ISLAMABAD: The four-day Qissa Khawani Bazaar festival opened on Thursday with folk music, dance performances, and a book launch.

The festival was organised by the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, Lok Virsa and the Directoriate of Culture, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

It features a crafts bazaar, a launch of a book titled ‘Bazaar of Storytellers’, a food court, a Rubab competition, a Pashto musical concert, and a screening of a Pashto film by the Lok Virsa Mundwa Film Club.

The festival aims to promote national harmony and integration through the revival of the tradition of the Qissa Khawani bazaar and other activities. It will also include a Rubab competition, which is the traditional musical instrument of KP.

Each part of the event was striking. A crafts bazaar sold Peshawari sandals and handcrafted items, as well as authentic Peshawari chappal kebab.

Lok Virsa executive director Fouzia Saeed said the Rubab competition was the festival’s main attraction.

More than a dozen amateur Rubab players are set to perform after a two-day audition in Peshawar.

The musicians will perform before a jury, and the three best performers will be awarded.

The finale of the Rubab competition will be held at the Lok Virsa open air theatre in Shakarparian on September 18.

In her opening remarks, Saeed also discussed the book launch, saying, “As the second edition of the book is about to see the light of day, it is important to point out that bazaars like these were prisms of diversity, where colours of all sorts were blended. The development of appreciation and assimilation led to new ideas. In a multicultural and multiethnic society like ours, we cannot pass on these glorious traditions simply through oral rendition. It is necessary to document these stories to show the younger generations the essence of our pluralistic path.”

The screening of the Pashto film ‘Yousuf Khan Sher Bano’ will be the featured event on the final day of the festival.

The romantic film from 1968 was the first Pashto film ever made, and is subtitled in English.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2015

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