Three-day crafts festival gets underway at Sindh Museum
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HYDERABAD: The Sindh Indigenous & Traditional Crafts Company (Sitco) organised a crafts festival in Sindh Museum’s Artisan Village on Friday which would continue for three days.
The event brings together artists, musicians and craftspeople from across the province for a celebration of Sindh’s rich cultural heritage. It would continue till June 22 and remain open for general public to experience traditional crafts, regional foods and live folk performances.
But for many, it was more than a cultural showcase. According to a Sitco announcement, it was a chance to connect with a fading past. Friday’s opening night featured a line-up of folk and sufi performers, including Juman Shah Latifi, Meenh Wasayo Palari and Faqeer Azad Solangi.
Their voices echoed through open-air space, drawing spontaneous applause from a mixed audience comprised of families, students and tourists.
Instrumental soloists Arbab Khoso on alghoza, Irfan Ali Brohi on bansri, and Ahmed Shaikh on matko added traditional rhythms to evening, bringing ancient melodies back to life.
The festival continues with artists such as Reshma Parveen, Shoukat Faqeer, Amber Mehak and Faqeer Sarvar Ghaffur. Sunday’s performances would include rare folk instruments like yakataro and chapri, and a featured segment by Niaz Faqeer Group performing dholak shehnai.
Beyond music, the Artisan Village is lined with stalls showcasing handicrafts, embroidery, pottery and handwoven textiles. Many were run by rural women entrepreneurs and small-scale artisans for whom festival provides rare economic visibility. For them, the event was both a livelihood opportunity and a statement of cultural resilience.
Sitco director Shakeel Abro described event as ‘a bridge between past and future’, explaining that while audience might be drawn by entertainment, real goal is to keep indigenous traditions alive in a rapidly changing world.
The festival has already drawn hundreds of visitors on the opening day. With a backdrop of traditional lanterns, folk music and warm community spirit, the festival is offering Hyderabad not just a weekend of celebration, but a heartfelt reminder of region’s identity.
Published in Dawn, June 21th, 2025
