Days gone by: All that jazz-ed

A documentary reminisces the glorious days of music in pre-Zia Karachi.

ISLAMABAD: All the crazy things they did in the 50’s will remain to be the best memories for the minority community residing in Karachi. The remnants of the Jazz musicians from Karachi reminisced their days of glory via Umbreen Butt and Salik Sheikh’s documentary ‘All That Jazz’ at Kuch Khaas on Wednesday.

The movie was featured upon Karachi’s multi-cultural music scene in the pre-prohibition 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. This was the time when ballroom-dance schools were set up on Elphinstone Street, the Hotel Metropole was a popular hangout and Goan musicians were playing almost nightly at 007, cabarets and other venues around the city.

A time when the minority community played a significant role in promoting and contributing to the metropolitan’s culture, the harmony of the saxophone with the piano jazzed up an average Thursday night.  When institutes were established to teach ballroom dancing and when Ramba Samba and tango were popular, Karachi ‘had a more refined outlook than it does today’.

Ayesha Tammy Haq, columnist and a TV talk show host, said, “Minorities had an elevated status and we were a much more tolerant society.”

Umbreen Butt discussed the discotheque culture in the 60’s while recreating the extravagant ‘cabaret scene’ through the words of those who witnessed this Karachi during their childhood.

“This is a part of our history that is dying. Amongst the musicians who played Jazz during that era, only one is alive now,” said Butt, while addressing the audience. “Our generation only remembers tanks and bombs, but it is important to capture a moment of Pakistan that used to exist,” she said.

Live Jazz music has departed from our lives, but it is still alive in the minority community. The churches around Karachi still promote the talent within their community.

Rodney Judd said, “Our culture has not changed but the culture around us has and that is the reason why we feel like misfits in this society.”

The arrival of the Zia regime saw an end to the vibrant culture of a city that once was the hub of musical activity in the country. The Palace Hotel, now the Sheraton, that once saw Alco Alex from Rawalpindi play along with Quincy Jones, now struggles daily to ensure the safety of its clients and infrastructure. Norman de Souza, a noted jazz musician from the minority community sadly recounts, “As the Zia regime took over, the discos, bars and clubs closed down and tolerance went up in smoke.”

The audience at Kuch Khaas swayed to Santana’s ‘Black Magic Woman’, while the old generation Karachites present felt nostalgic. “I went to school with these musicians. There were no barriers and no one cared what religion we had as long as we were cordial with each other,” said an audience member. “But that is a Karachi that is long gone and will never come back,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2011.