It was another summer night (June 24) in Saidpur village, in the backdrop of Margalla Hills, which was filled with light and sounds to celebrate the World Music day. The organisers seemed to be more focussed on pomp and show rather than the quality of music.
The CDA, city FM 89, Vinci and Alliance Francaise joined hands for the event. Some local bands like Silver Smoke, Irtiaash and Natasha and Tariq Mirza mostly known as Tee-M, a Los Angeles based Pakistani gave their performance.
The notes produced by the bands did not carry any aesthetic appeal for the audience. Tee-M presented songs of Elvis, Beatles and popular songs of the 60s. He also presented a few pieces from his own album Earthiotic. However, a section of the audience was indeed enchanted by the European notes.
The sub-standard concert also posed some questions. Where were the indigenous melodies, traditions and rituals? Was our musical repertoire unable to compete with foreign tunes? Why are we so shy of our own cultural heritage? Are we left only with an alien art to depict ourselves as modern and enlightened people?
The most pathetic aspect of the event was the humiliating behaviour suffered by the local inhabitants of the village. They were not invited to the concert and were forced to sit on either the top of their roofs, hill slopes or uncomfortable stones around the posh enclosure meant for the invitees etc.
" Sir, this is why we have been against the so-called "modernisation" and 'development', which has converted us into aliens, even in our own place," commented a local, after the show.
ART OF PUPPETRY AT UNIVERSITY LEVEL: The Fatima Jinnah Women University in Rawalpindi is lucky to win the distinction of being the first university of the country introducing a puppet course at the university level.
It was on the 20th, when the first ever display of puppets and moppets, created by 29 talented students of the department of Mass Communications, was held in the university. The credit goes to the gifted teacher and master puppeteer of Pakistan Farooq Qaiser, popularly known as Uncle Sargum.
Puppetry has been an ancient mode of expression in our cultural history. In the distant past, it was one of the major sources of entertainment and social satire. There has been a variety of formats for this art, including string, rod, glove and shadow puppetry.
In Pakistan, string puppetry has been popular for many centuries. However, with the passage of time and with introduction of modern modes of entertainment and communication, string puppetry has vanished from the urban areas and confined itself to the far-flung areas, which still out of the reach of television.
In the early 70s, the Bhutto government launched a line of new institutions, including the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA). It created several organs, including the National Puppet Theatre. The talented NCA graduate Farooq Qaiser was part of it. At the initial stage Dr Khalid Saeed Butt, the pioneer Director General of PNCA managed to send Pakistani puppeteers to China for training in the Rod technique of the art.
In the following years Farooq Qaiser evolved his own style and excelled in the Moppet genre of the art. The students of the FJWU learnt the same style and their artifacts, displayed in the exhibition, reflect the hard in conceiving the idea and its conversion into reality. The whole show is titled " Puppetry as a medium of education". The diverse models with their social cultural perspective create a deep impact on the viewer. Through these art skits, tableaux, a variety of situations could be created.
The kids summer art coaching: The Lokvirsa in collaboration with Cosmos, has organised summer art coaching for kids between 8-15 years, at its premises, near the lush green, scenic beauty of Shakarperian. The kids have a choice of four disciplines, including drawing and painting, pottery, cartoon sketching and paper mache from discarded articles etc.
The versatile and eminent sculptor Abbas Shah, female cartoonist Nigar Nazar, Aftab Ahmad of Gujar Khan and Dr Jahan Ara are engaged in coaching kids in their respective fields. Each year our educational institutions observe long summer vacations of two to three months. It is prudent to provide our students, some alternative and more charming mode of learning. Such exercise fosters their in-built capabilities and creativity.
Commenting on the kid's behaviour, Abbas Shah remarked, "It is wonderful to experience the warm and spontaneous expression of our kids their joys, dreams and resolutions through lines, circles and colors. It revitalises their energy and confidence" Seep Mufti, co-ordinator of the program, described the objective of the event as "The continuity of learning through alternative tools in a charming environment".
"I would love to be Chughtai, Sadequain or Hanif Ramey". Ahmad, a young kid declared while drawing strong lines on his drawing sheet. I instantly visualised the childhood activities of the great painters, when they started expressing themselves in sand and clay. We could educate the pre-teenagers to continue with our cultural heritage.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.