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Preserving the classical heritage
By Sumeha Khalid
C
onnoisseurs of classical music were treated to a series of mesmerizing performances at the launch of “Indus Raag – Music Beyond Borders” at the Pakistan High Commission in London. Urdu Markaz (London) and Tehzeeb Foundation of Pakistan joined hands to deliver a memorable evening that was attended by music and art lovers from London and other parts of Britain. The evening started off with opening remarks by Shozab Abbas, First Secretary - Pakistan High Commission who welcomed the guests on behalf of the High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul-Hassan. Earlier, the High Commissioner during his meeting with Urdu Markaz and Tehzeeb officials lauded the efforts of Tehzeeb Foundation for promoting Pakistani culture through preservation of classical heritage. Dr Javaid Sheikh, President Urdu Markaz, who was also the master of the ceremony, expressed his encouraging views on the Tehzeeb initiatives. The hallmark
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of this session was the creative evaluation given by Raza Ali Abidi – an eminent personality in Urdu literature and media. He termed “Indus Raag” as a significant and serious move towards showcasing the contemporary classical music of Pakistan. Sharif Awan and Malahat Awan also spoke on the occasion. The second session of the evening featured live music by Shahbaz Hussain and Roshan Abbas Khan. Shahbaz, an accomplished percussionist from Manchester, who is also one of the contributors in Indus Raag project, gave a solo recital of teen-taal – a rhythmic cycle of 16 beats. Roshan Abbas presented a few vocal compositions from the “Indus Raag”. “Indus Raag” is a prestigious music project in Pakistan’s history. The project comprises 12 audio CDs and a booklet, featuring classical musicians from India, Pakistan, UK and Germany. The event was attended by a large number of music lovers, educationists and notables from Pakistani and Indian communities based in UK. Amongst them were Saqi Farooqui - an eminent poet
and critic, Professor Ishtiaq Ahmad - Head of Quaid-e-Azam Chair at Oxford University, Rinchan Ali Mirza - President Pakistan Society at Oxford University, former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal, all-rounder Yasir Arafat, Jay Wiswadeva - a renowned music promoter and consultant, Mushtaq Lasharie - Chairman Third World Solidarity & Ex Deputy Mayor Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Zahid Khursheed - Ex President National Bank of Pakistan, Dr Farrukh Hussain - President Pakistan Professional’s Forum London, Dr Safi Hassan - prominent poet, Ayub Aulia, a journalist and brother-inlaw of tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, and others. The programme ended with a vote of thanks from Malahat Awan – President, Tehzeeb Foundation, who disclosed that Tehzeeb Foundation would be organising such international events in the future also. “Indus Raag is a project that is very close to our hearts as we believe that such efforts are required for classical music to flourish,” says Malahat.
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Art
20 Questions with
Iqra Tahir 1. What inspired you to get into 5. the field of designing? A. I was always inspired by the world of Motives and Design and always loved to wear and make beautiful clothes and Jewellery. So i went ahead and start designing Jewellery and dresses.
2. Do you have professional
training, and do you feel it’s essential for a designer to have a professional education? A. I am a textile designer by profession, but our course included fashion designing also , but if we talk about designing and playing with colours one has inborn talent as well all u need is to support and polish them and utilize them better by professional training . its important because now is the era of competition and one must attain higher education and formal training.
3. What is the overriding aesthetic
in your designing? A. I am highly impressed with Mughal and Egyptian art , you can see lot of Egyptian and Mughal touch in my Jewellery and Dresses. that’s becoming my signature style.
4. What is your educational and
professional background and how do you feel it prepared you for a career in fashion designing? A. I have done ma M.A in textile Designing nd yes it really helped me in grooming nd polish my work more and always helps you to excel.
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What drew you to fashion and specifically to starting your own line? A. Actually I always wanted to do something different with Jewellery and dresses I wanted every single person to wear a new and stylized form of Jewellery wanted to do something different and people around me always loved my sense of styling things and supported me to come out with my own work to public.
6.
What is the best perk in being a fashion designer? A. Hahaha i love the Qs. the best part being a designer is i always get to wear lovely Jewellery and Clothes every time.
7. What is the most difficult aspect about running your own label? A. The most difficult part is to maintain your self every time and come up with latest and new innovative designs. Because the client who is coming to you every
time want some thing different, new and up to the mark.
8.
What do you wish people would understand about working in the fashion industry?
for my self .
16. What fabric do you enjoy working with the most? A. i love working with chiffons and silks but still if something is good and placed well complementing the design and cut I alwaz love to work with that. 17.
What trends do you see being big for 2013? A. I can see a lot of bright Colours with some cuts a lot of funky Flairs and straight Gowns jumpsuits And Plazzo.
18. What role do you think price points play in the success of a prêt line? A. Prices always play an important role in pret sales. 19. A. I think so people who want to be a part of this industry should be creative and innovative they should realize the worth of their work is very important they should be very original and down to Earth.
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What do you wish you had known before entering the fashion industry? A. Its a beautiful industry. i love creating new pieces and i know that people always look fr something different in our designs. the only thing which at times disturb me is that i cannot find time to hangout with friends and family.
