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The Japan jaunt
The objective of the Pakistan national day programme held at Aichi, Japan, on August 11 was clearly to promote the country’s soft image to the Japanese business community. Based on the theme, Indus Earth, it highlighted Pakistan’s participation in the Expo 2005 in which 120 countries participated. The beautiful city of Nagoya played host to the large-scale exhibition playing on the theme of The Wisdom of Nature.
Indus Earth highlighted Pakistan’s participation in the Expo 2005 in which 120 countries participated. The beautiful city of Nagoya played host to the large-scale exhibition playing on the theme of The Wisdom of Nature
A welcome message invited the Japanese to visit Pakistan before the montage presenting the different images of Pakistan such as the Gandhara Civilization, etc, on screen. Amin Guljee’s art performers — Iraj, Zhalay, Rubab, Nadia Malik, Adnan, Ameer and Irfan — came next to display the theme of Gandhara: Seeking Buddha. Iraj played the goddesses covered in gold who gives up the material world after embracing Buddhism accompanied by images of the NWFP’s rugged terrain, Khyber Pass the Silk Route, the countryside and people attired in traditional garbs, polo matches in Shandur, the Kalash and Khattak dance sequences.
The plains of Punjab with its vast cotton fields, historical and architectural monuments, Hiran Minar, food street and Basant celebrations comprised the next segment in which Goonga Sain and Mithu Sain performed on the dhol.
The Sindh montage ran images of deserts, ocean, shrines (Shah Bhittai and Sachal Sarmast) and the Sukkur Barrage. The image of the dancing girl excavated from the ancient archeological site of Moenjodaro was brought to life in this particular segment by Kiran by an impressive performance. Fasihur Rehman’s Kathak moves defined the regality of Mughal era. Taj Mastani, Muhammad Aslam, Muhammad Siddiq and Sawan Khan entered and performed their cultural performance of Lal Meri Pat reminiscent of the malang and sufi culture of Sind. Akhtar Channal Zehri’s song defined the true spirit of Balochistan, followed by more graphic shots.
After a brief message, the models displayed modern-day outfits to Hadiqa’s performance to Dupatta. For the grand finale, all the performers came on stage to thank their Japanese hosts for their hospitality. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was sitiing in the audience as well, since he was on an official visit to Japan at that time.The designers who participated in the cultural show included Sonia Battla, Amin Guljee and Tariq Amin who made up the leading performers. The choreography was by Frieha Altaf.
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