Honouring a connoisseur: Hayat Sahib is alive in our enjoyment of music

APMC holds classical music concert to mark the founder’s death anniversary.

LAHORE: Hayat Ahmed Khan is the reason Lahore has oases of culture in an otherwise artistic wasteland, All Pakistan Music Conference (APMC) president Neelofer Mehdi said at a classical music concert that the APMC had arranged on Saturday evening to mark Khan’s 10th death anniversary.

Alhamra Art Centre’s Hall III was packed with classical music enthusiasts sitting in silence punctuated by applause and frisson.

The concert began on time, as APMC events are wont to. Several connoisseurs of classical music paid tribute to the APMC founder.

Khan’s daughter Gul Rukh Hayat read out his friend Joyce Murad’s note of remembrance. “He was always impeccably dressed in well-tailored suits and was the only one I knew who owned a Rolex watch... except that it was a note of his commitment to time rather than an affectation. If Hayat had a god, it was a god of time.”

She said he looked every part the cultured British gentleman “but his soul belonged to the Indus Valley”. He had wanted to acculturate the people of this country, help them appreciate music, she said. “Hayat was a national treasure.”

APMC joint secretary Syed Waseem Gillani said that after the meritorious efforts of Radio Pakistan, it was Khan Sahib who had put classical music back on the map. “His greatness lay in helping us learn how to appreciate music... he provided our ears the finesse to do so.”

He recalled how the APMC had come about. “Roshan Ara Begum had announced her retirement when Khan Sahib and a friend sat in the Coffee Shop and decided that they would start the All Pakistan Music Conference. He whipped out Rs25,000 from his savings as his contribution to the conference. That was in 1959.” Five decades later, the conference is going strong, he said.

The concert began with a mesmerising tabla performance by Shahbaz Hussain.

Hussain who teaches tabla in England was accompanied by Zohaib Hassan who gave the lehra on sarangi. Hussain performed a teental to much appreciation from the audience.

A performance by Sara Zaman with her taanpura was next. She was accompanied by Ustad Parvez Paras on harmonium and Zohaib Hassan on sarangi. The rapt audience broke into wild applause as her performance of a kafi by Bulleh Shah came to a close.

Ashraf Sharif Khan’s performance on sitar was hailed by many as one of the most hauntingly sweetest they chanced upon in a long time. Ashraf Sharif, currently based in Germany, is the son of sitar maestro Sharif Khan Poonchwalay.

He enthralled the audience with his performance of the Madhuvanti raag.

Later commenting on his performance, Hayat Khan’s daughter Ghazala Irfan, who too plays the sitar, said the best thing about Ashraf Sharif Khan was that he took charge of the performance. “He is completely in control and sets the mood of the audience”, she said.“This evening, Ashraf has not only reminded us of his father’s greatness, but also of his father’s youth,” said Gillani.

Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan from the Sham Chaurasia Gharana took the stage last. His Achob raag and Nandeshwari raag were equally hailed. He was accompanied by Kashif Ali on tabla, Zafar Ali Qadri on harmonium and Zohaib Hassan on sarangi. Holding his sur-mandal, Shafqat Ali Khan gave an outstanding performance. He brought the evening to a close with a kafi by Khwaja Ghulam Farid.

“I’m very grateful to the audience that sat cramped in the hall from 6pm to 11:15pm,” Ghazala Irfan said. “It was for the love of music, the very outstanding music”, she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2015.