Intangible Heritage: Parliamentary panel for preservation of classical music

ISLAMABAD:

A parliamentary panel on Tuesday called for steps to save classical music from extinction.     

Revival of Pakistan’s classical music and cultural heritage was need of the hour as this can play important role in fighting extremism. This was the crux of the opinion expressed by members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage at its meeting at the parliament house.

The meeting was chaired by MNA Marvi Memon that discussed the issue of preservation of national culture and heritage. MNA Memon said that soon a committee meeting would be convened to discuss issues related to culture and music.

Noted musicians and singers Arieb Azhar, Haroon Rashid and Zeejah Fazli briefed the meeting about recently concluded Music Mela and conference held at Pakistan National Council of the Arts.

The sufi mystic singer said that classical heritage needed state support. He said that most of the countries in the region open their cultural centres along with their embassies in other countries to promote their culture but Pakistan has neglected this area.

Haroon Rashid said that Pakistani music was facing serious threat of extinction as violating law of the land as several TV and radio channels were playing Indian music.

Moreover, he said that intellectual property laws were not operational as a result of which many great singers like Mehdi Hassan and Reshman died in abject poverty.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Murad Saeed, Waseem Akhtar Shaikh, Muhammad Tallal Chaudhry, Parveen Masood Bhatti, Amir Ali Shah Jamot, Naeema Kishwar Khan, Arifa Khalid Parvez, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Belum Hasnain.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2014.