Tahir Mithu has been playing music since he was a child growing up in Kotri, Sind. “Even during half time I would sit in class and play beats on the tables when there was less noise and I could hear myself better regardless of whether anyone else could hear me or not.” His love for music began with a love for the dholak, but with no one to sing for him, the young Mithu started to sing and play himself. When he was around ten years old, Mithu started learning to sing under Ustad Muhammad Yusuf.
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Tahir Mithu has been playing music since he was a child growing up in Kotri, Sind. “Even during half time I would sit in class and play beats on the tables when there was less noise and I could hear myself better regardless of whether anyone else could hear me or not.” His love for music began with a love for the dholak, but with no one to sing for him, the young Mithu started to sing and play himself. When he was around ten years old, Mithu started learning to sing under Ustad Muhammad Yusuf. Soon he started performing at different venues with his teacher and earning some money. While he played people from the audience would walk up to him and drop cash into his lap. “I started earning very soon and that’s why I got stuck in this field,” said Mithu, laughing. “Once I learnt the harmonium I started getting offers to play at weddings.” Mithu’s young age gave him a rare advantage: he could enter the women’s section of segregated weddings and play for the women while they celebrated with song and dance. His first major concert was for a Radio Pakistan show called Baranji Bari. “That’s how it started and then there would be a number of programs in my neighborhood and the people in my neighborhood would want me to play for them,” said Mithu. As his audience grew, his passion for music grew with it. Mithu sang Sindhi folk songs and popular songs sung at weddings. He performed at concerts in Bhitsha, Shah Abdul Latif’s Bhittai’s Urs and various Sindhi music festivals over the years. He has worked on albums of Sehras recorded with Thar Productions and collaborated with other Sindhi artists like Samina Qawal. One of the biggest problems for him over the years was that PTV didn’t play many Sindhi songs. With the expansion of the electronic media and especially Sindhi channels, artists like Mithu are getting increased opportunities to present their talents on a mass level. Mithu brings the power and command of his voice to Coke Studio Season 5 as an example of the wealth of under-exposed potential in Pakistani society.
