When the Lahore Music Forum was formed about six years ago, it was hoped this organisation would be a long lasting affair but it appears that it is on the verge of being wound up.

The real purpose of setting up the Lahore Music Forum was to integrate the art and craft when it came to classical music. It has been noticed and observed by many that the classical music performance in Pakistan in particular suffers from lack of an organic integration of craft and form. Somehow, the virtuosity of a vocalist or an instrumentalist stands apart from the total impact of the performance with the result that the display of skill becomes the sole criteria for assessment of a musical performance.

Virtuosity in the art of a good vocalist or an instrumentalist is embedded in his expression but when it falls in the hands of lesser exponents, it becomes bare and unmasked. Some connoisseurs like Saqib Razaq and Zulqarnain Kalyar on reaching this conclusion decided to do something about putting it back on track where the primacy was granted to lagao and rachao of the sur rather than tayari, mukhkilaat and laikari. Initially, about ten members founded the organisation including Hasan Azad who is an academic and has learnt to play the sitar competently.

One has seen many bodies spring up for the promotion of music, in particular classical music, and have consequently found it difficult to survive beyond the first flush of their launch. Very few bodies have been consistent in the promotion or propagation whatever they set out to do, as most either wind up very soon or just exist on paper without any worthwhile activity, only resurrected for sporadic purposes.

The effort to keep going is one of the main challenges that these bodies fail to meet. As these bodies are usually voluntary organisations, the initial commitments made in terms of time devoted and finances do not really hold and very soon the members begin to lose interest or get prematurely fatigued. The only organisation in Lahore which has been consistent over the last fifty years in its pursuit of the promotion of music has been the All Pakistan Music Conference.

Even if there is a group of committed individuals, the workload usually falls on the shoulders of one individual who may be the prime mover of the whole initiative. After a few meetings that are attended with a great deal of enthusiasm, with the avowed aim of moving heaven and earth, the rush of over-commitment begins to ease, and it is left to an individual or a couple to carry the main burden of organisational work. This can easily lead to bickering and backbiting on the apportionment of work and time; so the group begins with intensified recrimination to fall apart.

The other central question is of finances. Some organisations have attempted to get funding through NGOs and as long as the source of funding stays secure the organisation keeps functioning, at times with greater pride and pomp than required, but begins to fizzle out with the source of funding drying up. If the body is running on voluntary donation like a monthly or a yearly membership fee, then the most difficult task is to not only collect the funds regularly but to meet with the growing nastiness of those giving the subscription. This is usually in the form of criticism in the way the body is being run or the presentation of new demands and expectations about the performer or the programmes.

In the end it becomes impossible to meet with the divergent demands of all members. Each programme leaves a number of members dissatisfied leading to more bickering, loss of interest and apathy.

Saqib Razaq has been quite active in the music circles. He learnt the rudiments of music from a number of practitioners and then started a website Sadarang.com that has showcased Pakistani classical music in particular and classical music in general. It is accessible and is continuously being updated with information on music as well as music itself. Zulqarnain Kalyar, too, had a good collection of music and is insightful about this subtle art.

One admired the enthusiasm of Saqib Razaq, in particular, because he was running the body from the Gulf where he is gainfully employed. It became easier for him to manage, even micro manage through the latest means of communications and he also made it a point to travel quite frequently to Lahore to be physically part of the programmes. But in the end it was his absence and the waning enthusiasm that has made the Lahore Music Forum slacken its pace.

In the last few years, many shared the vision of Lahore Music Forum by offering their venues like a private hotel, National College of Arts, the Alhamra, Punjab Institute of Language and Culture, Hust-o-Neest and Nairang Galleries. It was not only the lack of finances that forced Lahore Music Forum to hunt for venues but the genuine concern of the aforesaid bodies to offer their part in the endeavour.

It is still expected that the prime mover of the Forum will work out a last minute miracle and forestall the closure of the body. It has in the past years made its presence felt and the classical vocalist and musicians will be the saddest as they always looked forward to these concerts.