Youth mela attracts large crowd

Islamabad : A three-day Youth Cultural Mela opened at Shakarparian on Friday under the aegis of the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa), Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb was the chief guest on the occasion. In her address, the Minister commended the efforts of Lok Virsa in promoting traditional skills, creating awareness among youth about the indigenous cultural heritage of Pakistan and strengthening and re-enforcing a spirit of national harmony and integration in the nation through a cultural perspective.

The opening ceremony was held in the beautiful surroundings of the Heritage Museum, which depicts living cultural traditions and lifestyles of the people of Pakistan, presented through three dimensional creative manner. The ceremony presented popular milli naghma “Sohni Dharti…”, Kalam-e-Iqbal “Khudi ka sere nehan.”, famous Balochi, Pashto, Sindhi, Kashmiri and Chitrali folk songs as well as a live folk dance performance by GB dancers. “Dhamaal” presented at the conclusion of the ceremony mesmerised the audience a lot. All these performances were presented by young folk artists in full view of the national media.

A large number of youth/ students of different colleges and universities of the twin cities of Islamabad-Rawalpindi attended the event and enjoyed the thrilling performances presented by young folk artists and musicians.

In her welcoming remarks, Lok Virsa Executive Director Shahera Shahid shed light on the objectives of the Youth Cultural Mela. She also informed that the annual Folk Festival of Pakistan, popularly known as “Lok Mela” will be organised in October this year.

The major features of the three-day ‘Youth Cultural Mela’ include congregation of youth in colourful traditional costumes, youth Artisans-at-work, folk musical performances, folk dance performances, performances by traditional drummers (Dholis), traditional cuisine and craft Bazaar.

The exhibition was “Youth Artisans-at-Work” showcases traditional crafts like wood carving, jewellery, embroidery and shawl weaving from Kashmir, handicrafts, cap making and embroidery from Gilgit Baltistan, Blue tiles work, embroidery, doll making, block printing and truck art from Punjab, lacquer work, shawl weaving and basketry work from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dhambura/ saroz (musical instruments) making and traditional chappal making from Balochistan and Ajrak block printing, wood mirror work, pottery making, Farasi weaving, blue tiles work and lungi (turban) weaving from Sindh.

A Youth Cultural Show featuring live musical and dance performances by young folk artists will take place on Sunday, April 29 at 6 pm at Lok Virsa Heritage Museum, Shakarparian.