Life & Style

Live your culture with Danka

Danka revamps its cultural guide as the web-portal goes national.

Saadia Qamar April 27, 2011

KARACHI:

Danka — a web portal that started in 2005 in Lahore has now emerged as a complete guide at the national level. Now based in three major cities of Pakistan — Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad — it’s a website for people who want to stay updated on cultural happenings, as well as for organisers as an online marketing tool.

Matthias Gattermeier, an Austrian national, is the manager at Danka and runs the entire show based here in Pakistan. Talking to The Express Tribune, Gattermeier shared his vision behind the project.

What is Danka?

Danka is a not-for-profit social initiative dedicated to advance Pakistan’s culture as a whole. While it started as an online event listing, Danka pursues more proactive approaches to let people explore their cultural heritage, for instance, by organising cultural trips for students.

How did the idea of a cultural portal come about?

Danka was founded in 2005 by my friends. Many of them were attached to the cultural place in Lahore called Chitrikar.

How large is your team?

We are based in three major cities, with a different number of members in every place. Currently in Lahore, we have around eight people working in Danka.

What’s Danka philosophy?

The website follows an approach of openness. Anyone can contribute by uploading events, by creating their own page or by updating an artist’s page. Just about everything is possible and we are constantly extending the features of the platform.

How is the new Danka different from Danka Lahore and Danka Karachi?

Danka is a nationwide initiative. For reasons of convenience and logistics, the old project was split into city-versions. If you have a look at the new platform, www.danka.tv, you will notice that the new filter technique made this segregation obsolete. Now Danka covers all cities in one spot.

What makes Danka different from KarachiSnob.com?

KarachiSnob.com has an entirely different objective. Danka has a horizontal and neutral approach. We communicate and appreciate the culture of our country as a whole, not making differences between different social classes or groups. Also, Danka is not aiming to generate profit but to encourage people to explore and discover their own culture. This makes us unique within the cultural scene of Pakistan.

Being six years old, how has Danka positioned itself in a niche market?

It is fair to say that Danka always was and still is the number one platform when it comes to cultural event listing and communication in Pakistan. This unique position is due to the fact that the platform was not only born out of necessity but was invented by creative artists, cultural centres and the audience itself.

How do you deal with terrorism against cultural activities?

We have never received any threat. And we do consider our work as a part of the answer to the problem. There is no reason for us to give up, there is no alternative to our work. Sometimes we even feel that the recent political development raises the need for cultural activities. Many new cultural places are popping up and the number of such events numbers is increasing all over the country.

Where do you see Danka in the next few years?

The platform now does something really new: It connects event locations and artists automatically. If you select any of our artist profiles online, you will see where he or she will perform next month or if you have a look at the location page, you will get a whole list of all cultural performances that were held or are about to take place at that place.

Danka has the potential to make the cultural scene of Pakistan more vibrant, more lively and more active. The more artists, event organisers, cultural centres and the general public participate, the more they benefit. Culture is the core ingredient of democracy, participation and peace.

One word to define Danka would be?

One word might just not be enough. Essentially Danka means to “Live your culture”.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (27)

Shahid Mirza | 13 years ago | Reply @ fatima, I wont even feel surprised if “people with dark skins” might have suspicions about the intentions of “people with skins of lighter shades” but that’s a psychological problem rather than cultural/anthropological problem. I am surprised at your comment miss anthropologist, It is not a psychological problem, it is a political problem.

