KARACHI: Music is a universal language and National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) and the University of Texas at Austin are going to prove this during their three-year partnership that will build creative capacity for teachers and students by providing skills in music composition, music theory, orchestration and training in areas such as piano, voice, string instruments, and conducting.

Although the agreement between the two institutions was formally signed here at Napa on Tuesday, the programme has already been under way since January when four Napa students went to the US to share their learning and culture with the teachers and students at the UT-Austin.

“It was a remarkable experience for me to train and learn at UT-Austin,” said Hafi Mustafa, a third year student of classical singing at Napa who returned here earlier this month with his three fellow students after over four months of training.

Arsalan Pervaiz, the artist who accompanied him for the training, said he was jazz guitar player. He said he was going to share with his students at Napa what he learned during the visit.

Mr Pervaiz along with Nigel Bobby, the third one in their group, even recorded three songs that would be included in an African album in the US.

The fourth one, who also gained a lot from his time at UT-Austin, is Mohammad Ahsan Shabbir.

At the signing ceremony, Napa President Zia Mohyeddin said that the experience of the four students was what the agreement between Napa and UT-Austin was all about.

“The mentoring and classes will take place mostly through video link while the last two semesters will see dedicated groups to the US and Pakistan,” he said.

Mr Mohyeddin told the media that the programme would also include UT-Austin’s buying hardware worth $20,000, which would later be gifted to Napa. He said that while this particular programme was directed towards music only, he looked forward to more programmes that included theatre arts as well.

US Consul General Michael Dodman said that the partnership, apart from promoting academic and cultural exchange, would build Napa’s institutional capacity to support Pakistan’s rich cultural and musical heritage while enhancing mutual understanding between the people of US and Pakistan.

He said over the past two years, the US invested $17 million to establish 20 university partnerships throughout Pakistan, including four in the interior of Sindh, to support capacity building through two-way exchange visits, professional development for faculty, joint research and curriculum reform. “The Napa UT-Austin partnership will build the creative capacity for teachers and students by providing skills in music composition, music theory, orchestration and training in areas such as piano, voice, string instruments and conducting,” he said.

The ceremony was followed by a concert of Pakistani-American fusion music where guitars kept pace with the sarangi performed by a group comprising three American diplomats, including Cultural Attaché Phillip Assis, and local Pakistani musicians’ group, the Sultans of Sultanabad.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2014