LAHORE: The seven-day (Dec 30-Jan 5) Punjab Folk Festival will kick off at the Open Air Theatre of Bagh-e-Jinnah on Monday (today).

The event organised by the Punjab Council of Arts will offer folk music and dances, poetry sittings, work of artisans and puppet and magic shows for children.

Around 100 or so artistes and artisans are participating in the festival depicting Punjab’s folk culture.

The lineup of prominent singers includes Hamid Ali Khan, Raga Boys, Tehseen Sakeena, Nooran Lal, Naseebo, Nadeem Abbas Lunay Wala, Sher Miandad, Imran Shaukat, Fazal Jutt, Rubi Reshman, Nida Faiz and Afshan Zaibi.

Secretary Culture and Information Raja Jahangir said the Punjab government would keep improving the event for the public.

Seven-day event begins at Open Air Theatre today

He said the festival from now on would be a permanent feature of Lahore’s cultural calendar and would be held every year.

The secretary said next year the government would try to expand this festival and also invite international participants from countries such as Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan so that they could also see the enriched culture of Punjab.

Chief Minister Usman Buzdar is expected to inaugurate the festival, he added.

Punjab Council of Arts Director Operations Ibrar Alam told Dawn that the council had put in a great deal of effort in organising this festival.

He said the council had roped in 100 artistes from all over Punjab.

Mr Alam said it was a free-for-all event and its timing would be from 10am to 10pm.

He said arrangements such as canopy and heaters had been made to provide a comforting environment to the visitors.

Nine divisional arts councils that fall under the umbrella of the Punjab Council of Arts are participating in the mega event.

The Multan and Sahiwal arts councils would be holding Sufi Nights, the Punjab Council of the Arts a Sufi, qawwali and ghazal night, the Faisalabad Arts Council would hold a music night, the DG Khan and Bahawalpur arts councils would hold poetry sittings and a music night, the Rawalpindi Arts Council would go for a music night and the Gujranwala Arts Council would hold Sufi night and folk music night.

Besides, there would be a number of stalls of handicraft and other products.

The council has also arranged a jumping castle for children.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2019