[Photograph of Ghulam Ali performing in an auditorium]

Photograph of Ghulam Ali performing in an auditorium.

Ghulam Ali is a Pakistani ghazal singer of the Patiala gharana. Ali was born on December 5, 1940, in the village of Kaleke in the Sialkot district of Panjab, pre-partition India (now Pakistan). He belongs to a musical family, his father was a vocalist and a sarangi player who initiated Ali to music from his childhood. At 15, Ali became a student of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, a master of the Patiala gharana (Patiala School) of Hindustani music. Ali started singing for Radio Lahore in 1960. Along with singing ghazals, he also composes the music for his ghazals. Ali has also contributed to Bollywood with his music. Ali is considered as one of the greatest ghazal singers of his era, as his style and variations in singing ghazals are unique. In 1979 he received the Price of Performance Award and in 2013 he was honored with the Sitara-i-Imtiaz Award by the President of Pakistan.