Hitting all the right notes…

LUMS festival features workshops for better understanding of entertainment industry and of different styles of music.

LAHORE:

The second day of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) music festival featured several workshops for a better understanding of the entertainment industry and of different styles of music.

Several bands from Lahore gathered to learn more about guitars, drums, tabla, sitar and vocalists Ali Azmat, Omran Shafique, Ravail Sattar, Rakae and Ustad Raza Shaukat talked about the importance of vocal training. Participants interacted through a question and answer session before the bands performed live.

Mauj and Co-VEN member, Omran Shafique talked to students about the guitar and highlighted various complicated riffs, strumming, lead plays and tuning techniques. “Rock sounds are hazy and for the average player there is no better advice than ‘practice makes one perfect’,” he said, adding “music students need to develop an appreciation for all sorts of music to improve their technique.”

The workshops also featured sessions on classical instruments such as the sitar and tabla conducted by sitar player Rakae and tabla player Ustad Raza Shaukat.

Several students were surprised to find themselves thoroughly enjoying the classical music even though they generally preferred modern music.  Rakae said,“I don’t collaborate with many musicians. But it is a privilege to perform with rock musicians.” Rakae also demonstrated various styles of playing the sitar including the Ravi Shankar and Wilayat Khan styles.

Ustad Shaukat demonstrated various styles of playing the tabla and told students that the instrument’s beats were based on the ‘movement’ of the elephant. He highlighted two major strains of table playing; the Delhi strain which is delicate and the Punjabi strain which was energetic and powerful.

“Classical music is a way of life. There is so much to explore in any given instrument. It changes your life because all you really need to feel complete is your instrument and the skills to master it,” Ustad Raza said.

A large number of students participated in a drums workshop conducted by Ravail Sattar. Participants were made aware of different drum beats regarding time signatures that he showed through a demonstration of a ‘bumblebee sound’, considered to be one of the fastest beats in the world. Sattar also demonstrated the beats/sec theory by playing odd beats and invited the participants to play with him.

Lums students eagerly waited for the vocal workshop being conducted by Ali Azmat which was held at the end. Azmat spoke about his life experiences and how Rock music had changed his life. “The claim that rock and roll is all about drugs is a myth,” he said, adding “Musicians who died young from drug overdoses like Jimmi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison were addicts but that is not what the music is about. I did it once and I was falling off the stage puking afterwards. It isn’t the reason to choose music.” “The only real way to connect with an audience is to fear nothing and just sing. You will find yourself hitting notes you never believed you were capable of,” he said.

After the workshops the participants waited for live concert by several students and resource persons.

At the closing of the event Ali Azmat performed some of his most famous singles along with Omran Shafique and Gumby.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2011.