Nida Butt and Hamza Jafri announce Karachi Mubarak Festival

Karachi has been fortunate to enjoy a surge in performing arts activities this year. Next in line in this recent series of cultural festivals is the Karachi Mubarak Festival, which is the brainchild of the Made for Stage Productions duo, Nida Butt and Hamza Jafri. Scheduled to take place in May, the Karachi Mubarak Festival will set itself apart from other recent festivals like Tlism Festival and the NAPA Performing Arts Festival with its touring concept.

“Karachi Mubarakis the first touring festival of its kind that shall travel to four different districts of the city,” shared Nida Butt, “We are taking the arts to the people and communities and transforming public parks into festival arenas. It’s exciting and challenging and we are expecting a huge turnout.”

Karachi Mubarak Festival will kick off in Orangi Town on May 2nd, travel to Lyari on May 3rd, then move on to Frere Hall on May 10th before its final day at Port Grand on May 16th.

Some of the highlights of the festival will include folk music, ethnic dance, street theatre, busking artists, fire act, marching bands and street magic. The performances in Lyari and Orangi will be in Urdu, while those at Port Grand and Frere Hall will be bilingual.

“The festival will showcase diverse cultural performing arts - everything from music and theatre to dance,” said Hamza Jafri,“We hope the festival will instil a degree of ownership and pride amongst the citizens of Karachi by bringing people together and celebratingthe arts.”

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Noori returns with a new single

There are very few Pakistani bands that make you actually yearn for their music. Noori would be one of them. This band of brothers, which has released only a few singles in the past years, returns from its hiatus with a new track titled ‘Live It Abhi’. The music video for this song, which is a continuation of their previous collaboration with a beverage company, has also been released.

The narrative of the video invokes interest and a feel-good vibe with a story of cricket. Shown through the eyes of a young girl who wants to play alleyway cricket with the boys, the video promotes love for the game that seems to be ingrained in almost every Pakistani. All in all, the video is optimistic and upbeat, making one want to support the local Pakistani cricket scene wholeheartedly.

The song itself is reminiscent of their previous hits due to a similar style of music and lyrics. For some, ‘Live It Abhi’ ironically may serve as a nostalgic throwback to that era when Noori was quite the fan favorite! We wonder when Noori will truly re-enter the music scene again. Their next album has been rumoured to be in the works for years now; the band made the news recently when it was announced that they’re working with Shiraz Uppal for the soundtrack of upcoming film Karachi Se Lahore. We’d love for Noori to be back, so that we can live their sound abhi rather than yearn for the yesteryears!