10. Tell us about your process in designing a new collection. A. its a system and it always start like part first i decide about the designs and inspiration I will work on, second, I work on my color Pallet of that particular project then obviously the material needs lot of attention and then have to decide the cuts and work on the jora. and when it comes to jewellery i have to decide about the shapes and the stones we use usually I love playing with stones and love to introduce a new combination every time.
11. What excites you the most about your new collections? A. Obviously my fans and Clients Response their reaction is very Important to me. 12. Where do you get your design inspirations from? A. Always from the nature, and different era like I love the Egyptian and Mughal Era :)
Do you think prêt is defined by a price point or by a sensibility? A. Pret wear should be a combo of both. That is Very Important.
20.
Describe the Ruby Shakel A. iquera’s Couture is a brand of styling and creating innovative designs. the brand is all about helping people to look more beautiful and gorgeous.
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Apart from designing outfits, what else do you enjoy designing? A. I am very good at cooking and I always enjoy cooking and my home interior.
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What is the one city in the world that you would showcase your designs? A. Would love to present at Milan Fashion week.
15. Has being a designer changed the way you buy outfits for yourself? A. No if something is Good I ll defiantly buy hat January 20, 2013 I 41
Films
Matru ki bijlee ka mandola
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fter delving with dark human emotions in movies like Maqbool, Omkara and Kaminey, filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj is back with a crazy comic drama, Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, starring Imran Khan, Anushka Sharma, Pankaj Kapur in the leads. MKBKM has been in the news for its quirky title and hatke content and the charismatic Gulabi Bhains! Bharadwaj brings back the rustic flavor of Indian villages, but this time, with a pinch of difference. Story Set against the rustic backdrop of a village in Haryana, MKBKM is a comedy-drama that revolves around three zany characters: Matru (Imran), Bijlee (Anushka) and Mandola (Pankaj). The story is about a serious land scam issue, but with a touch of fun element in it. Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
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portrays a rich industrialist Harry Mandola (Pankaj Kapur), his daughter Bijlee (Anushka Sharma) and the unusual bond they both share with Harry’s close associate, Matru (Imran Khan). Bijlee gets engaged to Baadal (Aarya Babbar), the son of a powerful politician Chaudhari Devi (Shabana Aami). Things take turn from this point onwards and troubles get added up to their lives, until Bijlee realises that Baadal just isn’t the perfect man for her. Performances We feel Imran Khan is too ‘Americano’ to do complete justice to the role of a eccentric rustic. In one word, Imran isn’t just cut out for this role. The only saviour in his case would be his bushy beard and dhoti-kurta avatar. Anushka Sharma is another crazy character in the film, who goes a step ahead and sulks about her out-of-the-blue Meena Kumari complex. Sharma continues her
loud-spunky-sexy chic act, who mouths cheesy lines like ‘Tujh jaisi cheez ko mai bhagwan ke liye kaise chod doon’. Though at times, this ‘gaon ki chodi’ gets over-the-top in certain scenes, overall she does a better job than Imran. Pankaj Kapoor is a spectacularly versatile, sensitive and thoughtful actor. His salt pepper-haired avatar and the ‘tharkee’ act in the film, is worth a big applaud. He delivers a splendid performance. Direction Bharadwaj doesn’t really do a fab job by creating some peculiar characters and placing them in whacky, quirky situations, but the man definitely knows to extract the best out of his actors. Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola is damn funny and entertaining in bits and pieces, but on the whole, one can’t term it as a spectacular flick.
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Books
Diversity of Urdu poetry By Syed Afsar Sajid
T
hree collections of verse titled Muhabbat Khasara NaheeN, Nazm Nama and Fanoos focused on ghazal, nazm and poems for children, being reviewed here, have lately appeared in quick succession from Lahore and Karachi. The diversity of their formats and themes is likely to engage the attention of the reading public in general and the initiated in particular. Muhabbat Khasara NaheeN Dr. Jawaz Jaffri is a well known literary figure with a strong academic background. As a poet, Muhabbat Khasara NaheeN is his fourth verse collection after Dehleez Pay AnkhaiN, Mutthi May Tra Waada, and Maut Ka Hath Kalai Par Hai. It is a collection of his ghazal only. Ghazal as a genre of Urdu poetry has a long but variegated history. From Wali Deccani to Ahmad Faraz, it has seen whole vistas of modulations and variations. Survival of the fittest might be an anthropological dictum yet it applies in equal measure to the realm of the arts, poetry being one of them. In a literary permutation, expressive spontaneity, conceptual originality, and prosodic fecundity are stated to be the avowed aims of a poetic composition. Jawaz Jaffri’s ghazal exemplifies the phenomena. Veteran poet Ghulam Hussain Sajid has contributed the foreword to the book. To him Jaffri’s ghazal is a product of the Zeitgeist that would preclude hyperbole or sentimentalism, and the distinctive élan of his ghazal rested on his innovative prowess backed by
