KP cultural night enthrals visitors

Islamabad : With the Folk Festival, popularly known as Lok Mela, in full swing, Khyber Pakhuntkhwa's cultural night attracted large number of people.

The festival beautifully showcased the indigenous folk culture of all four provinces depicting their arts, crafts, folk music and traditional cuisine.

The KP pavilion hosted their cultural night, which featured popular folk artists, folk singers Kainat, Sitara Yousaf, Bakhtiar Khattak, Khalid Malik and Asmat Gul, tabla player Ajmal Khan, rabab player Tariq Khan and harmonium player Ayaz Khan, and other artists.

A large number of people from different walks of life including families and youth attended the cultural night and enjoyed thrilling performances, presented by the artists. It was a jam-packed show.

The pavilion also offered other tasty varieties of traditional food like `Patta Seekh' and `Lamb Karahi' all washed down with a cup of `Qehwa' (green tea) with a hint of Cardamom being brewed in `Samavar' at Nemat Khan Qehwa Khana.

In close proximity, a `Hujra' had been created wherein musicians were presenting folk Pushto music “Tank Takor” whilst playing traditional musical instruments like `Rabab', Table and Harmonium.

Visitor Farheen Zaheer said “one can see the glimpses from every corner of Pakistan created in the lush green surroundings of the Shakarparian Hills, contributing significantly to enhance the stature, beauty and landscape of the federal capital.”

Earlier, visitors at Lok Mela termed the Sindh pavilions, a presentation of mini Sindh as it covers the Sindhi culture in a way that one can easily and completely imagine the lifestyle of people living in the province.

Coordinated by Sindh culture department, over one hundred participants including master artisans in various craft fields, folk artists, rural musicians, instrumentalists and folk dance groups are participating to exhibit their cultural heritage.

Sindh is famous for a wide range of folk crafts like lacquer art, Farasi weaving, blue pottery, Sindhi embroidery, Ajrak, block printing, traditional carpet weaving, appliqué work, tie-dye, Khes weaving, wood works, Thari embroidery and several others, which all have been showcased here.

The artisans who were seen displaying their craftsmanship included, Khadim Hussain, , Soleman, Bharat, Naeem, Qadir Bukhsh jani in blue pottery, Siani, Safia and Zahid in Khes weaving, Parri, Khanzaadi and Bashir, Khan Chand, Bhawan, Naseem Sultan, Gheno, Krishan and Bhano and Ghulam Ahmed.

The other features of the Sindh pavilion include a book stall arranged by Sindh cultural department, Thari embroidery display, Sindhi bangles, traditional cuisine – Sindhi falooda, Shikarpuri achar, Sindhi Biryani and Larkana Maiva among others.

Later in the evening, Sindh Musical night was held at Lok Virsa Open air theatre which was a mix of folk and Sufi music. Eminent folk singers including Tufail Sanjrani, Reshama Perveen, Imtiaz Ali Meerasi, Bushra Marvi, Sadaa Bahaar, Shaukat Al, Naroodha, and Waahid Baksh were lead singers along with many other rising stars.

Secretary Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Department Government of Sindh, Ghulam Akbar Laghari and Executive Director Lok Virsa Shaheera Shahid, were chief guests of the musical night. ‘Lok Mela’ will continue with all its festivities from 10am to 10pm until Nov 13.