Shahid Mirza | 13 years ago | Reply @mm: why forners have to come here and expedite cultural events is pakistani people dont want to do hard stuff. Forners dont come here or go anywhere else to expedite culture but on assignments or vacation, and the hard stuff is born and fixed if/when by locals, sponsorships are different as those are business investments and not love of art. Doing painting/music/dance in pakistan is hard now thanks to the ill conceived policies of the west and americans who promoted the jihadi groups to fight communism, the nato army is still fighting a war here, posting stuff which local do on the website is hardly hard stuff and requires average intelligence/effort, you could have just hired a sensible person and saved you the 'paid' trip to expedite culture. We are reminding you that culture is good thing for your country. Thank you very much, we are creating art since Indus valley civilization which btw is not a dead culture but a continuous one so we told you what culture was to begin with. Only if you were more intimately familiar with the local scene (any locality that is) you would have learned that culture is not something you put on walls, perform on stage or advertise on danka, you make it, live it and nurture with sweat & blood. West has better culture because it is more developed and people give value to it. It is not better you are more accustomed to it for others it could be ridiculous, the west has managed to steal enough money & man power from colonization to be in the dictating position not because they were better artists but because they were better armed and posses better advertising skills. people in the west give value to it because they have been brainwashed to buy and sell art, you have the royals & the royalty, here it is debatable, we primitives value the artistic expression more than the market value. Pakistani people should appreciate something by us instead of criticising always. no one had the idea of doing something like this when we started it. Wrong wrong & wrong, it is a local idea developed/executed by the locals with foreign friends (WE) who are not as crude as you fortunately and had the ability to appreciate local culture, engage with locals and do less talking & more concrete work. Plus the idea of having a cultural directory on net did not start with danka anyways it was an idea which was just replicated here. Eventually you will learn there is no Pakistani people as such, its a misconception, we are punjabi, baluchi, pakhtoon and sindhi people and very few understand english let alone use internet so whatever you do it only caters to a certain class of people..the worst class. @natasha, i have been a part of danka since it was born and remain a part of it till date i was about to provide you answers you sought but thanks to mm (head of operations at present) ended up being on your side, thanks for your input.

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natasha | 13 years ago | Reply @ Aimon Fatima: @ Fatima: @ mm: Let this be known that I openly commend the commitment of Danka to the cause of ‘promoting’ Pakistani Culture. I respect it. My question: Is Danka an international organization or a local one? It’s important to establish that because our preservation and promotion of culture is not exactly like installing a water pump or provision of tables and books for a school. The expertise and research lying at the foot of all three objectives is different. Because when one doesn’t understand the difference, incoherent interviews like this followed by insensitive and spiteful retaliation to criticism are inevitable. If Danka has other members and organizers, why are they nowhere to comment? Is it because they can’t themselves, or they won’t be encouraged or allowed to. I don’t dislike Goras. My line of work (Development in the NGO sector) expects me to interact with them on a regular basis. I particularly like them best when they visit us and show interest in a curious attempt to know us better and discover what interests them. I like them least when they swell their faces, lift their eyebrows and start enlisting their favorite, “the problem with Pakistan is….’ We know the plethora of problems with Pakistan. We live through them everyday. My frustration/ personal beef with foreigners coming to town and pretending to delve deep into our life is a little more than humoring myself over their infatuation with our chai dhabas and rickshaw rides. Also, this is not the first piece of writing I’ve come across in my career, highlighting the great initiatives of a friendly visitor introducing their own version of a grand system of doing things. This happens in international NGOs all the time. A great plan on paper, lots of enthusiasm, pictures taken, locals excited with a new dream for a pitiless tomorrow and then boom… the Goras have to leave. Either due to security reasons, expiration of contract or simply because their vacation to the lovely barrens of the third world is over. And sometimes there is a cultural/political conflict when the locals gang up against them urging them to leave. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,4565c2254a,465459f42,49c7456c2c,0.html. I can give a list of 50 new visitors in town recruited for a variety of reasons including that of their expertise in areas of R&D. Having to go through their extensive CVs and inconclusive final reports towards the end of their interim again and again is my personal beef. The money involved in their stipends, housing is my personal beef. And lastly, the great stories of 3 cups of tea (along with the cups) that they take home, is my personal beef. What I’m trying to say here is self explanatory in mm’s response to my comment. He has continued to add to my agitation by wording: 1) Pakistani people don’t want to do hard stuff. We had a local team earlier that failed to do much. (Insulting) 2) West has better culture because it is more developed and people give value to it. (Who says something STUPID like that?) 3) Join us on our next trip to places you haven’t seen. (I can show you more places that you might have not seen btw) Is he for real? These comments aren’t tad bit less than shameful if you ask me. This kind of mindset in words of someone ‘masterminding’ a cultural storm for Pakistan isn’t very far from what we have studied in history books as the impact of colonialism on our people, land and consequently culture. I really admire the efforts of Danka team at large and use the site myself as an informative tool. But if mm’s comments are representative of the grand ideology of Danka, I’ll make it a point to not use the site for its imperialistic agenda. I understand that culture is representative of creative events, art ventures and street life. But I’m again drawing everyone’s attention here to not undermine the experiences of local Pakistanis by telling them that their engine is basically useless without reliance on imported spare parts. Promote the culture of Pakistan; make a start with engaging Pakistanis in their own group. Lastly I’d say you have responded in a more culturally sensitive and attuned manner than mm here. It could be your intuition and it could be your understanding of the mind of an average Pakistani (guilty of having psychological issues with the West). I appreciate that because knowing ‘that’ is too a part of this culture! I’m surprised that you have not responded to mm’s comments. Are you ignoring them or agreeing with them? Either way, equally sad as the Juggler’s account.

