Islamabad : It was a cold, misty Thursday evening with grey clouds hanging low and a persistent drizzle pouring down, forcing people to stay indoors. A thin traffic flowed on the shining roads, making it easier for the pedestrians to cross over far easily.
And there was a group of song and music enthusiasts, not big in numbers indeed, but still a group, gathered in a cozy smaller hall of a local hotel, waiting for more to join before the artistes will take to the stage to start the performance.
The programme arranged by ‘Mausikaar’, a music welfare trust, established Dr Seema Khan and some diehard patrons of folk, classical and semi-classical music, had three segments, singing, poetry recital and culminating in an instrumental performance.
Before starting the programme, Ms Mahreen Khan, the Secretary-General of ‘Mausikaar’ made a request to the audience to observe one minute silence to pay respects to departed soul of famous table maestro Ustad Ajmal Khan, who passed away two days ago.
Ms Sumaira Altaf, a singer, set the evening rolling as she sang some beautiful songs, probably most of the young generation may not even have listened to. Accompanied by Zahid Hussain on keyboard and Muhammad Ali, a seasoned table player, Ms Sumaira started with famous ghazal, ‘Roothay ho tum, tum ko kaisay manaoon’, originally sung by Nayara Noor and ended her stint on the stage with such popular Punjabi song, ‘Jidon holi jai lainda . . .’ sung by legendary late Madam Noor Jehan. In between she sang a few other songs on demand from the audience.
Dr Aziz Faisal, known for his humorous poetry was next to take to the stage and recited some of his poetry that sent some ripples of light laughter and smiles in the audience. He has published his work in his book, ‘Hasa Khasa’.
The last one to take to the stage was well known ‘Sitar player’, Ustad Amir Hussain of ‘Gawaliar Gharana’. A disciple of legendary late Ustad Ghulam Hassan Shagan, Ustad Amir, accompanied by Muhammad Ali on table started with playing classical ‘Raag Malhar’. And it was real good to listen to a live classical raga performance on ‘Sitar’ after a long time and the round of applause he received at the end ensured that everyone present enjoyed it the most.
After that Ustad Amir played some popular semi-classical song-based tunes and eventually wrapped his performance and the evening with the most popular ‘Dhamal’, ‘Laaj mayri pat rakhio . . .’
The members of ‘Mausikaar’ team, led by the Secretary-General Ms Mahreen Khan and including Mrs Faiza Zafar Iqbal, Ms Almina Farhang, Masood Hashmi, Nouman Mohammad Zai and Sheraz Sheikh thanked the guests while seeing them off. Prominent among the audience were Mr and Mrs Qasim Bhugio, the former Chairman of Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL).