Annual Festival, photos and review by Aftab Datta

APMC Festival 2007 - Aftab Datta

I attended the All Pakistan Music Conference this year in Lahore. We decided to go on the 13th and 14th. Most the performances I saw were great, even though the sound needed work (the tanpura and surmandals was inaudible), and the lighting scheme needed work! But, it was a treat to finally see some of my favorite musicians perform live in an open-air theater with NO mosquitoes.

The performances that really stood out to me were Shahana by Mubarak Ali, a tabla solo by Salim Khan, and Basant Mukhari by Ghulam Hussain Shaggan.

The jaltarang performance was also nice to watch, though nobody would bother telling the performer that his nishad was way off from the start! However, it was still a delight that such a rare instrument is still practiced in Pakistan.

One comment, which I am afraid to make, is way too many of the performers, which are the descendents of prominent singers from the past, are such show-offs! Immediately they have to dazzle the audience with a shabby tihai. There seemed to be little emphasis on enveloping a raag or attempting to display a unique trait that they may have. Instead, they seem to copy their predecessor’s styles without a deeper knowledge of the raag or even their own gharana. What made it worse was their sur was also less than perfect during a few performances. This made me think that their only practice is on stage. Just a rush-rush, audience-pleasing, demonstration of their imitation of past masters.

Overall, the evening was wonderful. I was glad I attended. I audio recorded most of the 13th and video recorded a few of the performances too. If anyone is interested email me. I’d be happy to share.

Aftab Datta
aftabdatta@gmail.com

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