Saz-o-Ahang: Classical music’s timeless charm

Trans-culture beats bring the house down.

ISLAMABAD:

Classical music will always reign supreme as the fount of all music despite the time and promotional drives devoted to lighter forms particularly ear-splitting hybrid pop that rules the roost as far as its projection on electronic media is concerned.

The timeless charm of the ragas and classical melodies once again carried the day at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) presentation of its ‘Saz-o-Ahang’ programme for which an apt ambience had been created by the profusion of flowers and rows of diyyas ( clay-oil lamps) decorating the stage through jharokas and silk cascades.

PNCA Director General Tauqeer Nasir dubbed the fare a “preservation and promotion of culture to improve the soft image of the country, worldwide.” The guest of honour was the internationally-acclaimed maestro, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan. Shafqat Salamat Ali Khan, a descendent of the Sham Chorasi Gharana, stole the show by a medley of ghazals and classical pieces. He started off with Ameer Khusrau’s popular composition — a devotional, spiritual raga — flying into other classical pieces as requests trickled in one after the other. He gave a stellar rendition of Bulleh Shah’s kalaam (mystic poem), stringing together Ghalib and Iqbal’s couplets in a harmony of many colours.

Going solo at first and then orchestrated into one performance, Gulab Jamal from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa performed popular tunes on rubab. Salman Adil’s melodious flute and Liaquat Ali’s skills on jaltarang and santoor were followed by tabla (with Ejaz Nawaz) and Amir Hussain’s soulful tunes on sitar.

The instrumental was coupled with vocal performances as Tabbassum Warsi performed ghazals like ‘Mujh se pehli si muhabbat’ and ‘Raat dhalne laggi.’

In the audience, Asian Study Group president Parveen Malik called the performance

“Simply amazing! It transported me to another world. He [Salamat] gave a brilliant performance. They [PNCA] have woken up to such events after a while and should continue them.”

Political activist and renowned mystic musician, Arieb Azhar was more critical about the fusion of sub-cultures. “It was a great show; Shafqat Salamat Ali is a great asset of our country. At a very young age, he has represented the country in India, America and so on. However, they often underestimate the audience by inviting too many artists of varying genres,” he said, adding “Every musician should be allowed to perform his/her forte. Classical music is a deep experience and requires a certain mood and tempo. All in all, it was a great show.”

A striking feature of the evening was the generous turnover, filling up seats, aisles and steps amid enthused applause and repeated requests.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2011.