JAMSHORO: Professio­nal folk singers, choreographers and performers from six different countries simultaneously mesmerised the audience with their rich and colourful cultural per­for­man­­ces at the Mehran Uni­versity of Engineering and Techno­logy (MUET) here on Tuesday.

The programme titled: ‘dQ19: Dan­cing on Cyber Cloud Intercontinental Mu­­sic and Dance Perform­ance on Advanced Networ­king’ was organised by the MUET Centre of Excellence in Art & Design (CEAD) in collaboration with the Hig­her Education Commis­sion of Pakistan (HEC) and US-

Pakistan Centre for Advan­ced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W) at the latter’s auditorium. It was moderated by Naz Sahito and facilitated by Latif Gaad.

CEAD director Prof Dr Bhai Khan Shar said that it was a unique programme and this time, six countries including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam, were actively participating in the 47th Asia Pacific Advanced Network Meeting (APNA 47) at Daejeon city of South Korea where main stage set-up was heading the entire programme. He added that in 2017, only three countries — Pakistan, India and Vietnam — took part in that pilot project and it was incomplete at that time.

“The Pakistan Education and Research Network (PERN) headed by the HEC took this initiative to connect the universities of six countries to each other. This is a pilot project and it is being tested and aimed at promoting multi-way academic integration inclu­ding video, sound, colour and music. The pilot project has been successfully completed today after this grand event as cyber-based education is being introduced,” he said.

“An expert or a professor of any field who is sitting abroad can deliver a live lecture or presentation and take questions of audience without any hindrance as voice, moving video and graphics are excellent,” he said.

Almost 10 minutes were allotted to each country as all six countries gave seven-minute dedicated and three-minute synchronised performances, while astonishing audiences with perfect local culture and accent of each country.

In Pakistan, local eminent folk singers won the hearts of national and international audiences by singing famous songs in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto, Balochi and Seraiki with their sonorous voices. They received loud applauses when their performances came to an end.

Noted folk singer Fakir Shaukat Ali, who is adept in playing Khertal (historical wooden musical instrument of Moenjodaro), sang several songs.

Folk singer Sada Ali and Sufi singer Reshma Parveen also performed.

In the end, they sang simultaneously with group dancers. A young vocalist, Rozam Siddiqui, sang an English song with his counterparts in five other countries simultaneously, while giving an excellent example of synchronisation.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2019