LAHORE: The Lahore Arts Council (LAC) organised a music evening in memory of legendary singer Noor Jahan on Friday night at the Alhamra Art Center, The Mall.

Tarannum Naz, Humaira Channa, Afshan Begum, Azra Jahan, Saima Jahan, Farah Anwar, Saira Naseem, Shabnam Majeed, Nadia Hashmi, Shahid Ali Nusrat, Zakia Bano and Saira Tahir sang the famous songs of Noor Jahan. A number of people attended the evening and enjoyed melodies of yesteryears.

Lahore Arts Council’s Board of Governors chairperson Moneeza Hashmi and LAC Executive Director Athar Ali Khan also attended the evening.

The council also staged a play ‘Vand’ in collaboration with Nauratan at the Alhamra Art Centre.

A socio-cultural and musical play was based on the Partition and highlighted the plight of the Muslims and role of Hindustan and the British government. It’s a story of a woman Bayjee who lives in Amritsar and is highly respected by the Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus.

Before the Partition there was harmony and no ill-will. But after the Partition, the Hindus and Sikhs changed their attitude and even forced Bayjee to leave India and go to Pakistan. The central character got hurt by this shocking behaviour and refused to leave her home.

The play is written by Shahid Pasha and directed by Suhail Tariq. The cast comprises Suhail Tariq, Shama Nighat, Shahrule Ali, Zeeshan Haider, Sumaira Junaid, Hifza, Mahnoor Bhatti, Ali Ahmed, Fahad Ali, Ehsan Murad, Asad Butt, Danish, Adil, Haleema and Razia Malik.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2019