KARACHI: A book titled Great Masters — Pakistani Classical Music by S.M. Shahid was launched at the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) on Thursday.
The programme was a nicely packaged one. Prior to entering the auditorium for the main event, visitors were requested to pay a visit to Gol Hut on the premises of the academy to see portraits of the great masters made by artist Sharjil Baloch. They set the tone for the rest of the evening because Mr Baloch has thoughtfully captured the spirit of those musicians in his sketches.
A panel discussion moderated by Abdullah Haroon was the main segment of the event in terms of providing information about the book and its author. The chief guest at the launch, Saadia Naveed, said the book bridges connections between timeless tunes of the past. She also talked about her father, a music connoisseur.
S.M. Shahid said it was a difficult task to collect research material for the publication, especially the photographs that he got his hands on varied in quality. As a result, he had to use pictures from different sources such as magazines.
Mr Baloch said he’s fortunate that he’s had a chance to work with the author. He recalled the time when he was doing a report for the BBC on poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz and sought Mr Shahid’s assistance. He added while he would make a single portrait of the masters in a night, save for one, they’d get rejected for some shortcoming or other and he’d work on it again, finalising it on the fifth or sixth attempt.
Senator (retired) Javed Jabbar said Mr Shahid has written 13 books and compiled eight. He’s known him since the mid-1970s. “Shahid is an interesting and unique person. He belonged to the world of advertising but never took it seriously. Gradually his relationship with classical music developed. He has mentioned it in an essay how he first got attracted to music when he visited rural Sindh for a music conference.”
Mr Jabbar said Great Masters is symbolically the summit of the writer’s achievements. “Although the book has just 110 pages, it’s packed with a great deal of information. In this gallery of glory he has named 20 ustads, 27 vocalists, 29 instrumentalists, 17 singers of ghazals, thumris, geet, 40 folk artists, 37 composers, seven gharanas, eight writers who write on music in English, 46 Urdu writers, 10 sketches of instruments, 10 thaats or scales, seven notes and different types of ragas, structures and rhythms. It is a book much larger than the sum of its parts. I highly recommend it.”
Mr Shahid also read out a brief piece about his early days and his ustad, Wilayet Ali Khan’s influence on his life and work.
Answering a question, Mr Jabbar lauded the Sindh government’s initiative of teaching music in schools. He also mentioned that mass education was required for classical music.
After the discussion some live performances of students of Mr Shahid and known musicians were lined up. It was such a delight to see a very young girl, Eden Samuel, sing a couple of songs, beginning with Unn ka ishara jaan se pyara in raga bhim pilasi. She sang with unbelievable poise and ease. The child can hold a note like an established vocalist. So, kudos to her and her teacher Mr Shahid!
Kirpa Dhanja, Jessica Dhanja, Ustad Bashir Khan, Farhan Rais Khan and Huzoor Hasnain Khan were also on the performers’ list.
Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2023
