Rural festival: After four years, Lok Mela returns to Islamabad

The festival aims to promote folk culture and includes participants from remote areas.

“Lok Mela” is returning to Islamabad after four years.

A press release issued by the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage on Sunday said that the festival will be held at Lok Virsa complex  in Shakarparian from June 3 to 12.

“The central focus of the festival will be the rural life of Pakistan. The craftspeople and the folk artists will [get a chance to] portray the diversity and creativity of our countryside and proudly channel their individuality,” said Khalid Javed, the Executive Director (ED) of Lok Virsa. He added that the festival aims to promote provincial harmony and national integrity.

All the provincial culture departments, small industries, arts councils, regional cultural bodies, community-based organisations, craftspeople and folk artists have been invited to the festival, the ED added. More than 500 artisans and artists from different parts of the country are expected to participate in the festival.

The salient features of the 10-day festival include artisans-at-work exhibition, provincial and regional cultural pavilions, folkloric ensembles, musicians, cultural evenings, promotional stalls by public organizations and NGOs, general assembly of craftspeople, an exotic craft bazaar, inaugural and award ceremonies, traditional food cuisine, food stalls and special attractions for children amusement.

According to Lok Virsa’s tradition, the festival opens with a ceremony of dastarbandi of an established master artisan. Dastarbandi (wrapping a turban on head) is a symbol of Lok Virsa’s campaign to keep the country’s heritage alive.

In the closing ceremony cash prizes will be awarded to the winning craftspeople and folk artists by the sponsors on the recommendations of a national jury constituted by Lok Virsa.

This will be the first event that Lok Virsa is going to organise after the devolution of the ministry of culture, which will transfer its administrative control to the Ministry of Information. The festival was not organised in the past four years due to security concerns.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2011.