UF students surrounded the stage as a Pakistani pop artist sang Justin Bieber and Pakistani songs Saturday night.
Asim Azhar, an emerging pop artist from Pakistan, performed at the UF Pakistani Students’ Association’s 20th annual cultural show for the first time. Students listened to music and watched traditional Pakistani dances at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
About 300 people attended the event, which cost between $12,000 and $14,000, to learn about Pakistan, said Haider Ali, the president of PSA. Volunteers from International Student Affairs funded it, Ali said.
PSA members have rehearsed for the show since the beginning of Spring, he said.
“We shared the culture of Pakistan with those who might not know about it,” the 22-year-old UF nutritional sciences senior said.
Ali said he wanted to showcase Pakistan’s beauty. Other UF clubs also performed traditional Pakistani dances.
“It’s not just the old country that people think, you know, with dirt roads and poverty,” Ali said.
More than 85 people also donned long, colorful pants, vests and dresses during a fashion show. The traditional Pakistani outfits are known as salwar kameez.
Later, Akbar Chaudry, a 25-year-old UF aerospace engineering first-year graduate student, performed stand-up comedy. He joked about stereotypes, such as how all Pakistani parents expect their children to be doctors.
Zachary Sandoval, a UF biology freshman, said he enjoyed the energy of the show.
“It’s about them showing elements of their own culture that they feel make them special,” the 19-year-old said.
Ali said he was proud of the show.
“You can see when people are out there on the stage, they’re having so much fun,” he said.
Members of the Nashaa dance group perform a dance to the song “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo,” from the eponymous Bollywood film at the UF Pakistani Students’ Association 20th annual cultural show. Asim Azhar, an emerging pop star from Pakistan, performed at the show for the first time ever.
