A step towards preserving music heritage

Ustad Shahid Hamid’s book ‘Raag Music: a practical guide’ launched

Karachi

Heritage preservation does not figure very prominently in our scheme of things. This is so tragically evident from the way heritage buildings in our city, which otherwise are masterpieces of architecture and encapsulate our history, are vanishing at a rapid pace just to make room for the building boom.

It’s not much different in other cities like Lahore where heritage buildings are being pulled down to make room for schemes the efficacy of which still has to be seen.

So amid this rather disheartening scenario, it is highly encouraging to see at least individuals who are not sparing even a remote opportunity to preserve something that posterity would be proud of.

This was evident from the launch of a book, “Raag Music: a practical guide”, by Ustad Shahid Hamid, at the Arts Council on Monday. The book by a former high-ranking State Bank of Pakistan official is a detailed guide to subcontinental music, complete with all the Raags, the technical terms, and the background of music. It is an extensive treatise on musicology, highly useful for seasoned musicians and amateurs alike.

Speaking on the occasion, Hamid lamented that classical music heritage was “decaying”. He held the media mainly responsible for this unhealthy phenomenon, saying that the media, having assumed a corporate character, were pandering to shallow tastes with the pops.

He said that inspiration for this book came in 2010 and that it took him years to complete it since writing an authentic book called for meticulous research.

Noted TV personality and humorist Anwar Maqsood used the technical terms of music notified in the book to ridicule the political situation and political personalities in the country. He also used those terms as a parody to describe the present situation.

Sharif Awan, the president of the Tehzeeb Foundation, publishers of the book, immensely thanked Tariq Fazli for the printing of the work.

He said the tradition of classical music could be traced back 3,000 years in our region and that it was incumbent on us to preserve it. He said the last 100 years were most important in the history of our music, the time the technique of recording was perfected.

It must be mentioned here that the husband-wife team of Sharif and Malahat Awan had rendered yeoman’s service to our music heritage and made utmost efforts to preserve it. The large number of music programmes held by them where only classical music of the subcontinent is featured has gone a long way to popularise the music especially among the younger generation. They are doing so in a purely altruistic manner.

Ahmed Shah, chairman of the Arts Council’s Administration Committee, lamented that we were discarding classical music, and we must take care not to discard our music heritage.

He said the dilemma sprang from the fact that there was no basic education and education was getting such a step-motherly treatment in our rulers’ scheme of things. As such, he queried how we could think of imparting cultural education. He said that it was our duty to perpetuate our cultural heritage.

Others who spoke were AB Shahid and Javed Hassan.The speeches were followed by performances by Shahid Hamid and some of his pupils.