A flamboyant, merry musical performance

Saturday, the second — and final — night of the 9th Tehzeeb Festival and Awards presentation, witnessed a really unusual and merry musical performance.

It was a folk music performance from the Thar region featuring Thari and Rajasthani music. It was unusual as music from the various regions of the country has never featured very prominently in our musical shows.

Organisers of our musical shows just project pops and upcoming pop stars and the “in” music, which may not be all that “in” after all. It goes entirely to the credit of the Sharif and Malahat Awan Tehzeeb Foundation to have invited the Thari musicians to perform and acquaint us all with the rich musical and cultural heritage of a people who live in the midst of privations, a dry, arid region where water is a luxury, where the people have hardly any access to the modern amenities of life like healthcare and education.

And yet, amid all these drawbacks the people have painstakingly preserved their cultural heritage. It was an experience and a pleasure to see the musicians in their native multi-coloured attires, the colours combinations clashing in many cases. It was so nice to see a purely indigenous group with multi-coloured turbans, bright yellow shirts, and colourful Tehmets singing with all the gusto, one of the artistes singing to the accompaniment of dancing steps.

Apart from two harmoniums and two Dholaks, there were also the Khartaals (hand-held percussion instruments). The most striking thing about the performance was the purely rural and beautifully rustic character of the performance, something the urban dwellers of a city as cosmopolitan as Karachi are not quite acquainted with.

That way, it was a wonderful opportunity to enlighten Karachi’s population with what really is their national heritage, rather than the Western pop stars with their raven-throated melodies which we so adoringly patronise.

Thus, it was an instrument to bring about ethnic harmony which the country is so direly in need of as the whole audience, despite being from a totally different ethnic strain, were heartily applauding and clapping merrily and rhythmically to the beat of the numbers.

A certain artiste, Gulzar Faqir, was so enthusiastic about the whole thing that he came dancing to the mic to present his vocal number which was a merry, jumpy tune. So was the performance by another male member of the troupe, Mithoo Faqir. Another wonderful vocalist was Mai Jeni. She sang with all the gusto, with a melodious, mellifluous voice and seemed to be adept at the Dholak.

The Tehzeeb Foundation were helped in the endeavour of Thari/Rajasthani folk music by the Thar Foundation, a body that has made painstaking efforts to effect development in Thar, improving the quality of life of the residents of the otherwise dry, arid and poverty-stricken area.

The evening opened with three performances of the Kathak by internationally reputed dancer Naheed Siddiqui. She was accompanied by Ustad Nafees Khan on the Sitar -- minus the Tabla. Her exquisite movement of the hands and her steps was a pleasure to watch.

Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubiar, the chief guest of the evening, was highly appreciative of all the items presented, especially Naheed Siddiqui’s dance numbers, and hoped that pretty soon normal cultural life would be restored in town.

A beginning, he said, had already been made and it had been made clear to the world that Pakistan was a highly culture-minded country and not the false image of terror activities that had been projected. He hoped that total normalcy would soon be restored.

Apart from this, there was the rendition of the Raag Kafha Kanhra by Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, a noted Khayal singer of the Gwalior Gharana, and young maestros Muslim Shaggan of the Gwalior Gharan who rendered Raag Basant; and Nayyab Ali Khan, and Inam Ali Khan.

Earlier, the Tehzeeb cultural awards were distributed. The three recipients of the awards were: Naheed Siddiqui, internationally acclaimed classical dancer, for her invaluable contribution to the performing arts; Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, noted Khayal singer of the Gwalior Gharana, for his contribution to the impetus to classical music; artist Ali Abbas for fine arts, for his contribution to the promotion and projection of the otherwise stark region of Thar, and projection of its cultural heritage, and highlighting the rustic beauty of the region.