LAHORE: The Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture will hold a four-day folk song festival in memory of four noted folk singers -- Shaukat Ali, Alam Lohar, Tufail Niazi and Reshman -- Pilac Director General Dr Sughra Sadaf told Dawn.

Ms Sadaf said it would be a grand folk festival to be held after Eidul Fitar to pay tribute to the leading folk singers of Punjab.

The DG said that young as well as seasoned folk singers would pay tributes to these legends by singing their hit songs.

The festival would also feature a session on the life and works of the four singers who left behind a treasure trove of folk songs woven into the rich culture of Punjab, she added.

Ms Sadaf said Pilac would also screen short documentaries on these singers during the festival.

She said the institute would also hold a week-long theatre festival on the theme of Punjab and its rich cultural heritage after Eid in which students from different colleges and universities would participate.

“We will write letters to different educational institutions in the first week of May, inviting their dramatic societies to participate in the festival.”

She said there was immense talent in the youth which should be tapped, adding that Pilac would be more interested in original and new scripts for the plays to be staged during the festival, where parallel theatre groups would also be invited.

She said writers, intellectuals, besides film, TV and stage personalities would also be invited to the theatre festival.

Ms Sadaf said that on the sidelines of the week-long festival, young students would be invited to hold short theatre workshops. The festival would be open to message-oriented and socially meaningful plays, she added.

Besides holding cultural activities, she said Pilac had published six books on Punjabi poet Mian Muhammad Baksh and 11 more would be published soon on the legend.

“Recently, a book on Munir Niazi’s Punjabi poetry titled ‘Kinna Turiye Hor’ had been published by Pilac. I have written its preface,” she said.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2022