NAPA celebrates its musical talent

Students gave good performances, audience felt that it was weak in terms of sound.

KARACHI: The final day of Gana Bajana: Ustad Say Shagird, a three-day event organised by the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa), brought the musical talent of its students on Sunday.

Originally scheduled for January 4, the event’s closing day co-hosted by Arshad Mehmood and Napa’s head of Music Department Nafees Ahmed was postponed as the murder of former Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer stirred turbulence across the city.

The show opened with the solo performances of Asif Samad, Saima Zakir and Fahad Mansoor.

Ahsan Shabbir with his band members brought the first group performance “Tum Jano” which struck the right chord with the audiences.

Asia Alam lent her voice to the composition of Napa’s alumnus Farrukh Ahmad Khan’s composition “Lagaay Na Mann Mora Toray Binaa”. Erum Nafees sang Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s ghazal “Phir Ainea Alam Pay Nikhar”. Between Alam and Nafees, it was hard to decide who captivated the audiences more but in Nafees Ahmed’s words, “Erum Nafees was better of the two since her singing style was stronger.”

Next was a pleasing classical performance on Raag Jog by Nadir Abbas.

Waqas Gulab, a young tabla player, presented another solo “Teen Taal.”

In the fusion segment, Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Nadir Abbas and Ahsan Shabbir sang a mix of a Chitrali folk song and “Unchained Melody”. The trio later fused a Siraiki folk song with another English song “Save the Last Dance”.

The event closed with the students performing to Amir Khusro’s poetry.

“The students gave good performances, the audience felt that it was weak in terms of sound. This was because there was a variety of songs and instruments being played, hence the sound was different in every piece of music. Otherwise it was a great evening” said Ahmad.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2011.