Source: Dawn, 20 November 2022 — “Festive atmosphere envelops Arts Council’s music festival” — https://www.dawn.com/news/1721911/festive-atmosphere-envelops-arts-councils-music-festival
The three-day Pakistan Music Festival at the Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi opened on a Friday evening in November 2022 with a big crowd of music lovers enjoying pop, qawwali and folk — dancing to thumping beats or swaying to lilting melodies. The charged atmosphere had as much to do with the audience’s wholehearted participation as with the music itself.
After an opening performance by Drum Circle and sets from younger vocalists and the band Jam Broz, the big guns arrived. First up was Hamza Akram qawwal, listed to pay tribute to the legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. It is no mean feat to do even a shade of justice to the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a one-of-a-kind vocalist — and Hamza was, in Dawn’s words, very impressive, primarily because he was able to engage the audience and hold their undivided attention.
He began with “Is Karam Ka Karun Shukr Kaise Ada”, kept the tempo going with the enormously admired “Sanu Ik Pal Chaen Na Aavey”, and topped off his performance with “Kaali Kaali Zulfon Ke Phandey” — to which the audience’s response, especially from those dancing their hearts out, was amazing. They sang along with Hamza beautifully; there were moments where he would sing one line and the audience another.
The mood then shifted to instrumental acts — Zulfiqar Faqir on the borendo, Ustad Salamat Hussain on flute and Ustad Mumtaz Sabzal on banjo — and the first day’s programme also included Wahab Bugti, Khumariyaan and Sanam Marvi.
A tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is the hardest assignment in qawwali, and the measure of it is not imitation but the room: a hall singing back, line for line. That night in Karachi, the audience did exactly that.
This post is a rephrased summary of Dawn’s report of 20 November 2022, shared here for our press archive. Read the original at the link above.
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