Aimon Fatima | 13 years ago | Reply @natasha: A juggler pierces an ice-pick through the skin over his ribs and pulls two heavy motorcycles with the mere force of his skin while a little girl watches him wondering if that was magic or illusion. Many years later, the girl goes back to find that juggler but gets disappointed to know that the juggler died leaving no successor. That girl was I. The juggler was dead and so did his art! Does anyone know who that juggler was and where did he go? Does anyone know that the poor juggler died because of a lack of money? Does anyone know that the lack of money rose from a lack of audience? The juggler had less audience but do you think that the juggler was not a part of our culture OR even better do you think that people were not interested in his art ? No my friend, No! The only reason was that people had started taking this facet of Pakistani culture for granted - this is happening to a major part of our culture! Many important cultural facets are getting lost in history because we have taken them for granted, because we are forgetting those facets. Danka,especially Danka's series of trips, is saving those cultural facets from getting lost by making Pakistanis re-live, appreciate and value them as preservation comes only when someone starts appreciating and valuing something; that why it "claims to encourage people to explore and discover their own culture." You are right that "culture is there"; I believe Danka is also not creating any culture - if it is creating anything then that is a culture of exploring our own culture! Natasha, Pakistanis need to stop taking their culture for granted and actually need to start re-living it! Did you know that in Khel community of the Saraiki region, they regularly perform folk musicals? I bet if you even know who Kehls are?! "Danka has the potential to make the cultural scene of Pakistan more vibrant, more lively and more active" because it is helping Pakistanis re-discover the vibrancy of their culture. Being an Anthropologist, I think Danka is doing a great job. I wont even feel surprised if "people with dark skins" might have suspicions about the intentions of "people with skins of lighter shades" but that's a psychological problem rather than cultural/anthropological problem so I suggest that the greater cause of cultural preservation should be focused on instead on crying over a lack of "having 3 cups of tea" in your courtyard - its not necessary that "they" all serve you tea in broken cups.

yaqoob blogger | 13 years ago | Reply woooo... 'mm' must be Mr. Matthias Gattermeier himself. his comments leave me speachless....rude, obnoxious, and the best way to say, condescending attitude he has shown... after Raymond Davis, and 3 cups of tea scandal, we have another 'forner' saying rude and disrespectful things about Pakistan and Pakistani... why don't you chillout Mr. Gattermeier, and learn to be respectful of the culture and people you are trying to promote

