Lahore Music Meet wraps up with talks by Meesha Shafi and more

The third edition of the Lahore Music Meet concluded at the Alhamra Art Center on The Mall here on Sunday.

The two-day festival generated a great deal of activity as it had a lot to offer in terms of music and music related topics.

In a discussion at the festival, singer and actress Meesha Shafi said she had a great association with the halls of Alhamra as she grew up while visiting these halls with her mother, who did a lot of theatre at this venue.

She said her connection with the performing arts had seen many years. About her singing and stepping into the Coke Studio, Meesha said she was particular about rhythm, her entrance to the Coke Studio was the outcome of a phone call which was about singing at the Coke Studio. She described how she and Jamal composed the tune for Manto’s story Thanda Gosht in the film, Manto.

The bands performed on Sunday were MU, Mohammad Aizaz, Mehdi Maloof, Patari Tabeer, Shajie, Hathi, Saakin, Tonight, Us, Jaubi and Noah’s Heark. The youth in good numbers enjoyed the music with great excitement.

The festival was a well-attended event and a good number of audience was consisted of youngsters along with people from different walks of life. The food stalls were given the place at the foyer area of Hall-1. The venue was tastefully decorated.

The festival featured a variety of topics on music such as heritage, archiving, film music and storytelling through dance.

Personalities like Sajjad Ali, Ali Azmat, Momina Mustehsan and other talked with audience. The festival had rich line-up of panel discussions, music and a visual art exhibition as well.

A number of visual art fanciers visited the audiovisual exhibition titled ‘Rang Saazi’.

Co-curated by Alifiyah Imani and Azka Shahid, the exhibition showcased contemporary visual artists who have broadly explored and interpreted music as a subject and subculture and its influence as an integral part of our collective, historical and cultural identities.

Originally published in Dawn, March 13th, 2017