LAHORE, Oct 26: The annual All Pakistan Music Conference (APMC) began on Tuesday with a seminar titled '50 years of APMC' at Alhamra Art Centre wherein Indian kathak dancer Dr Kajol Mulay also performed.

APMC Secretary General Dr Ghazala Irfan spoke on the 50-year journey of the conference and said she felt good about the fact that conference had not gone commercial and was continuously supporting the cause of classical and folk music.

Former APMC vice president Rubina Qureshi, who has been associated with the APMC since 1971, said the body had selflessly served the cause of music in Pakistan and introduced many new singers. She said she held in high esteem the founding personalities of the APMC, Syed Wajid Ali Shah and Hayat Ahmed Khan.

“Hayat Khan's name will be written in golden words in the annals of music history of Pakistan for his devotion to classical music,” she said.

APMC member Masood Ashar said the APMC had waged a war on narrow minds despite rough economic times and deteriorating law and order in the country.

He said Halqa Arbab-i-Zauq meetings discussed music and even some people would sing songs in those meetings and it happened only when Hayat Khan started visiting the literary circle.

He said subcontinent's best voices had performed on the platform of the APMC and still it was place to encourage the new talent.

Abid Hasan Minto recalled those days when he first met Hayat Khan in the early 50s at Murree literary circle where Mr Minto and his friends had organised an evening with Asad Ali Khan from Gawaliar Gharana. He said that Hayat Khan in that evening spoke at length on classical music.

SM Zafar said he held the AMPC in high esteem for doing its programmes for 50 years.

APMC president Javed Ahmed Qureshi said the venue of the conference had been changed from Bagh-i-Jinnah Open Air Theatre to Alhamra Art Centre due to security reasons.

He welcomed the three-member delegation from India which had come to attend the APMC. The delegates are Satiya Pal, a social worker, Dr Kumud Dewan, a classical singer, and Dr Kajol Mulay.

Dr Mulay told the audience that she was born in Bangladesh and now was living in Gujarat.

She said kathak dance was also performed in Mughal courts but during the British era it did not get much support from the official circles.