Two-day music meet ends

LAHORE
The first of its kind a two-day event by Lahore Music Meet (LMM) ended on Sunday after drawing a large number of audience and treating them to enlightening discussion panels and wonderful live performances over the weekend.
Dedicated to the celebration and critique of music in Pakistan, LMM 2015 aimed to bring together enthusiasts, artisans, artists, patrons, industry representatives and academics to initiate dialogue on the developments in music and its shortcomings.
Aspiring to make it an annual event for the years to follow, the founding members were thrilled at the response the event got in its very first year. “It is an initiative purely by young people with a passion for music in general and the diverse facets of Pakistani music in particular, and working with a very modest budget with limited advertisement we believe the results have exceeded our expectations”, said Noor Habib, one of the founders of the event.
She was right in pointing out that the music industry in Pakistan may be characterised as fragmented, at best. The lack of appropriate structures and resources along with cultural constraints in mainstream discourse have given rise to a number of inter-related obstacles for music, the most significant of which are the following. “This event looks to initiate a much needed discourse over all these issues regarding music, unlike a concert where entertainment is the only domain”, she said.
Founder Natasha Noorani said that in the commercially evolving society success is often dictated by social situation/capital more so than the possession of the innate endowment or aptitude, while the shrinking of legitimate social spaces for expression and performance, especially in light of recent socio-political developments is another blockade. The marginalisation of music and its appropriations by those at the margins have given birth to a rich variety of creative cultural responses which remain lost in obscurity.
The event staged a dynamic interactive session on Fusion Music and with Arshad Mahmood, Ghazala Irfan, Ustad Pervez Paras and Rakae Jamil as the panellists. The discussion touched all aspects of the topic from the evolution of fusion music in Pakistan to the heated debate of its negative effects regarding adulterating purity of musical genres for commercial viability. While a total of ten sessions were on offer for the music savvy to choose from on the second and final day, it was a tough choice to pick one session over the other two. Composing Music with Ahsan Bari, Music Education with Shahzad Noor, the session with Noor Zehra and her voyage with music and instruments, the Art and Business of Film Scoring with Adnan Malik, Jami, Sahir Ali Bagga and Imran Raza were some of the discussions on the final day. The outdoor performances during the lunch interval and before the final session at night had the audience swaying and head-banging. The final session with Jimmy Khan and Asrar were the closing highlights of the event.
While talking to The News, Asrar said that the psychological, sociological and financial obstacles faced by the musicians and artists are by no means insurmountable. It is with the resilient efforts of talent individuals of this country that music continues to survive in such adversity, suggesting the viability of certain innovative strategies and techniques in production, dissemination etcetera, he commented. Talking about the LLM, he said the provision of such a platform is of critical necessity in encouraging the sharing of experiences and aspirations, the reclamation of production and performance spaces, the appreciation of the sociological contributions of music and efforts to preserve social narratives and critiques embedded within neglected forms of music.