Despite the odds, the All Pakistan Music Conference still manages to carry the mission of promoting classical music, but now the odds facing them seem to be pretty heavy. The APMC reportedly faces a severe financial crunch that was never so tight in the days when the APMC launched its Karachi chapter. They received money at a hint, sometimes when they didn’t even ask for it, and artists and musicians knew that they would receive the amount of money they quoted for a performance.

That did not seem to be the situation for the APMC anymore today. Their recently held annual two-day event was sufficiently successful. The organisers chose to hold it at the right hub of cultural activity, the Arts Council of Pakistan. “Although most artists were the usual who appear every year, I was very impressed with Akbar Ali’s performance,” said Javed Hasan, cultural activist who remains active in helping revive and sustain the arts. He added, “Alia Rasheed is another young promising artist who should be encouraged.”

While the performances of Ustad Naseeruddin Saami, Mehnaz and Hamid Ali Khan were phenomenal as usual, many in the audience lamented the fact that they wanted to listen to new talent, of which there was not much on offer. The exercise of having the same performers every year has become repetitive.

“I agree to a certain extent that there was repetition at the APMC annual event,” counters Ayla Raza, secretary APMC, “but I do think that there was almost a 60 per cent participation of new talent like Akbar Ali, Uruj Sami, Alia Rasheed etc. Besides, you cannot do without the top cream of classical performers. They have to be included in the annual events of the APMC.”

That sounds plausible, but the maestros invited at the event have perhaps been the only ones gracing the occasion for some time. Eminent classicist S M Shahid feels that more effort is required to sustain classical music in the country. “The APMC should be doing more than just holding these events,” he said, “when I was on the board of the APMC, I was most keen on promoting and participating in the education of classical music and promoting awareness of it. I soon realised that that idea was not met eye to eye.”

Perhaps this very important factor was not on the agenda of the APMC initially as that was a time when both the audience and sponsors were approached with a different mindset. But the APMC engraves the need of education and awareness of classical music on its website’s mission statement. “We do want to go out in schools and hold performances for children to make them aware of this part of our culture,” says Ayla Raza. “We also want to have it inducted in school curriculums.”

But to walk the talk, there is dire need of a strong team and an infrastructure that the APMC seems to lack. Many people have fallen out of the bandwagon, feeling that the APMC was not able to achieve what it stood for. “Despite these very important features,” says Ahmed Shah, president Arts Council of Pakistan, “the APMC has sustained its effort over the years and commendably maintained a standard.”

Of course there is a standard that is being sustained. “Though I am not happy with a lot of performers that grace the occasion but are totally out of tune,” says S M Shahid, “when I land at such events and see venues with chaandnis spread and gaao takiyas placed for people to enjoy classical music, I am grateful that they are taking place. You cannot expect Ayla Raza to do everything alone. It is a pity that she does.”

For the APMC to keep the mission afloat there is a huge economic struggle involved. “There are competitive demands for sponsors and donors these days who find it difficult to decide whether they should donate into reactive or proactive projects” says Ayla. While reactive projects such as natural calamities etc do deserve more attention, let’s also not forget the proactive projects that also require a sustained effort to keep the candle lit.

“Even if it is 20 per cent of their budgets, revival and sustaining the arts is part of development that is so crucial to our society.

We need to defeat rigidity, and that requires a sustained effort to carry on the mission of the revival of culture and art,” says Ayla Raza. n