KARACHI, Nov 10: The fifth three-day music festival organised by the Arts Council of Pakistan kicked off on a rather prolonged note as a long list of performers, most of whom relatively new to the music scene, delayed the arrival of the established names for a couple of hours at the council’s open air theatre on Friday night.
Apart from the renowned vocalists, the singer that earned most of the applause was the first performer of the day, the young Ashan Ali. The little master’s rendition of raga bhatiyar was marked by enthusiasm and genuine love for the art form. From the moment, he began the alaap he got the audience immersed in his recital. He exuded the confidence of an experienced vocalist despite the fact that his voice is at a stage where after a few years it’s going to change its tone and texture. Some of his taans were really impressive.
After that a series of lesser known artists came on stage. Savera Ali sang two ghazals ‘Dil dharakne ka sabab yaad aya’ and ‘Kabhi kaha na kisi se tere fasane ko’. She has a nice voice but needs to have control over her finishing notes.
Kamran Jaffery sang Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s film song ‘Sureeli ankhion waali’ and a folk number ‘Mahi yaar di gharoli’. He tried to match the vocal range of Rahat Fateh Ali by trying to hit the high notes with force. If he had tampered his tone a bit, he’d have done a better job.
Sagheer Ahmed, who belongs to the Jaipur gharana, sang the known Mehdi Hasan song ‘Zindagi mein to sabhi’ and ‘Roshan jamal-i-yaar’ while Intizar Husain performed the ghazal ‘Patta patta boota boota’ and two Punjabi numbers. It has to be said that the treatment he meted out to Mir’s famous couplets was disappointing, as he either went too low or opted for excessively high-pitched sounds to make the lines audible.
Shabana Kausar’s version of the Lata Mangeshkar film tracks ‘Jaane kyon loag’ and ‘Raina beeti jaey’ were decent. Farhat Niaz performed the ghazal ‘Daagh-i-dil hum ko’ made famous by the legendary Iqbal Bano. It was appalling to hear Farhat Niaz introducing the piece as a ghazal numa geet (a ghazal-like song).
Salman Alvi, who hosted the show, changed the mood of the audience with Iqbal Azeem’s ghazal ‘Zabt bhi chahyey zarf bhi chahyey’ and took it to another level combining two ghazals written in the same meter by Kaleem Aijaz and Iqbal Azeem, one of whose couplets ‘Daman pe koi chheent na khanjar pe koi daagh/Tum qatl karo ho ke karamaat karo ho’ is known to every reader of Urdu poetry.
Banjo player Mumtaz Sabzal, accompanied by Ustad Bashir Khan on tabla, presented raga kervani and followed it up with a folk tune. It brought about a qualitative change in the concert.
Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s was the penultimate performer of the evening. His recital of raga malkauns was, as expected, masterly. What came as a pleasant surprise was his insistence on Ustad Nafees Ahmed (sitar) to join him on stage, which turned out to be a good experience.
The last act of the opening day was performed by qawwals Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammad. They performed a few pieces and ended the day with the famous Rang.
