MINGORA: Thirty residents of Swat completed a one-month training course of rabab playing here on Monday.

The course was organised by Swat Youth Front in collaboration with provincial directorate of culture under the Revival of Indigenous Culture Heritage (RICH) Project. Out of the 80 applicants, 30 were selected for the training.

Junaid Ibrahim, a student of journalism in Swat University, who attended the course, told Dawn that he always desired to learn rabab but never got an opportunity of the kind.

“When I came to know about the free rabab classes here in Mingora, I came to enlist myself in the course without wasting a moment. Now, I am here for the last one month learning the skill. I am confident to learn rabab,” he said.

Appreciate govt for its efforts to revive indigenous culture

Farman, a resident of Kanju area, said that during the last one month he understood the basic strings of rabab. “We are now in the position to learn the advance phase of rabab playing,” he added.

Rabab is one of the popular music instruments used in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is a key instrument in Pashto music and every music buff wants to learn and play rabab.

Although the participants of the course appreciated the provincial government for providing them with an opportunity to learn rabab, yet they said that one month was not enough to learn the instrument completely.

“Although I try my best to train the learners yet one month is not really sufficient to learn this key instrument. It needs more time to learn rabab completely,” said Naveed Jan, a trainer.

Apart from culture activists in Swat, renowned singers and musicians also lauded arranging free rabab classes for the youth. “Swatis love music. They not only listen to it but also love to play musical instrument and sing songs. Owing to their love and interest in music, it is really a golden opportunity for them to explore and polish their skills of music,” said singer Karan Khan, who visited the class and met the learners.

However, many young people, who couldn’t attend the course, appealed to the government to extend the training classes so that they could learn rabab playing.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2016