KARACHI: Noted music maestro Ustad Asad Ali Khan was a guest of literary sitting held in his honour by Irteqa Adbi Forum, and presided over by poet and novelist Mr Anwer Ahsan Siddiqui. Mr Rauf Niazi a literary critic introduced the guest.

What provoked Mr Khan to forcefully talk that evening in defence of music was a television talk show aired recently, in which a couple of Ulema in their verdict on music declared it haram (forbidden) like wine.

Man was instinctively born with music. The ebb and flow of the throbbing of pulse in humours, are all subject to a rhythm, he said and advised people to treat and learn music as a science. The man learnt the first lesson of music from the nature, the chirping of birds, the air, rain and cloud, all creating different sounds in different rhythmic ways.

“Music can change the very temperament of a person, and reform him from within,” he said and informed that music lessons in different institutions had proved the claim. He emphasized on Reyazat (hard way of learning with devotion) in music while taking it as a highly developed science. In India, he said, there were five universities, preparing for PhDs in music, apart from several academics in the country.

Ustad Asad Ali Khan proudly claims that he is the only Muslim, in India’s population of one billion, who plays Rudra Veena, the musical art coming through 12 generations in his family.

The Ustad belonging to the Jaipur gharana of classical music learnt to play Rudra Veena from his father Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan for 15 years, practising 14 hours daily. He said that the music was essentially a form of prayer and the musicians offered it as a gift of serenity and peace.

Mr Khan the undisputed master of the profound alap accompanied by the Tambora, plays dhurpad, which is the oldest and the purest genre of the music of subcontinent, as claimed by the critics. He had performed in Australia, Holland, the United Kingdom, the USA and many other countries. A professor of music at Delhi University, he has received the award of the Sangeet Natak Academy (the most distinguished music award of India).

Referring to the innovations made by Hazrat Amir Khusro in this genre and the musical instrument which he introduced, Mr Khan said that even non-Muslims considered it ‘the great Yog’ (invaluable contribution) from Muslims to the orient.

In his presidential note, Mr Anwer Ahsan Siddiqui briefly dealt with the ancient history of the music, dance and other fine arts, the very product of human instinct, expressing in different forms since the time immemorial. He lamented that these arts were not allowed to fully develop in Pakistan, turning the country into a society of uncivilized people. In a country, where music was banned, the void was immediately filled with the loud noise of hatred and terror, he observed.

Secretary Irteqa Forum Jamal Naqvi conducted the proceedings.—Hasan Abidi