The finals of the singing competition of the ongoing Karachi Arts Council Youth Festival were held on Friday evening. Over 30 contestants in the 14-20 and 21-29 age groups participated, and eight were declared prize winners. The prize winners in the 14-20 age group were: Syed Najam Ali Bukhari, first prize; Zeeshan Ali Haider, second prize;
Summiya Noor, third prize; and Hassan Siddique, special prize. The prize winner in the 21-29 age group were: Kashif, first prize; Surkhaab Khan, second prize; Sumera Imran, third prize; and Humayun Khan, special prize.
However, apart from the above-noted eight prize winners, the performance of all the participants was flawless. All the contestants sounded born vocalists. Young Rida Shahid, in the 14-20 age group, who looked younger than 14, seemed to have real mastery over her vocal cords and her cadences. It was a treat to hear her. She had the maturity of a seasoned vocalist.
The song that she rendered was, “Lag Ja Gale ke phir ye haseen raat ho na ho” from the 1965 Indian movie, “Who Kaun Thi”. The rendition could be classified as no less than perfect. Surely, the song belonged to an era much before she was born.
Another little boy, who was just above the tiny tot stage, sang, “Sochta Hoon ke who kitne Masoom the”, an endearingly precocious — and perfect -- rendition. The best part of it was that there was no bar of language. There were Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi numbers.
The Arts Council has been training youngsters in the field of music for 10 years now and the beneficiaries are children who don’t belong to a very affluent family background and can’t afford those schools where such arts are taught as part of the curriculum.
However, Friday evening’s performance proved beyond a shadow of doubt that regardless of their circumstance, they are no less when it comes to talent and have as much potential as the children of the affluent class.