KARACHI: On Oct 18 (Tuesday) 400 nominees in 80 categories were announced for this year’s Independent Music Awards in the US. Tehzeeb Foundation’s Sharif Awan grabbed two nominations. The results will be announced on Nov 12 in Lincoln’s Centre, New York.

This was the information shared with the media at a press conference organised by Tehzeeb Foundation on Friday evening at a local hotel.

The host of the presser Shai said the nominations were done in a transparent manner. She said the winners’ name would be announced on Nov 12 in Lincoln Centre. She said Mr Awan was nominated in ‘world music’ and ‘special edition/craft’ categories. She said he was thankful to all his sponsors and the government of Sindh for their support. She said he had already received a silver and a gold medal at the Global Music Awards in June and September this year. She said his Indus Raag project had also been accepted as an entry for the 59th Grammy Awards, which would be held in February next year.

Mr Awan said the real people who had earned the recognition were the artists who had participated in his projects, some of whom were present in the audience (Fateh Ali Khan, Naseeruddin Sami, Shahid Hamid etc). He said such nominations were important because it had to do with Pakistan’s name. He also thanked his wife and children.

Mr Awan said the cultural activity that his foundation had started was not a luxury, rather it was a necessity. These days, he said, cultural assets were being consolidated all over the world. He said people were reclaiming their assets. He said it was the right time that in our part of the world the same began to happen. He said culture was a basic human right; it’s a right for all communities, no matter what size they were. He said ours was the era of “cultural intelligence”. He said not only should we understand our own culture, but also cultures of other parts of the world.

Mr Awan said we (in Pakistan) were the custodians of one of the biggest cultures in the world. He said for thousands of years our artists — poets, writers, painters, musicians — had preserved it. He said our culture was not hidden. “It’s a living tradition.”

Mr Awan said the Indus Raag project had two volumes; the first appeared in 2012 (which had 12 CDs); the second album, launched this year, was Karachi-centric. He said the latter comprised six audio CDs, one DVD and a booklet. He said it was launched on Aug 12, and in a couple of months it got noticed on a global scale.

Mr Awan said making music in Karachi was a special experience for him. He said the general perception about Karachi was that it was a violence-stricken city. He said the city was only 200 years old which meant it was the newest addition to cosmopolitan cities of the world. “It is in the process of evolving into a cosmopolitan city.”

After his speech a short video on Indus Raag 2 was shown.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2016