Music to the ears

Published October 9, 2015

BUILDING tradition takes time and the interplay of various factors over long periods.

The ‘right’ ambience is achieved with commitment and adherence to a theme which is sustained to a large extent by the venue.

Events are usually associated with the places they are regularly held at as they become the go-to fixtures on our calendar. An example is the Open Air Theatre at Bagh-i-Jinnah in Lahore which is linked to events arranged by many organisations. Prominent among these events is the All Pakistan Music Conference.

Take a look: 7 years later: All Pakistan Music Conference returns to Bagh-i-Jinnah

The facility, called the pahari in local parlance, symbolises so much. It has been the promoter of various tastes and shades and genres in culture — poetry, music of all kind, drama, dance, all offering resistance to the many prudes among us who scoff at artistic expression and fail to appreciate it as among the finer things of life.

Holding these annual events under the aegis of the music conference, an entity now 56 years old, has been a proud entry in the records of the Open Air Theatre.

The convention was broken a few years ago, much to the chagrin of fans who were used to being treated to the conference in the familiar environment of the pahari. It was decided that the security situation did not allow the holding of the event at its usual venue.

The shifting was interpreted by some as a big retreat in times when so much else was also being shunned and ‘avoided’ and put off until better days. They now have reason to celebrate the resumption of the open-air experience supervised by the music conference. And this is just the beginning.

They would be justified in hoping that the trend will continue into the winter season and beyond — into months when Lahore is in its full spring bloom. Restoration of cultural normality in the city as well as everywhere else in the country is essential to the return of a lifestyle that the people had built up over the years. The tradition must continue.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

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