Potohari folk musicevent attracts large crowd

Islamabad: A folk music event at ‘Lok Baithak’ attracted residents of Islamabad and Rawalpindi in large numbers. Faisal Raja, a Potohari folk singer, and Chaudhary Sagheer, a famous Pothohari Bait Baz with his party, enthralled the audience by their performances.

The Lok Virsa organized the session with special cooperation of Syed Muntazir Imam Rizvi - a research scholar in Potohari folklore and a renowned radio and TV anchorperson. The special attractions were folklore of Potohar, Potohari Bait, traditional dhol performance and poetry recitation by local poets. “The session aims at promoting the rich musical heritage of Potohar,” said Lok Virsa Deputy Director Research and Media Centre Zubia Sultana.

She said that Lok Virsa was in a unique position to highlight the culture, art, and crafts of all cultural entities of Pakistan including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir and sought to give everyone equal representation at the national level. She said the main purpose of “Lok Baithak” was to revive the traditional informal settings of the traditional and rural communities. The ‘Lok Baithaks’ were multifaceted and used to serve the multiple purposes of associationalism, camaraderie, entertainment, social cohesion, knowledge sharing, the creation of disciplinarian and organizational spirit, and above all hub of promotion of art and culture in the general communities, she added. A female student from a local academic institute said, “The Potohari Lok Baithak at Lok Virsa truly represents the cultural identity of the people of northern Punjab."

She said the Lok Virsa event was open to the people of all age groups and multiple ethnicities in the style that they themselves were the speakers and listeners with the Lok Virsa being a regulator and facilitator only.