Cultural entities: Potohar folk music and poetry reading pulls big crowd at Lok Virsa

POTOHAR:

The folk music presented at the Potohar Festival pulled a big crowd on Monday, said a press release issued by the Lok Virsa. The Potohar festival that started at Lok Virsa, Shakarparian on Sunday highlights Potohari art and culture.

“The festival aims at promoting the rich musical heritage of Potohar,” said Lok Virsa Executive Director Khalid Javaid. Talking to mediapersons, he 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 Kashmir and sought to give everyone equal representation at the national level.

The Lok Virsa previously organised a “Lok Mela” in June with large scale participation by all provinces. Follow up festivals were held in Muzzafarabad, Multan and Narowal in collaboration with local cultural organizations and provincial departments.

The festival’s special attractions are folk musical shows, Potohari Bait, traditional dhol performance and poetry recitation by local poets. Arshad Mehmood group, Khadim Ali, Numberdar Ghulam Murtaza, Malik Shamshad, Malik Zeeshan Sadiq and Raja Amjad Mahmood performed and enthralled the visitors on the first day.

The festival will run till October 14 from 5pm to 8pm at the Lok Virsa Complex.

Javed said “Lok Virsa is trying to highlight and project the beautiful culture, arts, crafts and musical heritage of all federating units, regions and remote areas with a view to give them equal represtation at the national level”. This Potohar folk music is also a step forward in this direction, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2011.