Heartfelt Karachi Concert Unites Fans Mourning Zubeen Garg’s Untimely Loss
A Karachi band emotionally performs Zubeen Garg’s hit “Ya Ali” weeks after his sudden death.
In a poignant cross-border gesture of musical solidarity, a Pakistani band delivered an emotional rendition of Assamese singer Zubeen Garg's iconic Bollywood track "Ya Ali" during a concert in Karachi, weeks after his untimely death. The video, which surfaced on social media on October 6, 2025, captures the band performing the soul-stirring qawwali-style song from the 2006 film Gangster, with the audience joining in harmonious chorus under dim stage lights. Garg, revered as the "Voice of Assam" for his multilingual prowess spanning over 40 languages, passed away on September 19 in Singapore at age 52, leaving a void in the Northeast's cultural landscape. The tribute, shared widely on platforms like X and Instagram, has amassed millions of views, underscoring music's power to transcend geopolitical divides amid India-Pakistan tensions.
"Ya Ali", composed by Pritam and featured in Anurag Basu's directorial debut starring Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut, and Shiney Ahuja, marked Garg's Bollywood breakthrough, blending Sufi mysticism with raw emotion to become a timeless anthem of longing and faith. Garg's velvet timbre elevated the track to cult status, earning it a spot in Bollywood's devotional playlist and inspiring countless covers. The Karachi performance, by the unnamed band, mirrors this legacy, with performers clad in traditional attire evoking the song's cinematic intensity.
Online reactions poured in, with one user exclaiming, "Wow... this is absolutely amazing... Music has no borders... No religion... it's just divine." Another reflected, "Music unites, and so did sports until the politicians became coaches and the captains lost their spines!" While a third urged, "Love it. Make love, not war... differences will always be there... find a way to coexist." These sentiments echo a broader sentiment in South Asian diaspora communities, where shared cultural threads like Sufi music foster unity despite historical frictions.
Garg's death, initially reported as a scuba diving mishap off St John's Island, was later clarified by Singapore authorities as accidental drowning during a swim without a life jacket; he was rushed to Singapore General Hospital but succumbed en route to the ICU. He was in the city-state for the North East India Festival (NEIF), celebrating 60 years of India-Singapore ties and the ASEAN Year of Tourism. However, suspicions of foul play soon emerged, fuelled by a co-band member's allegations of poisoning by Garg's manager, Siddhartha Sharma, and NEIF organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, who allegedly delayed aid and conspired to stage the incident abroad.
Assam Police arrested the duo on October 1—Sharma in Gurugram and Mahanta at Delhi's airport—charging them with culpable homicide, criminal conspiracy, and negligence, invoking murder provisions under IPC Section 302. A second post-mortem in Guwahati on September 23, ordered by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma amid public outcry, corroborated drowning but prompted a nine-member CID Special Investigation Team (SIT) and a judicial commission led by Justice Soumitra Saikia to probe deeper, with Singapore sharing autopsy reports on October 3.
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The controversy has cast a shadow over Garg's legacy, built on over three decades of hits in Assamese, Hindi, Bengali, and beyond, including folk fusions that championed Northeast identity. Bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami, also briefly detained as a witness, claimed Garg was an expert swimmer unlikely to drown accidentally, alleging the duo provided tainted drinks and shouted "Let him go" during the crisis. Garg's wife, Garima Mahanta, filed the initial complaint, returning the autopsy report to investigators for transparency.
Thousands mourned at his September 23 funeral in Jorhat, where his Adya Shraddha ritual was observed last week, drawing celebrities like Papon and Shankar Mahadevan. As the SIT awaits forensic results, including DNA traces, the Karachi tribute offers solace, reminding fans that Garg's melodies—much like "Ya Ali"—endure as bridges of empathy in a divided world.
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