ISLAMABAD: Experts at the concluding session of a two-day national conference on “safeguarding Pakistan’s intangible cultural heritage” stressed the need to establish cultural centres in all districts of the country. The conference concluded at the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) in Islamabad on Wednesday.
Participants including eminent folklorists, scholars, researchers, intellectuals, poets and cultural experts called for setting up cultural centres in all districts, where traditional practitioners - youth in particular - can demonstrate their talent and win recognition. These centres can also play a vital role in documenting and projecting the indigenous folk literature, experts added.
The chief guest Federal Minister for Culture, Science and Technology Pir Aftab Hussain Shah Jilani said, “Intangible heritage directly relates to the common man but unfortunately, he does not know its nature and importance.”
He said it is “imperative” for everyone related to the culture sector to highlight the significance of intangible culture in people’s lives.
“The present government is determined to protect all art forms of our traditional culture,” he added.
Speaking on “confused identities in classification of music”, Shiraz Haider, an artist, said, “Folk music is one of the most confused phrases in the history of music.” Despite emergence of
an enormous body of literature on folk music, there is no certain definition of what folk music is.
In the simplest term, folk music is defined to be typical of a nation or ethnic group, known to all segments of its society and preserved usually by oral traditions, Haider explained.
Another participant Aisha Asim Imdad, in her paper “The situational analysis of craft sector” gave various short-term and long-term recommendations on how to revive old techniques and re-use traditional designs/motifs in craft production and ways to market them.
Women constitute more than 50 per cent of the world population and play important roles in the country’s development, said folklorist Humera Naz while speaking on her paper “Women in the folklore of Sindh: Myth or Reality”. She said that women work longer hours and bear nearly all responsibility of childcare and household.
The insignificance given to the role played by women and their status in the society during the course of history has been the driving force in her investigation in this area, Naz said.
A noted folklorist, poet and playwright Sarmad Sehbai wrote in his paper, “Through the times, the written word survives, but the performance cultures of music, dance and theatre remain intangible. The text becomes alive when it is performed.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2011.
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