PEOPLE’S interest in listening to or learning and practising classical music of the subcontinent is eroding fast. There are numerous factors for such a decline, and the primary amongst them is paucity of time available to the listeners. The practitioners of classical music, especially the eminent singers representing various music gharanas, are partly themselves responsible for this predicament, for they would not pass on the art to anyone

other than their immediate family members. Outsiders would remain in the shagirdi of music stalwarts for many years without possessing the ability to perform independently.

During the 1950s, a great connoisseur of music, Hayat Ahmed Khan, used to organise the annual All-Pakistan Music Conference at the open air theatre in Lahore’s Bagh-i-Jinnah. Those interested in listening and enjoying the ghazals and classical music of high quality used to eagerly wait for the event. There were plenty of great classical musicians, some of whom had migrated to Pakistan in 1947, leaving the lucrative employment of maharajas of different states in India.

The said music conference featured over the years top-level ghazal singers in the country, like Iqbal Bano, Farida Khanum and Habib Wali Mohammad, while classical vocalists included Roshan Ara Begum as well as the duos of Nazakat Ali Khan and Salamat Ali Khan, and Fateh Ali Khan and Amanat Ali Khan. Classical instrumentalists also entertained the audiences and were led by the likes of Sharif Khan Poonchwaley, Khamiso Khan, Nabi Baksh Khan, Mian Shaukat Hussain and many more.

The interest of people and those of performers dwindled on the passing away of Hayat Sahib. Even Salamat Ali Khan had once complained about the treatment meted out to classical

music by Pakistan Television. Such programmes, he had remarked, were telecast so late in the night that “half the country was already sleeping”.

Decades have passed since that remark, and things have only gone from bad to worse. There are precious few who are pursuing the art these days just for the love of it. Those who are in this rare category happen to be wonderful artists, but struggle to see a way forward.

Recently, Ustad Shahid Hamid, a renowned vocalist, musicologist, author and a qualified music teacher, had organised a music programme in Karachi where only his shagirds performed. Each one of his many shagirds sang movie songs from old Pakistani movies. But the star of the show undoubtedly was Mehak, a teenaged visually-challenged girl, who sang a Khayal in Raag Multani. The girl left the audience mesmerised with her mellifluous voice and superb rendering of the Raag. Under the tutelage of Shahid Sahib, she has got the potential to become one of the top classical vocalists in the country.

It was after listening to Mehak that I realised how much the music lovers are missing by ignoring the genre of classical music and singing that bring so much comfort and tranquillity to the soul.

Parvez Rahim
Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2023