ISLAMABAD, April 13: A few weeks ago it was a painter. Now it was the turn of the musician to interact with writers and critics at the meeting of Halqa-i-Arbab-i-Zauq held Saturday.

Musician Nawazish Ali Hazravi, son of the famous singer Eijaz Husain Hazravi, came with his keyboard and played old and modern tunes, including the pop, to the delight of those who are used to discussing the great music of the word only. Hazravi has composed a large number of tunes including those for well-known PTV dramas like the Guest House and Aaghosh, telecast from Islamabad station. Living in Abu Dhabi for some time, he has now been doing a lot of composing here.

Variety is the spice of life they say, and those regular “critics” of the Halqa accustomed to quoting from writers and critics like Shibli Naumani, Akhtar Sheerani, Mohammad Hasan Askari, F.R. Levis, T.S.Eliot and other greats in the world of literary criticism were now trying to fathom the depths of the melody, and its inextricable relationship with the word. Some one said that it was generally thought that music was at its best when it did not contain words. But this meeting he thought to be the ideal union of the two. And those who may have objections to Halqa bringing in the performing arts, Akhtar Usman provided the answer by reminding those present that it was a 55-year-old tradition, when Meeraji had introduced an evaluation of paintings for the first time in the meetings of the Halqa.

He pointed out to the relationship of the word with the melody, and felt that the word had its own melody. Wafa Chishti spoke of the great ghazal singers like Farida Khanum, Iqbal Bano and Mehdi Hasan as also the individual style of Eijaz Husain Hazravi. He also thought that PTV should cull out some time from the prime time to telecast classical and semi-classical music.

“This music is telecast at a time when everyone has gone to sleep,” he said. With a number of senior and relatively younger artists and singers from PTV and Radio present at the meeting, the discussion on the artist, which mostly was a tribute to his work and to the work of his famous father, soon also turned to the problems the singers and the musicians faced in keeping their art intact; problems they faced while working for the electronic media.

They narrated the difficulties they encountered while working with those producers in these organizations who, according to them, did not know music. Barring a few great producers of music, they said, some of them would not even treat the artists properly. Problems like not giving transport to even senior musicians and singers, when these were made available to all and sundry, were also narrated in detail.

Writer Akbar Hameedi emphasized that the plight of the artist need to be explained again and again so that people are made aware of the miserable conditions under which they are earning their living and keeping the banner of art aloft. Singer Nazir Begum spoke of the great singers and how they struggle to keep their art intact. Singers, instrumentalists and other artists including Shaukat Manzoor, Mahmooda Begum, Eijaz Jajjee, Shahzad Naik, Salman Adil, Shaukat Manzur, Afzal Lateefi and producer Ikram Jamali also spoke on the occasion.

Tahir Khan who presided over the meeting spoke of the artistic qualities and humility of Nawazish Ali Hazravi which have not only resulted in his good compositions but in his being an artist which has earned the respect of his fellow artists, and has become known for his professional expertise all over Pakistan. Nawazish Ali Hazravi thanked all those present for their kind words.

The meeting passed a resolution condoling the death of the great writer and journalist Abdullah Malik and offered fateha for the departed soul. Asghar Abid, general-secretary of the Halqa, gave a resume of the programmes introduced last year, including those on paintings and music. Giving details of the Halqa elections, he said announcement for any nomination papers filed for the posts of general-secretary and joint secretary for the coming year would be made by the election officer, writer and poet Akhtar Shaikh in the next meeting of the Halqa.—Mufti Jamiluddin Ahmad