PESHAWAR: Saad Haider, a young artist, has launched a music skills academy to preserve cultural heritage specially Pashto folk music as most traditional musical instruments are fading fast.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the academy here on Sunday, he said that music skills academy was need of the hour and young aspirants should come forward to make it a success story.

He stated that he wanted to give practical shape to his thesis he had conducted on Rabab, called the king of Pashto traditional musical instruments, in 2018.

Folk artists, music buffs and aspirants attended the launching ceremony.

Mr Haider said that he wanted to create a community where rich tapestry of traditional music was preserved celebrated and passed down through generation, fostering a profound connection to cultural roots. “Pashtuns have lost over 60 musical instruments over the last several decades. The new academy will reclaim those old folk tunes,” he added.

Saad Haider says traditional musical instruments are fading fast

He said that traditional Pashto string musical instruments including Rabab, guitar and Banjo would be taught both online and in physical attendance. Since long young aspirants wanted to have an academy teaching music skills as most musical instruments were fast fading and no serious efforts were being made to preserve them, he said.

Mr Haider said that the music skills academy would not only preserve their rich cultural heritage but it would also encourage young aspirants to learn innovative methods to introduce new tunes to suit the taste of the emerging trends in the world folk music and trigger a spirit to own traditional folk.

The young artist said that his academy would help traditional music buffs to polish their skills in synch with modern electronic symphonies so that their tunes could be palatable for large audience. “I am in search of a foreign scholarship sponsoring my higher studies on folk music preservation. Pashto string musical instruments are on my top list,” he added.

Shuakat Swati, a noted folk artist, said on the occasion that the academy would prove a milestone. He said that it would provide a good opportunity to learn basics of Pashto string instruments and would also ensure preservation of traditional Pashto folk symphonies.

Later, a trial lesson was also delivered.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2023