KARACHI: To pay tribute to the distinguished social worker and founder of T2F and PeaceNiche, Sabeen Mahmud (1974-2015), the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) hosted on Sunday an event of artistic expression, what it phrased as exciting potpourri of theatrical and musical performances titled Dear Sabeen, Dear Karachi.

Talking to Dawn, Napa chief executive Junaid Zuberi said, “Today’s event has been organised on the occasion of Sabeen Mahmud’s birthday, and it will be an annual feature at Napa. Inspired by Sabeen’s work and vision, we will provide a safe space to young artists to express themselves. There will be theatrical and musical performances, the way Sabeen had initiated a series of events where she provided a platform to young actors and musicians to jam [at T2F].”

On the ‘Karachi’ aspect of the title, Mr Zuberi commented, “Sabeen belonged to Karachi. She was passionate about the city and about promoting art activities here. So, in a way we are taking it all forward.”

The event began with Juloos, an adaptation of Indian dramatist Badal Sircar’s play Micchil. It is one of the most frequently produced dramas on Napa premises and always succeeds in putting the idea of post-colonial predicaments across.

The play was followed by the now familiar Dastangoi session, first by Fawad Khan and then by Rao Jamal. The interesting thing about that bit was Rao’s narration of Raja Amb Aur Rani Ambli in the Haryanvi language.

Not many theatre lovers are aware of this particular dialect of the Hindi-speaking cities that are situated to the north of Delhi (such as Mewat, Karnal, Sonipat, Panipat, Rohtak, Faridabad and Gurgaon). It sounds like Rajasthani but is slightly different in terms of inflection. Rao did a good job, although he could have trimmed down the tale a bit to keep the momentum going.

Then there was a live painting session by artist Summaiya Jilani ‘under the open sky encompassing classic architecture, verdure, people of the arts and the signature city noise’. It was a nice effort resulting in the creation a lovely image of Sabeen made by the artist and added to by some of the guests.

Next up was the rhythmic segment called Sur Taal Rang curated by Sarah Waqar and ensemble. It was so good to see young girls and boys playing lovely tunes and vocalising known compositions with control without losing out on the flair required for such a presentation.

The programme also included a performance by Vajdaan and a recital by Khalid Ahmed.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2022