2nd Lahore Music Meet aims to be bigger and better

Co-founder says, "We are focusing on building upon blocks from last year and taking them forward from where we...

LAHORE:

How do individuals successfully market themselves as musicians in Pakistan? What is the corporate patronage of music? And what is the scope of metal music in Pakistan? These were some of the pressing questions that were raised at the first Lahore Music Meet (LMM) last year. This year’s LLM will be a two-day event that will be held on April 2 and April 3. And, the organisers vow that it will be even bigger and better than the last one.

Talking to The Express Tribune, co-founder of LMM, Natasha Noorani shared, “We are focusing on building upon blocks from last year and taking them forward from where we left.” Speaking purely about content, she disclosed 80% of it is fresh while 20% will be an extension of last year’s discussions. “The idea is to have more wholesome panel discussions by looking at topics from a different vantage point. Last year, we had a corporate patronage session but the representatives weren’t musicians; they were the corporations themselves.”



This year, LMM has a similar session called “(In)corporating music” and will have producers and musicians such as Zoe Viccaji, Sara Haider and Jamal Rahman as panelists. They are equipped to shed light on the other side of existing dynamics in a way corporate bigwigs can’t. Indeed, corporate sponsorship is enormously relevant, the problems of which become apparent when one sees corporations laying out sponsorship for promoting only selected artists. Zahra Paracha, co-founder of LMM stated, “This year, we’ve been giving a lot more thought into how the sessions will roll out, who the moderators should be and where they will go with the subject.”

It is mainly a four pronged effort divided into panel sessions, workshops, live performances and storytelling sessions. “The problem with the industry is that sometimes, there aren’t enough people to facilitate a panel discussion on a pertinent topic so we turn it into a storytelling session,” shared Paracha, adding that the aim is to cover all aspects of music, from academia, technicalities or business.



Besides, the annual relevance of the dialogue specifically aimed at the current music situation of the country is what the organisers argue makes LMM different. According to them, last year a lot of people responded well to workshops and felt they took something home from the event. “A lot of musicians aren’t good with speaking. They are just good with their art so we’re focusing on how to tailor the festival to suit the musicians, such as with workshops.” The workshops include one on the mechanics of metal, scoring Manto with Jamal Rehman and one with the Mekaal Hassan Band, to name a few.



There will be more performances this year, as opposed to last year where besides the headliners — Asrar, Jimmy Khan and the Big Ears, Sachal Orchestra and Ustaad Naseeruddin Sami — there were only sporadic outdoor performances during sessions. This year, they will set up an outdoor stage solely dedicated to performances through the day. “We also opened up for demos this year so a lot of new talent will get a spot to play and at any given time, people have the option to go hear live music or sit in on a session,” mentioned Noorani. Live performers for this year include Red Blood Cat and Mai Dhai on day one and Sounds of Kolachi and Attaullah Esakhelvi on day two. Last year’s attendance was about 10,000 over the course of two days and this year twice as many people are expected. She acknowledges, “It’s been a struggle to get sponsors because of the country’s security situation and people are nervous. Although, the festival is still young — it will only get easier with time.” Either way, LLM remains one of Pakistan’s free-for-all music symposiums, with its proverbial heart in the right place, bringing together the diverse and disparate sounds of Pakistani music and transcending social strata’s like music is supposed to.



Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st,  2016.

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