Fatima too | 13 years ago | Reply @natasha: Some of your criticism such as the outdated profiles etc is fair enough but I don't see why you are so agitated about a gora coming to work for Danka. He's not claiming to own our culture or know better about it, hes just working to promote it. I think its a bit racist to attack him so much on that. I mean new adopted foreign treasure of danka from the white lands..seriously?!? I'm guessing from your reference to rickshaw rides that you have some kind of personal beef here. Also - His naivety on the topic is of no surprise to me. e.g. Sometimes we even feel that the recent political development raises the need for cultural activities. Have you been living in the country you claim to know better than any white skinned person?! The psychological pressures of living here are very real and culture is a GREAT outlet and relief for us. The only thing I agree with from your very passionate, slightly incoherent attack was your statement that the culture is there. But thats precisely why Danka is there - to PROMOTE that culture and give people access to it. Maybe it is a shame that a gora has to come here and work to promote our culture (although I don't see why you have a greater right to strum a sitaar just because you happened to be born here) but thats a reflection on you and me, not him.

user55 | 13 years ago | Reply @amedius: You can comment on the Danka Wall http://www.danka.tv/?var_action=wall

sajjad haider | 13 years ago | Reply Great to see people expressing themselves freely and that the Tribune article has opened this window of opportunity. I, along with several locals and few foriegners, have been closely associated with Danka for the past 5 years but Matt has been a very positive influence on Danka in the past 2 months or so with his energy and push to make Danka more popular and active and we are hopeful that for the remaining few months that he is in Pakistan he will continue his positive supportive contribution to Danka. The editor of the article may have stretched his role in Danka but thats just that, nothing else. Lovely to hear new people learning about Danka and what its doing. Danka is meant to be a platform for all those interested about Pakistani culture and everyones contribution, comments and efforts are most welcome. If you have a strong opinion on how Danka should be changed, we welcome you to email us, call us and come meet with us to discuss your concerns. @amin: were not doing events, merely highlighting them so u can be a part of them @amedius: we will be doing something about that soon @tanya: glad Danka has been of service to you

mm | 13 years ago | Reply Danka's Women in Culture seeks to facilitate the involvement of women, aiming to increase the number of women in the audience of art as well as raise the profiles of female artists in Pakistan. Phone: +92 332 4832443 Email: management@danka.tv

tanya | 13 years ago | Reply Rafi Peer received terror threats and had to stop yearly events. Events get threats all the time. I am connected to Lahore Arts Council and have to say threats are there. Govt has reduced our funds for organizing festivals. People dont want to go to public events because of security reasons. Dont you think it is narrow minded of you to assume that there is no threat and culture is flourishing? On another note, danka has helped us greatly publicing events, we are thankful.

karachisnob | 13 years ago | Reply Karachi snob is also neutral and horizontal. Please check facts before making a comment like that.

umair | 13 years ago | Reply @ Natasha Your own site has been failure to copy our way of things. I have read your blog, it will be closing soon because of sponsorship going away. You have a problem with danka coz u dont have traffic. mm might not know our culture but he cares about it. Why do you not like gora?

amedius | 13 years ago | Reply Danka has 8 members. are they in different cities or countries. there should be numbers with names, location and addresses in contact section. why is no comment page on danka

crazysleepy | 13 years ago | Reply danka! yay!! pakistan's timeout!!!

amin islam ghulaman | 13 years ago | Reply wow.. i never knew about this. amazing. you are doing so many events? amazing

anam | 13 years ago | Reply i've been a fan of this site for a long time. my fav spot for happenings info. great to see the new layout. but it takes very long to load pages.

seher | 13 years ago | Reply Wonderful Danka. amazing looking. keep up the great job guys