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a latent capability to overwhelm the reader. The collection contains some 133 pieces of ghazal which demonstrate the salient features of Jaffri’s poetic art. The persona of his ghazal seems to be a moderately self-possessed young person soliloquizing, and thereby exposing, his fears and fantasies grounded in the grim facts of existence. The cerebral content of his verse in turn tends to enrich its audiovisual appeal for the reader. Reproduction of some lines from the book might serve as an illustration: Maey nay mana k bana hai yeh jahaN Muhabbat Khasara NaheeN mairay liye/Is kharabay Author: Dr. Jawaz Jaffri may magar maira guzara Published by: Fiction House, bhi to ho… Baghair uskay Book Street, Mozang Road, Lahore mri raakh bujhnay lagti Pages: 152; Price: Rs200/hai/Khula k maira bhi sooraj say wasta koi hai… Ain mumkin hai yaheeN the earlier two being ShaffafiyaN amn ki koNpal phootay/Shaakhey and Hum aag churatey haiN. His zaitoon na’ey shahr ki bunyad may solitary novel is titled Zeno. rakh…Diley mazdoor tray haal pay As a genre of literature, poetry dukh hota hai/Bojh auroN ka is not a historical or cultural tujhey dhotay huey daikhta huN… artefact; in fact it seeks to acquaint Jo kuch bhi mila humko, muhabbat the reader with new worlds of say mila hai/Humlog muhabbat ko experience which implies that it khasara naheeN likhtey has a social obligation too whence it tends to draw his attention to the Nazm Nama emerging truths of life side by side Dr. Waheed Ahmad is a noted with articulating his inmost desires Urdu poet and novelist. Nazm and noblest aspirations. Waheed Ahmad’s Nazm Nama is his third verse collection (comprising exclusively his nazm), Nama is, as it were, his poetic
stereotypes which, as a from its authorial preface, Mohsin part of our collective Azam Mohsin Maleehabadi, Prof. Allahabadi, conscious, he is Shafiq-ur-Rahman predisposed to explore Dr. Nuzhat Abbasi and Prof. Syed on a quasi-metaphysical Muhammad Asghar Kazmi have level. The persona of contributed introductory remarks nazm here appears to on the publication. The collection has been have submerged in the oblivion of alienation, likened to its author’s dialogue uncertainty, and with children, in verse. The moral helplessness, to say the tinge in the poems is quite explicit. Their topics embrace themes like least. Qurbani, modesty, The book in hand Namaz, contains some thirty- jealousy, extravagance,breach of seven pieces of nazm trust, deception, vanity, illiteracy, good behaviour, of varying length. No knowledge, cowardice, and foreword is annexed to it. selfishness, The reader is to interpret accountability, to enumerate but a it ‘unaided’ albeit the few – in the light of the teachings prefatory inclusion of of Islam. Without compromising on the the translated version of Pablo Neruda’s poem on quality of versification, the poet has employed a simple diction in the ‘poetry’: Mujhay ma’aloom poems so as to be intelligible to the kab tha bolna kya hai/ target readers i.e., the school-going Mray lab sil gaey thay ism children. It is a welcome addition to Nazm Nama ki bay-ism qismoN say/ the extant literature for children, in Author: Dr. Waheed Ahmad Mri aankhoN pay parda Urdu. Published by: Al-Hamd Publications, Lahore par gaya tha…. Aur phir Pages: 128; Price: Rs200/maey nay/ Khud apna raasta paida manifesto also reflecting ‘the human condition’ necessitating kiya/Us ramz wali aag ki its composition. He seems to be uqda kushai kar kay And last, but not the endowed with a deep consciousness of metaphysics, philosophy, least, the persona thus psychology, and sociology that unveils himself: Daikho Waheed finds a forceful expression in his to nazm. The outpourings of his Ahmad/Zururi protagonist here could be likened naheeN maey saari to a long soliloquy internalizing baataiN aaj hi kah duN/ his anxieties, apprehensions, and Kisi din phir/Kisi shab reveries. The figurative abstractions ko/Kisi seh-pahr ko/ in this kind of verse require a great Tum rath chalana aur deal of ‘responsiveness’ on the mujhay mairi kai baataiN part of the reader, which is what batana! appreciation of poetry signifies in Fanoos the contemporary sense. A paper-back Hamara a’hd kya hai dard ki khwaNcha faroshi hai/ZameeN hai collection of poems for ya makeeN hai?… Global gaaoN children by poet Manzar to neelam gaah-e-waz’a-dari ha/ Arfi of Karachi, the Yeh chapta gaiNd bus aqdaar ki book has to its credit saudagari ka bojh/Utha’ay ghoomta the Qaumi Seerat Award hai/Karpardazaan-e-istehza/faza (2012) also. It contains forty-eight may aitomi meezailoN k saath Fanoos (Bachon Kay Liye Manzoom) lalfzoN ka tamaskhar bhi uraatay poems divided under Author: Manzar Arfi three sub-heads viz., haiN Published by: “Tazkira” Publications, As a ‘poet of intellect’, Waheed Hamd-o-Na’at/Munajat, and Amad’s nazm encompasses a host Eiman-o-Akhlaq, Block 3, Shah Faisal Colony, Karachi of archetypes, prototypes, and Tehzeeb-o-Aadaab. Apart Pages: 127; Price: Rs200/-
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