Music conference concludes: Week of entertainment comes to an end

And the lifetime achievement award goes to Sheema Kirmani

LAHORE: After entertaining audiences with classical and folk music for a week, the All Pakistan Music Conference finally came to an end on Sunday.

Various veteran and amateur classical singers competed over the span of a week at the event staged at Alhamra Arts Council.

More than 280 individuals of various classical music families from across Pakistan gave performances on dhol, folk, ghazal, khyal, tabla, sarangi, sarinda, thumri and other music genres, said APMC event manager Tariq Tarees.

Acclaimed folk dancer Sheema Kirmani was awarded the APMC’s 11th lifetime achievement award.



A performer, Beenish Pervaiz who began learning classical music at the age of eight from Ustad Faiz Ahmed Khan and has been performing at APMC since she was 13, said it was the only platform in Pakistan that provided opportunity to serious classical singers to showcase their talent.

Another performer Aisha Ali, a student of Talwandi music family, said the APMC was the most prominent platform in Pakistan for singers and musicians to come together and share their knowledge.

“Musicians can only keep their art alive through such platforms and performances, where audience have an interactive role to play, since it is becoming increasingly difficult to reach them live,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2016.