LAHORE: Three instrumentalists who have performed at national and international platforms for a long time have underlined the need to frequently hold instrumental music festivals to promote traditional instruments like Sarangi, Sitar and flute.

Lamenting the lack of patronage for instrumental music, the instrumentalists say the state television (PTV) and radio used to hold classical music programmes in the past, which are not being held for the last many years and now only arts councils are holding such functions.

Referring to the Lahore Arts Council (LAC), they say only the council is holding regular classes of traditional music instruments.

Talking to Dawn, Zohaib Hassan Khan, a Sarangi player, says out of the country of 220m people there are only four Sarangi players.

Zohaib is the student of Ustad Hussain Bakhsh Amritsari and he has been playing Sarangi for some 18 years.

“Sarangi trend is declining owing to two major reasons. First, it is an expensive instrument, costing around 70,000 per piece. Second, it is difficult to learn and needs great attention, dedication and time,” he adds.

All over Pakistan, besides him there are only three Sarangi players, Dr Gul Muhammad from Karachi, Dr Taimur Khan from Rawalpindi and Ali Zafar from Lahore, Zohaib, who teaches Sarangi at Alhamra Academy of Performing Arts, he informs this reporter. Zohaib thanks the LAC for providing him with a place for promotion of Sarangi but demands the government hold instrumental music festivals based on fusion music frequently while there should be instrumental music concerts at colleges and universities to make the tradition music popular among the masses.

Muhammad Noshad Ali Khan, a flute player and a student of noted flute player Allah Ditta Qadri, has been playing the instrument for over three decades.

To him, flute is the most affordable instrument. A good flute can be bought for Rs500 to Rs600, and the best possible is available at Rs3,000.

“We buy flutes online because Pakistan doesn’t have that refined bamboo crop which is found in Assam (India) or Bangladesh since flute is made of refined bamboo,” says Noshad and adds that flute is thousands of year old instrument and a traditional instrument of this region but regretfully there are very little chances for a flute player to perform frequently in front of the general public.

Noshad, who is teaching at Alhamra Academy of Performing Arts, says there is need for holding festivals for music instruments.

Ustad Saleem Khan Poonchwalay, a noted sitar player and student of Ustad Sharif Khan Poonchwalay, considers Sitar a difficult instrument to learn. It is a costly instrument whose price starts from Rs25,000 and goes up to around Rs100,000.

Saleem also teaches at Alhamra Academy of Performing Arts. He stresses the need for holding instrumental music festivals besides performances at different functions and on radio and television.

LAC Executive Director Ather Ali Khan under whose supervision the academy runs says the council is planning a big festival for instrumental music and this festival would be made a permanent feature of council’s cultural calendar.

He hopes to hold the festival in the last week of March or first week of April 2020.

Alhamra Academy of Performing Arts Director Mina Haroon says the council is patronising classical music and traditional musical instruments and a number of students are learning playing instruments at the academy.

“We are trying our best to promote the traditional music instruments through our platform,” she adds.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2020