ISLAMABAD: A dholak geet contest was organized by National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) here at Heritage Museum, Shakarparian with an objective to promote folk musical heritage of Pakistan, reintroduce “dholak” as an important instrument and identify new talent in this particular field. Around 100 participants including a large number of females participated in the contest and presented folk songs playing dholak based on wedding rituals of different provinces and regions. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Fouzia Saeed, Executive Director, Lok Virsa said, “We have been working on a theme `women reclaim culture’ keeping in mind that gradually many of our cultural activities are becoming more male dominated. Women used to be the repositories of folklore and tradition but gradually they are losing out their space”, she added. Lok Virsa hold seminars on developing models of indigenous feminism, encouraging women folk artists and recreating spaces that women had for bonding, learning and expressing themselves creatively, Dr Fauzia said, adding that weddings used to be a socially acceptable space where women got together and sang songs. Dholak, a percussion instrument is the only one which women have owned fully, she said, adding, “We want to bring back the dholak in the lives of families and make it a symbol of women’s creative expression. To achieve this goal, we have organized this contest which are being participated by young women, men also, from various schools, colleges and universities. The response is tremendous”. “We are today releasing an audio CD called “Dholak Geet (wedding songs)” and Dholaks are also available on sale for the guests”, she maintained.