LAHORE: To encourage ghazal singing among youngsters, the Lahore Arts Council will organise a single-day Ghazal festival on Jan 15, featuring students from different educational institutions.

Over a dozen students from various educational institutions, including the Government College University, National College of Arts, Kinnaird College and Postgraduate College, Wahdat Road, will perform in the festival.

Singer Abdul Rauf who is also participating in the festival and teaches singing at different art institutions, told Dawn that owing to convenient computerised tools like auto-tune and vocal synthesizer there was a constant decrease in ghazal singing.

“To sing ghazal one has to learn it because it falls into the semi-classical category, but people now look for shortcuts and sing with the help of computerised gadgets and software that resulted in decay in ghazal singing”.

Rauf regretted that private TV channels also encourage recorded Bhangra numbers and pop music and had no inclination towards ghazal singing. He suggested the arts councils should hold frequent ghazal festivals and arrange classes for ghazal singing.

“Now we don’t see singers like Ghulam Ali, Farida Khanum or Iqbal Bano because approach towards singing has changed with the fast-paced technology. I have recorded a few ghazlas with original compositions which will be launched soon,” he added.

LAC Executive Director Ather Ali Khan said the council had long been striving to revive ghazal singing by not only holding ghazal festivals but also singing classes under the banner of Alhamra Academy of Performing Arts.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2020