Pakistani music producer bags international accolades

Pakistani music producer/curator Sharif Awan, after winning two global music awards in the US in June 2016, has again been nominated for the prestigious International Grammy Awards (IMAs) in the US for his classical music album Indus Raag-2.

This was announced at a press conference held by Awan at a hotel on Friday afternoon.

The winners are to be announced on November 12 at the Lincoln Centre, New York. He won a gold medal and a silver medal for his Indus Raag in June 2016 and September 2016 respectively at the Global Music Awards in California, USA.

The nominees for the IMAs for which he has been nominated were announced in New York on October 18 this year and the presentation of the awards will take place on November 12.

The names of about 400 nominees in 80 categories were announced. Awan has been nominated in the World Music and Special Edition/craft categories. He said he was really optimistic that this international recognition would be instrumental in promoting Pakistani culture and arts the world over. He said he hoped that it would project a positive image of Pakistan.

“The cultural activity we have undertaken is not a luxury. It is a necessity. People the world over are redeeming their cultural assets. Culture is the basic human right of the community, big or small. Besides, one should comprehend the other’s cultural values too.”

Awan said: “We are heir to a great culture which has been nurtured by our artistes and writers and we should endeavour to preserve it. We are a country just 70 years old but we must preserve our thousand-year-old heritage,” he said.

The album is based on six CDs, one DVD and an audio. He said that other cities around the world which were known for preservation of their cultural heritage were thousands of years old. Karachi was just 200 years old, he said.

Two videos of Karachi concerts were screened which showed various aspects of Karachi life and its different locales to the sound of classical tunes.

Dr Asif Arain, who also addressed the press conference, said, “We Pakistanis are the custodians of the Indus civilisation.” Hence, he said, the nomenclature of the series was Indus. The programme was compered most astutely by Shaista Mushtaq. Awan is the commissioner, Inland Revenue.