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Punjab Notes: Lahore: music refuses to die

Lahore, the heart of Punjab, has been and still is one of the greatest cultural centres of Pakistan and Northern India. Its contribution in the field of music remains unmatched when we look at the evolution of subcontinental music tradition. Lahori saying ‘satt din tay ath melay, Ghar jaawan taan kehday waylay (seven days in a week and eight festivals! When shall I find time to go home?) can give us some measure of the incessant socio-cultural activities the city generated not in the distant past. This ancient city has undying love for music. It loves to create music and knows how to enjoy it. The music can be as much serene as it can be thrilling.

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Mohammad Rafi in recent times represented the soul of Lahore. The former with his unparalleled magical melody painted landscapes of aesthetic serenity and the latter thrilled millions of people with full-throated ease in a manly voice that was vigorously expressive. Can one remain unaffected by the voices such as Noor Jahan, Farida Khanum and Reshman?

It was here in Lahore that Vishnu Digambar opened one of his music schools called Gandharva Maha-Vidyalaya in 1916 and appointed his disciple and young upcoming singer Omkarnath Thakur as its principal. Omkarnath later emerged as one of the celebrated classical vocalists. Sarangi maestro Ram Narain migrated to India in 1947. He worked for All India Radio, Lahore. Who can forget Khwaja Khurshid Anwar and his celebrated assistant Roshan (Roshan Lal Nagrath) who created breathtaking film music.

The list of those who enriched this ancient city with their music contribution is endless. But Lahore, the centre of music in the northern part of the subcontinent, like rest of Pakistan had to suffer an incalculable cultural loss over the last three decades due to the spiritual terror unleashed by the political dictatorship and religious bigotry. Religious ideology used as a political strategy worked at politico-ideological level but it devastated our dynamic cultural ethos with its crippling restraints. One high-profile casualty of such an obscurantist policy were music. Anything that could yield aesthetic pleasure was forbidden in the name of religious piety by the state and the then ruling clique. Film music which was an integral part of our films, gasped for breath as the film industry came down tumbling. Politically motivated literalist interpretation of faith declared aesthetically constructed image and sound a grave danger to ill-conceived religious identity. Zia’s political project ruthlessly destroyed everything that got in the way of its strategically driven geo-political objectives.

One good thing about destruction is that it instinctively creates an irresistible desire in man to fashion and construct something new from the debris of what has been destroyed. Destruction is the womb out of which comes regeneration. Process of regeneration is not palpably visible because it is slow in its pace and works in a slightly surreptitious manner.

Fall of leaves is immediately noticeable but one needs to have a discernable eye to discover the delicate tiny dots of early sprouts. Chaos cannot sustain itself for an indefinitely long period of time. And one cannot live in a wasteland for long if they have to survive as humans. Lahore despite the mayhem and the pillage it suffered at the hands of invaders and philistines has always bounced back showing unsurpassable resilience. Resilience expresses itself in the doings of individuals and institutions that have the courage to dream in a dreamless world and start something small that had hidden potential of growing big.

There is no lack of individuals who are dedicated to not only reinvigorating the tradition but are also making serious efforts to create new tradition. It includes educated young men and women inspired by diverse strands of music the technology in a globalised world has exposed them to. An encouraging element in the process is the emergence of young musicians, vocalists and composers who are not from the traditional musicians’ families. They may not be as skillful as the traditional musicians but they are more imaginative and daringly innovative in their practice of music. They also interact and work with traditional musicians who help them hone their skills. Traditional musicians in the process get exposed to more imaginative music and new genres. The interaction is mutually beneficial.

What negatively impacts the development of music is lack of keenness in institution building and lacklustre performance of state-funded institutions put in place with the objective of supporting the culture of music. Culture of music is at societal level music of culture that will continue to reverberate across the land whether state supports it or not. — soofi01@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2016