Arts Council launches journal to promote literature, culture

KARACHI:

Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, has launched the first issue of its journal with a unique title, 'Arzang', to promote literature and culture.

The journal's editor-in-chief is poet, literary critic and linguist Prof Seher Ansari while playwright Haseena Moin is the editor.

In his foreword, Prof Ansari says the journal has been named Arzang to reflect the activities of the Arts Council. He explains that an artist of ancient China, Mani, had named his studio and a book of his paintings and drawing, Arzang. It is difficult to say what its pronunciation was in ancient Chinese language but, in Persian, it has been written as either Arzang or Ardang. The name of a character in Firdausi's Shahnama is also Arzang. Prof Ansari says they have provided a specimen of the lines along which the journal will be brought out in the future.



The journal carries both unpublished and published material. The latter, as Prof Ansari says, has been included to encourage our writers to focus on these issues in the future.

Moin writes about the difficulties she faced in obtaining contribution. She says that we have a dearth of writers, poets and painters. In the past, we had many writers, poets, artists and musicians of high calibre but now there is a severe shortage of them. She says that even in these days of decline of culture, she found contributors who complied with her request.

Among other things, the inaugural issue of Arzang has short stories by Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Quratul Ain Haider, Ashfaq Ahmed and Amar Jaleel , an article by Shafi Aqeel on late painter Sadequain, an article and an interview of the late film artist Lehri by Dr Ambareen Hasib, a memory sketch of late poet Faiz Ahmed Ahmed by his daughter Muneeza Hashmi, several ghazals of Mir Taqi Mir, a piece by humour and satire writer Mushtaq Ahmed Yusufi, Mashafi se interview by Anwar Maqsood, an article by Prof Ansari, and poems by Muneer Niazi, Khaleeque Ibrahim Khaleeque, Prof Ansari, Kishwar Naheed and Pushpa Wallabh.

The piece de resistance is an article on the decline of sub-continental music. It surveys music from De de khuda ke nam pe piyare/ Taqat ho gar dene ki — the first song of the first Indian talkie, Alam Ara, released in 1931 — up to Munni badnaam hui darling teray liye/Amiya se aam hui darling tere liye. The survey shows how over the years, film music degenerated into gibberish such as Tun, tun, tun tara/ Chalti hai kya nau se bara. The journal is a prized possession for those interested in literature and culture. Its formal launch will take place soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2016.