mm | 13 years ago | Reply @yaqoob blogger pakistani team for danka is there. there is no public pakistani local face for danka. danka is itself the face. @natasha thanks for the comments natasha. but the reason why forners have to come here and expedite cultural events is pakistani people dont want to do hard stuff. We had a local team earlier that failed to do much. this time we have a new team with a new method. Setting up a site is easy but have run is not so much easy. we aew not trying to create culture for you. the article doesnt represent how it was meaning. we are reminding you that culture is good thing for your country. it gives people something to do and something to feel positive about. danka is a giant success because tens of hundred hits each day. west has better culture because it is more developed and people give value to it. danka is not about color of skin. we love your culture. if you want to take our place you are welcom. we will take your advice and study more people and activities. we need to make the artist page good too. why dont you help us with people in cultural activities. we are also hiring people for the new team. we want to have more videos and pictures of events to make site attractive. please help us with your network of friends to contribute and join us on our next trip to places you havent seen. pakistani people should appreciate something by us instead of criticising always. no one had the idea of doing something like this when we started it. @ ali i'm not from china. @ sadaf n thanks @ shazia excellent question. facebook is a social networking site and danka is a cultural activity port. chillout pakistani friends. time to do more work and talk less

Fatima | 13 years ago | Reply @yaqoob blogger: @natasha: yes, but local media still do not learn it. Danka has more local faces and only one gora and what does Tribune do... put the gora as front man!

Qaiser | 13 years ago | Reply @shazia: try to find something in FB and you will see the point - you might find some high class events or some birthday parties... but not everything nicely on one page with category filters, city filters, artists connectors, etc... anyway I guess the Danka people have a FB page too.

shazia | 13 years ago | Reply everyone uses facebook these days. What's the point?

sadaf n | 13 years ago | Reply congratulations Danka members. well done Chitrkar team

ali | 13 years ago | Reply what happened to old danka? they were good people. who is this chikna?

saleem nayyar | 13 years ago | Reply site ka link bhi bata day bhai?

natasha | 13 years ago | Reply When a foreigner comes to Pakistan and in a few days picks up a few greeting words in local language and makes broken conversation with us, i find it.. umm.. cute! This is exactly what's happening here. Mr Mathias on a short backpacking style trip to Pakistan is claiming to *'to encourage people to explore and discover their own culture. REALLY? !! This is the result of a lack of understanding of local culture on part of this new adopted foreign treasure of danka from the white lands. Is he also defining our culture to us now by organizing road trips on rickshaw rides to inner city? Pakistani culture is a lot more complicated than that. Local cultural enthusiasts (who exist btw) have been since long, immersed therein with great sincerity; researching, documenting and more recently attempting to preserve real treasures and stories of cultural icons. But the excited gora tourists fail to see this, let alone take the time to try and understand. Our culture is not just content for a magazine blog, peoples pages of GT magazines or an online calendar of events. What Danka has been doing for a few years is simplistic and great but then why deviate from that now to an obscure zone. What is Danka TV? TV??? Why the need to revamp the site so much without giving previous glitches a try to fix. All i wanted was an easier form to submit and a more active blog... and now.. i have to sign up to do that?!!! His naivety on the topic is of no surprise to me. e.g. Sometimes we even feel that the recent political development raises the need for cultural activities. Danka is contributing to the informative aspect of event listings and activities. It is not a cultural revolution for Pakistan. Nor should it attempt to 'create' a culture. The culture is there sir. Take time to understand, discover and appreciate it please. Why not attempt to 'live our culture mr. mathias' more than having halwa poori with the shalwar clad muchars and pehlwans (you could start with a dictionary). No one is getting inspired to hold an art fair or an all stars concert for people because Danka is giving them an opportunity to list their event online. Not Danka, not facebook, not even youtube! So please discuss with your 'local artist friends or pakistani team members clearly about their understanding for Pakistani art scene, culture and heritage before making tall claims like, .Danka has the potential to make the cultural scene of Pakistan more vibrant, more lively and more active. Also the site is FILLED with outdated profiles of artists mentioning some as students which have graduated long ago. some information is picked hastily, unfiltered, randomly and without artist's consent.

yaqoob blogger | 13 years ago | Reply its time for danka site to have a local pakistani as its public face... why all those goras all the time? Its been 6 years now since its start, thats a long time to find local talent for our local culture.

user55 | 13 years ago | Reply Hello, as a member of the danka team I'm happy to see this article online :-) The danka webpage can be found at http://www.danka.pk greetings

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