‘I am Karachi’ youth festival in full swing at Arts Council

Karachi
A week-long youth festival which began at the Arts Council on March 1 is in full swing and contests among participants of declamation and essay writing with workshops on theatre and music. The festival was inaugurated on Sunday by Sindh education secretary Fazlullah Pechuho. So far, between 15,000 and 20,000 youngsters, aged between 15 and 29, have turned up to take part in the myriad of programmes.
The singing workshops are being conducted by Arshad Mehmood, Zulfiqar Ali, Niaz Ahmed, and Mazhar Hussain of the Gwalior Gharana.
The theatre workshops are being conducted by the top names in show business, notably,
Talat Husain, Sheema Kermani, Kamal Ahmed Rizvi and Irfan Sadiq, according to Rozina Rashid of the Arts Council. The photography workshop is being conducted by Israr Shah and Aadil Zahoor.
When this correspondent visited the venue of the festival, a musical session was in full swing at the open-air theatre with over a thousand youngsters and Ustad Mazhar Hussain, singing classical, semi-classical and light songs with the children relishing the performance, clapping away in unison. They listened with rapt attention and were highly appreciative.
There was real hustle and bustle all over with young people and their guardians just streaming in and a whole lot of stalls vending culinary delights.
The festival continues up until March 7.
Lucrative cash prizes will be given away to the best performance by the aspirants in various categories at the end of the festival.
The festival is being held under the aegis of the “I am Karachi” consortium.

8-day TLISM festival
As soon as the ‘I am Karachi’ festival will conclude on March 7, the 3rd TLISM Festival will kick off the next day on March 8, announced Sheema Kermani, the founder of Tehrik-e-Niswan.
She said the TLISM Festival will bring to the audience a variety of theatre plays, dance recitals and music and will also celebrate 35 years of Tehrik-e-Niswan’s Cultural Action Group.
Kermani informed that all performances at the festival highlight peace and communal harmony for celebrating the cultural, ethnic and linguistic pluralism and diversity of Karachi. A large number of theatre and dance groups, musicians, singers and actors from different parts of the city will perform at and depict the rich and diversified culture of the city.
“Youth groups from various communities, localities and universities will also be participating and presenting their work. A youth group named ‘Bhikari Thakur Repertory Theatre’ from India is also participating,” she added.
A founding member of ‘I am Karachi’, veteran journalist Ghazi Salahuddin, said the consortium was a socio-cultural response to the ongoing violence in the city and aimed to inculcating hope, pride and ownership in the citizens to strive together for a peaceful city.
“The TLISM Festival is a natural fit to ‘I am Karachi’ as meaningful theatre, dance and music can play a vital role in spreading out the messages of hope, unity and blessings of diversity which could lead to rallying people for a single point agenda of restoring peace in the city of lights,” he said.
An added attraction will be a pictorial exhibition highlighting the heritage of the city to pay homage to artists, poets, architects, educationists, doctors, scientists and personalities who have contributed to the cultural, social and civic life of the metropolis.
Special morning shows will also be arranged for school children. There will be panel discussions on ‘Women and creativity’, ‘Women’s mental health’ and ‘Cultural pluralism and diversity’. The festival is open for the public without any charges.