Quratulain Balouch (QB) and Shafqat Amanat Ali have been confirmed as headliners for the 2026 edition of Lahooti Melo, set to take place in Larkana on September 21 to mark World Peace Day.
Lahooti Melo began rolling out its Larkano Edition 2026 lineup on Instagram this past week, with organisers noting that more names, including artists from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, are still to be finalised.
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Shafqat Amanat Ali, who carries forward the legacy of the Patiala Gharana and first found fame as Fuzön’s lead vocalist, will perform songs from across his career, including Aankhon Ke Saagar, Mora Saiyaan, Mitwa and Yeh Honsla marking his Lahooti Melo debut.
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QB, meanwhile, remains best known for Woh Humsafar Tha, alongside Coke Studio staples like Sammi Meri Waar, Faasle and Thagyan, and a past performance alongside the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra representing Pakistan abroad. Alongside the two mainstream headliners, the festival is platforming folk singers Tahir Mithu, Farzana Bahar, and the father-son duo Ashique and Mussadique Nizamani.
Tahir Mithu, raised in Kotri, Jamshoro, trained under Ustad Muhammad Yousuf from around age ten and first reached national audiences with Pere Pavandi Saan on Coke Studio Season 5; his rendition of O Jani Kamal Tho Karin at Otherwise by Lahooti has since gone viral. Farzana Bahar draws on Sindhi folk and Sufi traditions, with Bhali Yaar Aayein and Bulleh Shah’s Ishq Bulleh Nu Nachave among her signature performances.
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The Nizamanis, a Larkano-based duo, move across Sindhi classical, pop and Sufi styles.
Lahooti Melo was co-founded in 2016 by Saif Samejo, frontman of Sufi rock band The Sketches and founder of the Lahooti ashram in Hyderabad, along with his wife Sana Khoja. The festival has previously centred its programming around causes such as the #MeToo movement and climate change; this year’s theme is built around peace, cultural diversity, and music and the arts as a means of bringing people together.
This is the second consecutive year the festival has been held in Larkana. The 2025 edition its first in the city, and the festival’s 12th overall took place on February 15-16. The show was headlined by Hadiqa Kiani, Shae Gill and Umair Jaswal, with Sindhi folk performers Sajan Sindhi and Dilbar Jalal Chandio also on the bill. Samejo described that lineup as “bridging cultures, breaking barriers, amplifying voices that deserve to be heard.”
