KARACHI: The three-day Pakistan Music Festival organised by the Arts Council of Pakistan that kicked off on Friday evening saw a big number of music lovers enjoy a mélange of pop, qawwali and folk music by dancing to thumping beats or swaying to lilting melodies. The charged, lively atmosphere had as much to do with the wonderful compositions that the musicians played as with the wholehearted participation of the audience.

The show formally began with a nice little performance by Drum Circle after which the relatively younger lot of vocalists appeared on stage. Imran Ali was the first one to flex his vocal muscles. He was followed by the now familiar band Jam Broz representing the council. The group’s first song was Atif Aslam’s Jalpari which became extremely popular when it was performed on Coke Studio Season 2. The band did a fine job with it but one felt it would have been better if they’d chosen a lower note for their singing. Their rendition of another famous Coke Studio track Sir Di Bazi (originally sung by Sahir Ali Bagga and Aima Baig) was pretty good. Jam Boyz rounded off their stint on stage with a rap track.

The third youngster who was asked to display his talent was Mustafa Baloch. He sang Jugni (again, the Coke Studio version). He did a nice job but those [instrumentalists] who were playing with him were tremendous.

Then came the big guns. First up was Hamza Akram qawwal. He was listed to pay tribute to the legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. It is no mean feat to do even a shade of justice to the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a one-of-a-kind vocalist and composer. To be fair, Hamza was very impressive primarily because he was able to engage the audience and had their undivided attention. He started off by presenting Is Karam Ka Karun Shukr Kaise Ada and kept the tempo going with the song that is enormously admired across the music world, Sanu Ik Pal Chaen Na Aavey. He topped off his remarkable performance with a delightful presentation of Kaali Kaali Zulfon Ke Phandey to which the audience’s response, especially those who were dancing their hearts out, was amazing. They sang along Hamza beautifully. In fact, there were moments where he would sing one line and the audience another. Pure gold!

The mood of the concert shifted with a few instrumental acts. Zulfiqar Faqir played the borendo, Ustad Salamat Hussain (flute) and Ustad Mumtaz Sabzal (banjo). All of them were of top-notch.

Some of the other artists on the programme list for the first day were Wahab Bugti, Khumariyaan and Sanam Marvi.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2022