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Marzi Kanga
[edit]
Marzi Kanga (born Marzyeh Kanga), popularly known simply as Marzi, is a former cabaret dancer and actor from Karachi, Pakistan. Marzi rose to fame in the late 1960s / early 1970s in Karachi as a belly dancer when the city was commonly known as the 'City of Lights' because of its booming nightlife. Though currently retired from public life, Marzi has appeared in film and on television in shows like “Dil Daina Seekho Jee”, “Takay Ki Aayegi Baraat”, "Tanveer Fatima BA”, and “Parwaz”.[1] She is also the cover photograph of the 2011 book of portraits Dou Rukh by Tapu Javeri and Arif Mahmood.[2] She remains a big name in Pakistan, especially among the generation who remember what the country was like prior to the 1977 military coup by Zia-ul-Haq.[3]
Background and career
[edit]Marzi started dancing as a little girl. In her own words, she had “a talent” for cabaret performing: she used to watch the famed film dancer and actress Amy Minwalla (who was coincidentally her neighbour) for hours on end as a child, fascinated by her craft.[3] Her only formal dance training included a two-week course in Cairo by leading belly dancers Najma Fouad and Suheir Zaki.[1]
Marzi was seventeen years old when she found large-scale success through the Excelsior Hotel in the commercial district of Saddar and began performing regularly at its nightclub, Penthouse.[3] She soon went on to perform at several other nightclubs including Metropole Hotel's Samar, Palace Hotel’s Le Gourmet and Intercontinental Hotel’s Nasreen Room, cementing her position as a key entertainer in Karachi’s nightlife.[3] Marzi's personal and professional style was influenced by the larger-than-life personalities of her mother and celebrated Punjabi singer Noor Jehan, whose jewels and make-up always fascinated her.[1]
However, Marzi's work was not restricted to just Pakistan as she successfully carved a niche for herself in the Middle East, Far East starting from Singapore and then till Australia, where Marzi won the ‘Juvenile Award for Australian Television’.[1] Additionally, she has worked in North Africa, the UK (in Greek nightclubs), in France and in Beirut.[1]
When she had established her name and her monopoly in the cabaret industry, she reduced the number of performances she was doing, and took up her second passion — flying as an air hostess for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). Juggling both professions, Marzi made the most of her opportunities, so much so that when nightclubs were completely banned in Pakistan after the prohibition of alcohol in 1977, she contacted agents in other countries that she was flying to and booked herself at the nightclubs there.[1]
Position within broader Karachi nightlife
[edit]Marzi was part of a larger circuit of cabaret dancers and performers who made up Karachi's nightlife in the 1960s and 1970s who came from all over the world. Dancers came from Cairo, Beirut, Tehran, and London among other cities.[4] In a city like Karachi that was at the time characterised by its cosmopolitanism,[4] Marzi came up with a strategy to ensure the longevity of her career:
Because of my features and appearance, I was able to create personalities from all over the world. I would create an entirely different persona and look for each name. This allowed me to continue to perform in different clubs under different identities for a long, long time. Aside from Princess Ameena, who was my most popular creation, I was also Queen Carmen from Egypt, Nadia from Greece, Isabella from Beirut, and Jody from Australia. I would be able to camouflage myself because there were a lot of different artists from around the world in the local nightclub circuit. I would blend myself in with them, based on the theme of the show.[3]
Marzi's cabaret career lasted twenty five years.[1]
Personal life
[edit]Marzi is part of the close-knit Parsi community in Karachi, who were responsible for much of the architecture and economic endeavours of the city.[5] When she first took up cabaret dancing her father was not supportive, but her mother and sister were.[1] Marzi is a fairly private individual and is these days quite selective about her public appearances and the creative projects she chooses.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h sarah.khan (2011-10-16). "Marzi: A trip down memory lane". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
- ^ sarah.khan (2011-10-01). "Dou Rukh: Capturing duality". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
- ^ a b c d e Malik, Saqib (2019). "The Princess and the Showgirl—In Conversation with Marzi". Pakistan's Radioactive Decade: An Informal Cultural History of the 1970s. Karachi: Oxford University Press. pp. 157–162.
- ^ a b Naqvi, Sibtain (2015). "The Onslaught of Populism: Chronicles of Bygone Days and Nights in the City of Lights.". Studies on Karachi: Papers Presented at the Karachi Conference 2013. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 165–188.
- ^ yazdi (2023-02-23). "THE PARSIS THAT BUILT KARACHI". Zoroastrians.net. Retrieved 2025-03-14.