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WEEKLY
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| Shanaakht returns on the 9th |
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Friday, November 06, 2009
By our correspondent
Karachi
The rerun of the second edition of Shanakht Festival, organised by the Citizen’s Archive of Pakistan (CAP)will be held from November 9 to November 11. The theme for this festival centres around the early years of Pakistan.
The festival had to be to cut short when it premiered earlier this year at the Arts Council, when political activists and firebrands stormed the premises. Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, the founding member of the CAP conceded that the incident in particular was due to mistakes on the part of the CAP.
However, the mistakes, Chinoy said had provided valuable lessons for the organisers and said that these would be avoided. An internal committee has been set up with Photographer Amean Jan as one of the members. This committee would actively work to consider every exhibit piece and judge whether they could elicit an unfavourable response from members of the public. Jan further clarifies that even in the earlier festival the aim nor objective included hurting any one. “A message is definitely what we wanted to send across but we also do not want to hurt any one’s feeling and the content this time has been kept largely apolitical. We do need to learn more about our history” he stressed.
Among the events, there are going to be nearly six photography-based exhibits that document everything from the early days of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), to the serene landscapes of pre-partition Kashmir and jumps to modern day Karachi in a sort of cityscape. Other events include a theatre performance by the Tehrik-e-Niswan, a literary evening with six known writers of Pakistan reading out their favourite verse, a musical goulash with modern, fusion and folk musicians of Pakistan including Noori, Laal, Taal Karisma, Aunty Disco Project and other folk musicians. On all of the three days, there would be a showing of popular Pakistani films from the ‘60s including Koel, Sassi, and Armaan. There would also be a vintage car show showcasing 10 classics from the vault of the Vintage Car Club of Pakistan of the likes of the Lincoln, and MG.
Sheema Kirmani, of the Tehrik-e-Niswan theatre group said that they had performed their popular play “Jinnay Lahore Nahin Vekhya”, a play about identity, in April. However, this time they would be presenting a brand new play by the name of “Rang Badlo Bhai” which talks about the farce and increasing fundamentalism creeping in the current society.
Mahira Chishti, who is part of Still Waters Publishing Group, explained how her organization was collaborating with Shanaakht for the literary evening that was being organised as part of the festival. (She drooped her head and while being visibly quite disappointed, conceded in a low voice that Urdu, was after all, the national language of Pakistan).
Omer Bilal of the Aunty Disco Project, one of the musical ensembles scheduled to perform in the festival, said that their part of the festival was to provide an entertainment to the people.
Responding to questions, Chinoy said that steps had been taken to ensure the security of the even and visitors. The service lane feeding the venue (Imperial Gardens) off Khayabanóe-Iqbal will be shut off from the turning near the north boundary wall of the venue to the Do Talwar roundabout. There would be one entry gate and one exit gate with valet service. Security guards will be placed at the venue and CCTV cameras will monitor all activities throughout the festival. Obaid expressed gratitude to the Police, Rangers and the City Government who had lent their support in promising mobiles and personnel including City Wardens.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
