Larsha Pekhawar Ta - Hamayoon Khan
Song Review
This is a Pastho folk song that originated in Afghanistan. It is a love song sung from the point of view of a girl who is telling her beloved to come to Peshawar and bring her a black kameez and 3 or 4 fresh flowers.
Larsha Pekhawar Ta has been sung by a number of different Pashto speaking artists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The song represents Pashto culture and instills a sense of patriotism and pride for Pashto language and musical traditions by Pathan communities in Pakistan and around the world. Larsha Pekhawar Ta includes a genre of Pashto poetry known as tappas. Tappas are couplets in which the second line is longer than the first. There are thousands of tappas in Pashto literature that deal with the themes of love and separation – either from a beloved, a loved one or from the homeland. Research from Quaid-e-Azam University suggests that a majority of tappas are written by women.
Khan says the song dates back to the first half of 20th Century but the exact origins of the song are not known and there is no available information on who wrote or composed it.
