Summer concert

Western classical music is not often performed in Islamabad. Lynley Butt, who was born in New Zealand and educated as an opera singer there and in the UK, teaches classical music and singing.

That has been her occupation after she married and came to live in Pakistan some 50 years ago. Her son Aaron Haroon Rashid and his company recently won the ‘Peaboy Award’ in New York for the film animation series “Burka Avenger’.

Lynley Butt recently organised a house concert in honour of her pupils. It was an elegant early summer concert blessed by some unexpected rains. The young artists, and some a bit older, said they were a bit nervous with ‘butterflies in their stomachs’. But that was unnoticeable to the 50 members of an excited audience, including diplomats and UN staff.

Not least memorable were the introductory pieces by two young teenage boys. Daniel, a South Korean businessman’s son, played modern computer background music with four different themes connected to the sea.

David, whose father is an Italian diplomat, and himself of mixed Italian/Czech/Jewish background, played Chopin pieces.

Football and diplomatsRiding the wave of world cup fever that is sweeping the world ahead of this year’s football world cup, the Brazilian embassy in Islamabad organised a cocktail party to commemorate the launch of an exhibition of photographs by Brazilian sports

photojournalist Jorge Rodrigues.

A veteran of 20 years, Rodrigues is also due to cover this year’s tournament.

Ambassador Alfredo Leoni inaugurated proceedings at the party by cutting a large football-shaped cake alongside three professional footballers, who were on hand to display their skills with the ball and amazed the audience with their dexterity.

But the main event of the evening was a penalty shooting competition, where diplomats and guests took turns, trying to score goals in order to win the Pakistan-made Brazuca footballs which are to be used as the official balls for this year’s world cup.— Text and photo: Atle Hetland, Hassan Belal Zaidi and Shahbaz Chaudhry

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2014