On the second and last day of the Lahore Music Meet 2015, sessions started even later than day 1 but ended up being livelier and more engaging. By late evening the central lawn of the Alhamra was full of youthful music lovers basking in the mild spring sun, enjoying sets by underground Pakistani bands like ‘Sikandar Ka Mandar’ and ‘Keeray Makoray’.

The clued-in crowd, mainly from expensive private universities around the city, made full use of the atmosphere and the increasingly rare opportunity to enjoy free music under an open sky, while lounging on traditional peerisand takhtsand the stairs surrounding the lawns. The lively atmosphere was also a treat for veteran lovers of Pakistani music for whom the scene harked back to a time when public concerts in the city were a norm and all the joy had not been sucked out of young lives in the name of security.

While the concert continued outside, more intellectually inclined music lovers trickled inside Hall II to listen to the talk sessions. Even if they began an hour or more late, and some got cancelled at the last minute (the Skype session with Rohail Hyatt, for one), their content often made up for the chaos.

A session on Indie music in Pakistan called ‘Life doesn’t Move in Binaries’ had on the panel True Brew Record’s Jamal Rehman, Farhad Mirza, Poor Rich Boy’s Shehzad Noor, Sikandar ka Mandar’s Nadir Shehzad and guitarist and singer Ali Suhail. Jamal Rehman lamented the presence of an entertainment tax in a country like Pakistan as well as the red tape that surrounds the holding of concerts, especially in places like the Alhamra. Shehzad Noor, known for his witty repartee even during Poor Rich Boy performances, kept this talk engaging with his self deprecating sense of humour. While answering a question about the limited appeal of his songs, thanks to them being in English, Noor said his band’s music is aimed at a niche audience and it doesn’t need to be massively popular. This delicate balance between artistic integrity and popular appeal became the central theme of this discussion.

As I walked out of Hall II I was greeted by an electrifying dhol performance by Mithu Saaein. He was accompanied by Nasir Khan who interpreted the beats with a trance-inducing dhamaal, reminding one of the reasons for this diverse city’s fame. A clever move by the organisers was to have Mithu Saaein’s storytelling session immediately after the performance. Almost like a Sufi Pied Piper, Mithu led his followers to Hall 4 where he narrated fascinating tales of his art and religious devotion to his Pir, Baba Shah Jamal. This session is what made the LMM a worthwhile experience for me, for fashionable and enterprising young people might be able to sway to Mithu’s dhol every Thursday at Shah Jamal’s shrine, but hearing such an artist talk openly and honestly about the intricacies of his art and personal life is a much rarer experience, allowing for a unique opportunity for exchange across cultural divides. Mithu won his audience over not just with his very obvious and abundant talent but also through his humility and lucid understanding of the intricacies of his art and the ability to articulate it with ease. When asked by the moderator if there are any women dhol players in Pakistan, Mithu told the tale of a female student whose male friends harassed Mithu at gun point to stop him from teaching the girl. She had started taking lessons just four days before this incident. Teachers, he said, are like parents, and a student needs to accord them the same respect if he is to truly learn something from the ustaad.

The evening concluded with separate performances by musicians Asrar and Jimmy Khan.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play