ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) hosted a musical evening, ‘Baithak’, Tuesday night to celebrate the diversity of music in the country.

A baithak is a common feature of rural life, where people gather to eat, talk and at times enjoy music together.

The concept of hosting the musical evening as a baithak was put forward by the College of Youth Activism and Development (CYAAD) and ‘Dastaan’, which utilises art and culture as a tool for social change and development.

During the evening, traditional music from Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh was played and the Hamza Akram group put on a qawwali performance.

Wearing a traditional Balochi turban, Khwand Bux Bugti from Dera Bugti presented popular Balochi instrumental pieces, Ustad Gulab Khel who is a renowned Rubab player presented popular folk tunes from KP and Akbar Khameso Khan played the alghoza.

Pashto folk singer Ustad Ahmed Gul, who specialises in ‘tappa’ and ‘charbeta’ performed popular Pashtu songs. Accompanying the artists was Farman Ali Khan on the keyboard and Muraad Khan on the tabla.

The second part of the evening consisted of a performance of five qawwali by qawwal Hamza Akram and his party, who performed poems by different Sufi poets of the region, including those of Amir Khusro. The qawwalis they performed included ‘ya Ali’, ‘bhar do jholi’, ‘chaap tilak sab cheen li’, ‘rang’ and the group also paid tribute to the late Amjad Sabri with a performance of ‘tajdar-i-haram’.

Talking to Dawn, an audience member Faizanul Haq said he found the event ‘mesmerising’.

“We rarely see artists from all the provinces of the country perform together. The performances were epic, especially that of the qawwal group.

Another guest, Mehwish Gul, also said she liked the performances of the qawwal group best.

“I had a hectic day at university and the performances today have calmed me down. I am looking forward to more events like this one,” she said.

PNCA Director Jamal Shah said Pakistan has many cultures and religions and stressed on the need for preserving and promoting the heritage of the country.

“Unfortunately, 94pc of the grants that PNCA gets from the government is spent on administrative expenses and only 6pc is left for organising events, which is the main responsibility of this institute,” he said,

Art and culture are like an unwritten contract which creates a relationship of individuals with their surroundings and make them aware of their past and present.

“Art is the best medium for changing the world and the mindset of a society,” he said.

CYAAD Executive Director Raziq Fahim said young people constitute the larger part of the Pakistani population and that about 67pc of the people of Pakistan are aged between 15 and 35 years.

He said that various institute are failing to connect the youth with art and culture.

“Our youth are facing many challenges, especially those in the remote areas of Pakistan which is why we are working with youth in many ways and engaging them with art and culture is one of them,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2016