ISLAMABAD: The Children’s Literature Festival (CLF) concluded on Saturday, and its last day featured a special ‘Bol Kay Lub Azaad Hai Teray’ session where children portrayed their skills and creativity without any supervision.

CLF programme manager Maham Ali explained that, “Due to the immense interest and enthusiastic participation, we were not able to provide all the children with stage space, so we arranged the ‘Bol Kay Lub Azaad Hai Teray’ session for all the children who wanted to sing, recite poetry, or narrate a story. That session is nothing but a free room and stage for the kids to express their feelings.”

Amna Hassan, a student from Mardan, sang Pashto songs and was applauded by the other children present at the session. Shah Wali, another student from the same school, sang songs from various films while his fellow school members chanted slogans in his favour.

Enaya Sarfraz, a kindergartener from the Guardian School, Rawalpindi, sang ‘Bara Dushman Bana Phirta Hai’ and narrated the story ‘Shumaila: Lal Topi Wali Larki’. Her mother Mariam said, “Such festivals can make a huge difference to the lives of our children. They help nurture the creativity and positive thinking in these kids – something they lack in other situations.”

Humaira Shafi, a teacher from Chakwal, said she had a wonderful time at the festival. “The festival made us feel closer to many leading authors and other teachers, who we never have any interaction with, especially when we live in small cities and towns.”

Lok Virsa also contributed a segment to the festival, the Child Folk Performers session, where nine young folk artists, musicians and performers, participated in a live folk performance held in the ‘Khul Ja Sim Sim’ amphitheatre.

Singers included children from Umerkot, Rohri, Peshawar and Islamabad. The singers were accompanied by musicians from Islamabad, and a young dholi (drummer).

The most prominent among them, Ashir and Subhan Niazi, are the great grandchildren of the late, legendary folk artist Tufail Niazi. They sang popular Punjabi songs like Lai Be Qadran Nal Yari Te Tut Gai Tarak Ker Ke and Dam Mast Qalandar.

Another performer, Zamin, also caught the audience’s attention with a rendition of the Pashto song Bibi Shireeni.

While Ashir said he had been performing since he was two and a half, his cousin Subhan said it was his first performance and that he thoroughly enjoyed it.

Potohar Organisation for Development Advocacy (PODA) director Sameena Nazir said: “The folk music programme and the sessions on Pakistan’s folk stories were the most unique feature of this year’s CLF. We bring children from the rural areas to CLF every year, but this is the first time they had fun with books and also learned about their folk art and music.”

Nazir thanked Lok Virsa for the ‘special treat’.

Nazir was accompanied by a bus full of village schoolchildren from Chakwal and Jhelum. She said that she would recommend that the CLF is held at Lok Virsa every year.

F.G. Public Middle School Sikandarabad vice principal Niaz Gul, however, expressed disappointment over the lack of Pashto language books, poetry, folk music and folk tales at the festival.

However, he commended the inclusion of Pashto in the folk performances, and said the child performers “stole the show” at this year’s CLF. Zahra Hameed said that the most entertaining sessions took place in the Khul Ja Sim Sim amphitheatre, where children and adults cheered, sang and participated alongside Khaled Anam, Dheere Bolo and folk performances by students of various ages.

Published in Dawn October 4th, 2015

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