Photo by White Star
Photo by White Star

KARACHI: A book on eastern classical music titled Raag Music written by Ustad Shahid Hamid was launched at the Arts Council on Tuesday evening.

In his keynote speech, renowned humourist and music connoisseur Anwar Maqsood congratulated the writer and publisher, Tehzeeb Foundation, for coming out with the book. He had the (sparse) audience in stitches by using classical raga terms and relating them to the current political situation of the country.

Mr Maqsood, referring to the Mughal image on the cover of the book, likened the National Assembly to the Darabar-i-Akbari. He said all the ministers wanted to lend an ear to ‘mian ki malhar’ and the opposition wished to listen to ‘mian ki todi’. He said Mian Nawaz Sharif was Mian Tansen and when he came to the darbar a few days back, the opposition was supposed to ask him seven melodious questions. But instead of requesting him to render raga shahana, they asked him to present raga Panama. He equated the seven musical notes to the seven questions. He said Mian sahib, instead of responding to the queries, started singing the alaap, which was not supposed to have a beat, but his ministers played the beat on their desks in different classical styles. His explanation of the various beat cycles was both interesting and funny. The opposition, he said, did not like Mian sahib’s speech so its leader Khurshid Shah, outside of the assembly, delivered his address in dhrupad. He said dhrupad was sung using the belly but Mr Zardari had forbidden Mr Shah to use the power of the belly, so he left the scene after singing half of the mukhra. He said Imran Khan wanted to compete with Mian sahib but Shah’s walkout did not provide him with that opportunity.

Earlier, Sharif Awan of Tehzeeb Foundation said the Urdu version of the book was being prepared. He was of the view that no book had any importance unless readers had not read previously published books on the same subject. He said our part of the world had a rich 3,000-year history in the context of music, and in the last 100 years or so a lot of work was done in the field. He gave the example of Khwaja Khurshid Anwar.

The author Ustad Shahid Hamid said all over the world classical music was not practised as much as its popular counterparts. He said in our region there were numerous reasons for its ‘decay’, the foremost of which was the media’s lack of attention. He said 30 to 40 years back, there used to be a programme ‘Raag Rang’ on television which people keen on music used to watch despite the fact that it aired at 11pm.

Ustad Hamid said it was in 2010 that he started working on the book and it took him five years to complete it. He said he was 18 when he began to learn the art form. He said he felt that it was his social responsibility to transfer to others what he knew about music.

Javed Hasan said the printing of the book was of high quality. He lauded the author for his commitment to music and for being a modest person.

S. M. Shahid read out a light-hearted piece on the plight of classical music in the country.

Ahmed Shah said in an age where people were inclined to listen to halla gulla (hullabaloo or meaningless sounds), writing a book on classical music was praiseworthy.

After the launch, Ustad Shahid Hamid performed.

Emu of the pop band Fuzon conducted the event.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2016

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