Attaullah Esakhelvi in a session at the music gala. — White Star
Attaullah Esakhelvi in a session at the music gala. — White Star

LAHORE: The second and last day of the Lahore Music Meet (LMM) on Sunday attracted a much bigger crowd than the first day, and was mostly dedicated to singers sharing their journeys.

The Alhamra lawns started filling up at around 2pm and as with the previous day, the outdoor performances saw the maximum audience than talks simultaneously going on in the halls.

Punjabi folk legend Attaullah Esakhelvi, in a session Dastangoi with the Cassette King, shared his journey of music. During a talk with Zulfiqar Ali Zulfi, he went back to the 1970s when he ventured into the field despite being a pathan knowing how music was treated in the tribal areas. He said he was never into education and pursued music only to satisfy his soul, not with plans to take it up professionally. When Zulfi, also a friend, mentioned many of Attaullah’s rumoured love affairs and whether they were true, the singer said nonchalantly: “Mohabbat aur saans dono bahot zaroori hain (Love and breathing are both extremely essential),” and explained how love had a huge impact on his music.

Belonging to the era when audio cassettes were introduced, Attaullah told the audience it was Rehmat Gramophone’s Chaudhry Rehmat Ali of Faisalabad (then Lyallpur) who first recorded him on tape in 1978 and released four albums together. Among the many anecdotes, he traced his journey from the backward area Mianwali to being awarded for his achievements by Queen Elizabeth. No matter how interesting the conversation, a little less of talking and more of the music the folk superstar has produced over the decades would have been far more entertaining for the audience.

Earlier, Attaullah’s son, Sanwal Esakhelvi, in a talk, titled ‘Blending Yesterday with Tomorrow,’ talked about how he hasn’t let go of his legacy and planned to stick to it through his music. Sanwal made his mark on Coke Studio last year.

Commenting on the current situation of the local music industry, he said: “There’s a lot of unprofessionalism. There’s no experimentation and barely anything new is being churned out. But our folk legacy is strong enough and that shows. We need to produce in new ideas.”

Answering a question about commercialism affecting creativity in music, Sanwal said he believed both need to go hand in hand because a musician won’t get paid if the music was not commercial. At this moment outside the hall, Sindhi folk singer Bushra Marvi, clad in colourful traditional attire, entertained a gradually swelling crowd with folk numbers.

Similarly, Battle of the Bands winner, the six-member Kashmir, the band, also shared how they clinched the trophy at the competition, the auditions, the nerves, the apprehensions. “Everyone can have a bad day. You can’t judge a musician on a single performance,” said one band member.

Answering a question about the band name, they clarified how it was not related to the disputed valley in any way and, in fact, had come about from a song they had written in their early days, called ‘Rani-i-Kashmir’. They told the audience they were working on their album that would include different kinds of music.

One wishes that the session on women’s empowerment, titled Hear Me Roar, with RJ Khalid Malik in conversation with fellow RJ Sophiya Anjam, PR specialist Selina Rashid Khan and director Mandana Zaidi, was primarily in Urdu. The panelists made some pertinent comments about assigned gender roles, stereotypes, societal expectations. On what empowerment meant to them, Mandana said: “One needs to feel empowerment oneself first,” while Sophiya felt: “Not caring about being acceptable to everyone, feeling the freedom, and accepting responsibility instead of resorting to blame game all lead to empowerment.”

Next, ‘Khas Gal Baat’ was a Punjabi session with Saeen Zahoor where he indulged in a candid conversation about his music.

By this time in the evening, hundreds of people had gathered outside in the grounds and thoroughly loved performance of Bayaan, the band. Besides Bushra Marzi and Bayaan, Sameen Qasim and Co and Zohaib Bilal performed on the lawns while later Shorbanoor and Kashmir were set to take the stage.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2018

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