KARACHI: Sufi music festival set to take off
KARACHI, April 27: A known theatre group is bringing the first ever and, what the organizers claim, biggest festival in the region, the ‘International Mystic Music Sufi Festival,’ to Karachi. The festival, showcasing significant Sufi music groups from several regional countries, is hosting more than 300 international and local artistes, who will perform from May 3 to 7 at the Baradari here.
Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop, a Lahore-based group famous for its innovations and mastery in puppetry and theatre, has joined hands with the Sindh government to add a major event to the city’s weak cultural map, and its stalwarts promised that they would make it an annual feature.
“Culture is the major victim of extremism in the country, and all of us should join hands to help it overwhelm all menaces we are suffering from at present,” Faizan Peerzada, the President of the festival, told media at a press conference held at the Karachi Press Club, while unveiling its features.
“Over the years the International Mystic Music Sufi Festival has experienced tremendous growth, alongside enjoying international media coverage. The festival has travelled a long way to reach its sixth edition and become the biggest showcase of Sufi music in the region. It is the only independent event of such magnitude in the region, serving to put Pakistan firmly on the world cultural map,” said Mr Peerzada.
According to him, the festival served as an important link between global cultural communities. “Every year, hundreds of delegates from various countries arrive in Pakistan and experience for themselves the richness of the country’s cultural heritage. Its appreciative audiences and their celebration of the arts serve to encourage a highly positive perception of Pakistan.”
Previously, the festival had been held in Lahore, but from now on it would become a regular annual feature in Karachi, he said.
Aiming to nurture new talent and preserve dying indigenous Sufi music, the festival has discovered gems like Sain Zahoor, who was recently honoured with the BBC Radio World Music Award. There are many like him who went on to win international recognition and became important cultural ambassadors of Pakistan.
The festival will pay tribute to a variety of forms of Sufi singing to be featured in five concerts. The Sufi music showcase will feature a wide array of styles, including Qawwali, Kafi, Naat, Hamd and various regional and religious styles from across the Muslim world, as well as exciting collaborations between foreign and local artistes.
The dance segment will provide an interesting mix of the contemporary and spiritual forms of devotional whirling, with Arab, Persian, Turkish and Pakistani performers dominating the line-up. The areas boasting the most diversity are Qawwali and whirling, with 350 foreign and local performers participating from countries ranging from Iran to Syria.
Mr Peerzada said the subcontinent, especially the provinces of Sindh and Punjab, were rich in Sufi heritage and tradition, with shrines honouring the spirit, poetry, dance and music of the great Sufi masters.
“Sufi mystics have made rich contributions to the arts, rendering some of the most beautiful poetry and music; their philosophy being the driving force behind many lives.”
He said there was a necessity to set up an international platform projecting Sufi music in Pakistan. The Sufi tradition of the subcontinent and the Muslim world needs to be made more reachable for the public in order to create awareness regarding its validity as a pragmatic Islamic practice.
link:
http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/28/local15.htm
KARACHI: Sufi music festival set to take off
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