Raga Boyz, a music band consisting mostly of the sons of classical singer Hamid Ali Khan, participated in the Fes Festival of the World Sacred Music in Morocco.

Wali Hamid Khan, a band member, said the festival, initiated in 1994, showcased major musical traditions of sacred, spiritual music and world music and it was the first time that Pakistani singers performed there.

Singers and musicians from the Muslim, Christian, Jewish and other faiths performed in a spirit of mutual respect and collaboration.

“We performed there on May 11 and a crowd of about 15,000 enjoyed our music while it was raining,” Mr Khan told this reporter, adding that the 10-day festival had a lot to offer from the visual to performing arts.

Raga Boyz were appreciated at a festival that had many prominent Sufi singers from different countries.

“We are thankful to the Punjab chief minister who recommended us for the festival,” said Khan.

The College of Art and Design, University of the Punjab-Lahore, organised a reference in memory of Zubeda Javed, former chairperson of the Fine Arts Department of the university, at the Anna Molka Gallery on May 17.

Zubeda Javed was born at Aligarh in 1937 and she breathed her last in Lahore on Nov 20, 2015. She served the Fine Arts Department, now the College of Art and Design, as chairperson. She herself was known as a matchless conceptual landscape painter who inspired a whole generation of new artists.

The reference was attended by many of her students, colleagues, friends and family members.

Dr. Shahida Manzoor, principal of the college, Dr. Shaukat Mahmood (Maxim), Dr. Musarrat Hasan, Prof. Hasan Shahnawaz Zaidi and Dr Murtaza Jafri also spoke.

Ajoka’s four-day theatre festival, titled Reclaiming Our History, concluded on Thursday. The festival that went pretty well and staged some of the key plays by Ajoka was organised in connection with the group’s 32nd anniversary. The plays staged during the festival included two recent productions Anhi Maai Da Sufna and Kabira Khara Bazaar Mein and two evergreen plays Kaun Hai Yeh Gustakh and Lo Phir Basant Aaie.

The festival concluded on the historic play Kabira Khara Bazar Mein,based on the life story of Sufi saint Bhagat Kabir. It was written by Bisham Sahni and directed by Indian director Kewal Dhaliwaal who visited specially from Amritsar to Lahore on Wednesday to be a part of Ajoka’s 32 anniversary celebrations.

Ajoka had started its work from the lawn of a house in 1984 during the martial law regime of General Ziaul Haq and it has presented nearly 50 to 55 original plays in the last 32 years.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2016