The two-day music festival, Lahore Music Meet, concluded here at Alhamra Arts Complex amidst high security alert.

Organised on the weekend following the deadly attack at Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park, the Lahore Music Meet encouraged music lovers and common public to join music fraternity to raise a toast to the celebration and critique of music in Pakistan.

After the successful completion of the LMM day one, the festival attracted scores of attendees from diverse culture and lifestyle.

The LMM day two commenced with rather interesting session “Composing from scratch” with music director of Sound of Kolachi, Ahsan Bari. Speaking in lay man’s language, Ahsan explained the basic of music.

He particularly laid stress on the use of melody, harmony and rhythm to make an awe inspiring composition. From local compositions to western, Bari stressed on the fact that beautiful compositions require full involvement of one’s heart, mind and soul.

Who Cares About Bassist? – an exclusive session with Zain Ali, Rahail Siddiqui, Sameer Ahmed and Ibrahim Imdad narrated the experience and importance of bassists in a band.

The significant contribution of bassists in making a band successful or failure is often overlooked by critics as well, most of the time. Sharing the experiences and quotes examples of iconic bassists intrigued quite an interesting conversation between the speakers and the audience.

At the same time, the LMM arranged a session on heavy metal music – “Mechanics of Metal” with Takatak that focused primarily on writing techniques instead of straight forward metal.

While speaking to Dawn about the future of heavy metal in Pakistan, Yousaf Ramay, drummer and core member of the band said, “Metal has very exclusive audience, especially here in Pakistan, it audience is an exclusive class.

We basically play on global standards because our audience is based abroad. We’ve already played in Oslo, Norway, and received immense response. Compared to Takatak, our funk band Keray Makoray, has a brighter future here.”

An extremely rare audience was seen at ‘Spaces Between Music” with Qasim Ibraheem. Ustab Qasim, prestigious music professor at National College of Arts, gave an in-depth analysis on the relation between ‘spaces’, that may be termed expressions and music.

The complex subject of music, in particularly Raag Bhairavi, was explained through music demonstration and presentation.

While speaking to the audience he said, “Each one of us is a story that is narrated through music, which itself is an expression. Expression comes first in space and then music through which it is expressed.

Raag Bhairavi is about narrating stories of every day and special incidents about life, celebration, environment, and culture.

This connection with reality is what makes it complex and special.” He further on explained saying, “involvement of politics on music is must. Either you revolt against a particular belief or norm, or you abide by it.

It defines who you are and what you believe in. Qasim Ibraheem also shared the fascinating story of the origin of Raag Bhairavi.

The biggest surprise LMM threw for the audience on its concluding day was the exclusive talk held with pop sensation Ali Zafar, the remarkable Zoe Viccaji and inspirational writer and musician Ali Sethi.

The discussion that was more focused on the artistes’ personal life experiences and philosophy of life pondered on the importance of music in society in light of our society’s norms and especially during times of socio-political upheaval.

During the discussion Zoe Viccaji pointed out that public expects artistes to have a social responsibility that develops internal pressure within them. She said this internal pressure at times develops mild depression which is sometimes helpful and sometimes perturbing while making music.

On a lighter note, Ali Zafar spoke about various aspects of life, especially pursuing happiness and spreading it through music.

The LMM had many other surprises for its audience such as surprise appearance of the iconic Ali Azmat in the crowd.

The performance of local band Quadrum also stole the show at LMM. Fans, media persons and organisers took to social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to share the excitement and thrill experienced at LMM.

The event concluded with mind-blowing performance by none other than the folk legend Attaullah Essa Khelvi.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2016