LAHORE: The Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture (Pilac) will hold a singing festival roping in young singers from all over the province to pay a homage to legendary poet Mian Muhammad Bakhsh.

At the event to be held in the first week of October, singers will recite from the great Punjabi classic by Mian Muhammad Baksh – Saiful Malook.

“Last time senior singers won all the three prizes that is why we have decided to invite young singers this year to sing Saiful Malook”, said Pilac Director Dr Sughra Sadaf.

Ms Sadaf said the age limit for the singers would be 20 to 25 years. She said Pilac would like to welcome October by holding this event.

The jury for the festival comprises folk singer Shaukat Ali, classical singer Husain Bakhsh Guloo, Habib Ali and poet Husain Shad. Cash prizes and certificates will be given to top-three winners.

For first, second and third prizes, the cash amount will be Rs50,000, Rs30,000 and Rs20,000, respectively.

Ms Sadaf said Punjabi literary organisations would exclusively be invited to the festival.

She said Pilac would also hold a band competition entitled ‘Modren Sufi Music’ in October, inviting leading bands from Punjab. The performances would be restricted to Punjabi Sufi poetry only, she added.

She said the event was aimed at promoting Punjabi Sufi poetry, especially among the youth, because it had a rich heritage of Punjabi language and literature.

Ms Sadaf said Pilac had also republished two out-of-print books -- ‘Bayaz-i-Umar’-- a poetry collection by a Jhang-based poet, Mian Umar Hayat, first published in 1940 and the other, also a poetical collection -- ‘Sahjray Phatt’ -- by Lal Muhamamd Asi, first published in 1960.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2014