KARACHI: The four-day 12th Tehzeeb Festival concluded online on Monday evening with no fewer than eight performances recorded in Karachi.

Since the session took place in the capital of Sindh, artists from Sindh and Balochistan took part in the last day’s event.

The show kicked off with alghoza nawaz Akbar Khamisu Khan’s delightful instrumental. Listening to musicians such as him makes one believe that folk and Sufi music in Pakistan is thriving and going from strength to strength. He is the son of the renowned alghoza player Khamisu Khan.

What followed was a heart-warming rendition of raga Yaman by sitar player Ritika Dhanja. The young woman, who hails from Hyderabad, played the instrument with endearing creative flair.

Next up were two vocalists: Salman Haider and Shahzeb Ali. Both presented khayal gaeki. The former did that in raga Malkauns and the latter in Kaunsi kanhra. Both did a decent job.

Then came a jugulbandi featuring the renowned tabla player Ustad Bashir Khan and his student Yousuf Bashir. It was a lovely act as both complemented each other well. The good thing about the recording of the piece was that despite the fact that the ustad during the presentation tried to tune his tabla with a hammer, the producers did not edit it out to keep the spontaneity of the moment intact.

The sixth performance was an impressive piece of singing by an artist from Quetta, Vijay Kumar. His rendition of raga Megh was an audio-cerebral treat. There is so much calmness in his style that one didn’t realise one was at a musical concert while he was creating the image of the raga with his vocal talent.

The penultimate item of the day was a sitar recital by Turab Ali Khan. He chose raga Bihag to entertain the online audience.

Finally, Ustad Raza Ali Khan came to the stage and presented a khayal in raga Jaijaivanti.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2021