ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) and Foundation for Arts, Culture and Education (Face) on Sunday launched the country’s first music residency programme titled Heritage Live at Lok Virsa. The programme has been designed to help indigenous artists generate a sustainable income and focus on their skill development along with reviving forgotten instruments.

Senator Faisal Javed was chief guest at the inauguration ceremony. He said: “Artists are the face of a nation. We must work towards the empowerment of our artist community for Pakistan to prosper. I would like to congratulate both PPAF and Face for taking a step in the right direction. The art residency programme will enable us to show the true positive image of Pakistan.”

He expressed hope that the residency will help artists understand the diverse world of digital platforms. It will not only allow them in creating a mark for themselves, he said, but will help them receiveglobal acknowledgement.

PPAF CEO Qazi Azmat Isa highlighted the organisation’s vision of reducing poverty and helping vulnerable communities through innovative interventions.

“There are two main reasons for starting this residency programme. Firstly, we intend to create livelihood opportunities for artists in far flung areas, which have not been tapped before. Secondly, this programme will help generate recognition and employment opportunities for our artists and enable them to increase their reach across Pakistan,” Mr Isa said.

The residency is a unique extension of PPAF’s mandate and commitment to poverty alleviation, he said, as musicians face many economic problems.

“The art residency is to test a systematic approach for graduating poor musicians out of poverty by leveraging their skills in art more effectively and equipping them with other non-music skills,” he added.

Zeejah Fazli, who is the founder of Face, said: “Our organisation has aimed to strengthen communities through art and cultural interventions since 2014 and is now the largest cultural organisation working on mega projects such as Face Music Mela and Indus Blues. One of the newest additions to the list now is the music residency programme, Heritage Live in collaboration with the PPAF.”

Through the program we aspire to empower indigenous musicians of Pakistan and preserve instruments and sounds that are on the verge of extinction, he said.

The residency will end on Sep 2, 2020 at Lok Virsa Islamabad. Around 20 indigenous musicians have been selected for the programme wherein 10 maestros and 10 apprentices will go through an extensive training programme by four mentors and finish with each pair recording a song.

Four thematic areas including musical training, business training, personality development and technological skills will be covered in the programmes. The musicians have been selected from marginalised communities across thecountry. They play some of the rarest instruments including sarinda, burindo, raanti and chardah.

The 10 maestros participating in the programme are Bujla Bugti, nursur player from Balochistan, Sattar Jogi, murlee player from Sindh, Zulfiqar Faqeer, borindo player from Sindh, Ejaz Sarhadi, sarinda player from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Rozi Khan, ishpoin player from Kalash, Ajmal Laal Bheel, raanti player from Punjab, Attaullah Chambal, naqqara player from Punjab, Gulshan Jahan, vocalist from Punjab, Wahid Allan Faqir iktara player from Sindh and Gulbaz Karim, who plays chardah from Gilgit-Baltistan.

Bujla Bugti said that the sound of his instrument is not only unique but also represents the culture of Balochistan. He said he was determined to teach the instrument to as many people as possible including his children so that its sound never dies.

Zulfiqar Faqeer has performed with many national and international artists including Mai Dhai, Saif Samejo and more and was also a part of Coke Studio. He has been playing borindo since 40 years, but due to the pandemic, he was not able to perform at festivals which has made his financial situation difficult.

The programme will guide musicians to utilise digital platforms like Youtube and Instagram for income generation and to build negotiation skills.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2020