. He earned his reputation as one of Pakistan's most important exponents of Hindustani classical music. His gamut comprises a variety of forms and styles, including khayal, the `elaborative' style of singing attributed to Amir Khusro; sadra, a hybrid of Khayal and Hindu devotional chants; the ‘light’ classical forms of thumri and dadra, etc.
Ustad Saami has performed at national as well as at international level and has earned the fame to sing the lost medieval scales such as Pilu, Bhairavi and Khamaj in their original forms.