Evening of instrumental music at PNCA held

Islamabad: An evening of Classical Instrumental Music held at Pakistan National Council of the Arts with Clarinet Player, Jaffar Hussain Randhawa and Sarangi Player, Zohaib Hussain.

The event was part of the PNCA programs for the promotion of classical music and musicians. Ustad Jaffar Hussain Randhawa, a popular name in the field, has been performing for the last four decades is one of the very few Clarinet players in the country, who started learning from his uncle Mohammad Sharif at the age of 7 years.

His stunning performance at the All Pakistan Music Conference in 1999 took him to circles of serious music listeners. He mesmerized the audience today with his matchless presentation. Other artist of the evening was Sarangi Player, Zohaib Hussain who is making his name in the field presented his best. Sarangi, a classical instrument of the sub-continent, is played in accompanying and solo as well. Great names of Sarangi players include Ustad Bundoo Khan, Ustad Hamid Hussain Khan, Ustad Zahoori Khan, Ustad Nathu Khan and so on.

The repertoire of Sarangi players is traditionally very closely related to vocal music. Nevertheless, a concert with a solo Sarangi as the main item will sometimes include a full-scale raag presentation with an extensive alap (the unmeasured improvisatory development of the raga) in increasing intensity (alap to jor to jhala) and several compositions in increasing tempo called bandish. As such, it could be seen as being on a par with other instrumental styles such as sitar, sarod, and bansuri.

"Classical music is our pride and base of the music of all kind but unfortunately with the advent of electronic gadgets and fastness in our lives the numbers of listeners of classical music became reduce day by day and so is the status of the musicians in the field," PNCA Director General Dr. Fouzia Saeed said.