KARACHI: Music festival draws praise from ‘generous’ audience
By S. M. Shahid
KARACHI: A music festival was held at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, on Dec 7, 8 and 9. The turnout of music lovers on all the three days was quite impressive and reminiscent of the All Pakistan Music Conference held in February last year.
Perhaps on account of the event being a festival, the first day saw a string of singers – Arts Council members and their friends, some well-known names among them too — appearing on the stage to present ghazals and songs. They included Rafiq Rana, Tabassum Warsi, Zafar Ramay, Sajid Ali Khan, Jumman Shah Fakir (who sang Shah Latif’s Kafi), Salman Alvi, Salamat Ali, Azra Reaz and Ghulam Abbas. At big musical events such as this one, even singers wanting in expertise (sur and taal) are sometimes provided an opportunity to present their art and the audience is expected to be polite and show patience. But what was more annoying was repeated remarks by the performers – hasil-i-ghazal sher hai, mulahiza farmaeay, ghaur talab sher hai, musicians ke liye zaurdar talian…
The only classical items presented on Day 1 were raag Madhmat Sarang sung by Salamat Ali of NAPA with his shagird, Nadir Abbas, and another raag by Ustad Sharafat Ali Khan.
On Day 2, ghazals were presented by Mohammad Ali, Ikram Mehdi, Jamal Akbar, Shaheena Puri, Shabana Kausar, Mazhar Umrao and Mehnaz Begum. Raag Charukeshi was presented by sitarnawaz Nafees Ahmad with Ustad Bashir Khan on the tabla. In addition, the visiting Indian vocalist, Ustad Aslam Husain Khan, presented Rageshri and a Thumri in Pahari, followed by raag presentations by Ustad Sharafat Ali Khan, eldest son of Ustad Salamat Ali Khan. The last item was presentation of raags Gandhari Tori in Jhaptal and Teentaal, and raag Zila Kafi by well-known Ustad Fateh Ali Khan of Gowalior gharana. It was an impressive performance. The accompanying musicians were Afzal Khan on the harmonium, Akhtar Husain on the sarangi and our one and only Ustad Bashir Khan on the tabla.
Day 3: After a raag Malkaus presentation, Javed Husain and Ghulam Khusro of Khurja gharana sang the famous Asthai of Raag Kirwani “toray bina mohe chaen naheen brij ke nund lala” which was nowhere near its rendition by Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan of India whom one had the good fortune to hear in Karachi many years ago.
Firoz Akhtar chose to sing Ghalib’s famous ghazal “daaem para huwa tere dar par naheen hoon maen” and one couldn’t help thinking sympathetically of the great Mehdi Hasan! Faisal Latif ably sang a Parwin Shakir ghazal and a nicely composed Ibne Insha poem “iss ishq mein hum ne jo paya hai” in Raag Bhairween. It was followed by a 15-minute sitar presentation of Raag Bageshri by visiting Indian sitarist Ustad Rafat Khan Niazi.
The Pakistani audience is very generous in applauding performers and does not hesitate to start clapping at the flimsiest execution of a taan or a meendh (run and stretching of notes). Particularly when the performer comes back on the summ aggressively and with a bang, many people in the audience tend to go out of control and start clapping. I hope that with the passage of time, and after persistent listening, these listeners will know where to offer their applause. (They clap even in Mushairas and seem to forget that classical music and mushaira is not cricket).
The evening also saw the old Radio Pakistan hand, Taj Multani, presenting a ghazal and a beautiful Kafi, followed by Gulbahar Bano and Tarannum Naz who sang ghazals and were widely applauded.
An interesting fusion of sitar and electric guitar was also presented in the chromatic scale by Ustad Nafees Khan and Adnan, his colleague in NAPA. The duo based their presentation on the notes of Raag Jhinjhoti with a sprinkling of Raag Charukeshi here and there. Ustad Bashir Khan accompanied them on the tabla. I have seen young Adnan work hard on his guitar and the event provided him the much-awaited opportunity to prove his mettle. He greatly impressed the audience.
Well-known music director Niaz Ahmad presented Raag Dhani Kaus (a combination of Malkaus and Kaushak Dhani). The last artist of the festival was Ustad Hamid Ali Khan of the Patiala gharana who sang Raag Megh in Jhaptal followed by a ghazal.
The three-day festival was organised after a lot of hard work put in by Ahmad Shah and Syed Javed Hasan, members of the Arts Council governing body, with assistance received from Ustad Nafees Khan.
KARACHI: A music festival was held at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, on Dec 7, 8 and 9. The turnout of music lovers on all the three days was quite impressive and reminiscent of the All Pakistan Music Conference held in February last year.
