LAHORE: The two-day Lahore Music Meet 2018 (LMM) kicked off on Saturday at Alhamra Art Centre. However, this time around, at least the first day of LMM failed to get the desired results in attracting a humongous crowd during its fourth edition. As compared to last year, the enthusiasm seemed to be lost. Even though a crowd of music lovers was witnessed during the evening sessions, a thin attendance maintained during the afternoon sessions. Unfortunately, filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s non-presence during her session ‘Song Of Lahore – Screening + Q&A’ contributed in putting a blot to the event. Visitors said that LMM was a good event for them to attend. It provided a platform to young artists and was also a form of entertainment for Lahoris, which was cost free. They said that LMM was really a one of a kind event and definitely the right forum for the promotion of the Pakistani music industry Music platform Patari Tabeer’s live performance by Lyaari Underground and Abid Brohi seemed to fill the void as together they enthralled the audience with their fabulous performance on different songs. They performed more than seven songs including “Players Of Lyari”, “The Sibbi Song”, “Samajhdari”, “Sher-e-Balochsitan” and many others and succeeded in getting the audience to their feet. Under one roof, a total of 17 different sessions were observed on the first day of the event including discussions, live performances and storytelling session in Hall 1, Hall 2, Pepsi Hall and the Alhamra Art Gallery. Five different bands and individual performances were observed in the outdoors, by Sunny Khan Durrani, Fazal Jutt, Sami Amiri, Wisdom Salad, Mauj and the band Roots. Music platform Patari Tabeer’s live performance by Lyaari Underground and Abid Brohi seemed to fill the void as together they enthralled the audience with their fabulous performance on different songs. They performed more than seven songs including ‘Players Of Lyari’, ‘The Sibbi Song’, ‘Samajhdari’, ‘Sher-e-Balochsitan’ and many others and succeeded in getting the audience to their feet Meanwhile, selected and relevant topics focussing on the music industry were discussed such as ‘Animating Music’, ‘Flaunting the Flute’, ‘Below the Bassline’, ‘Storytelling through Dance: The Kathak’, ‘The Composer Guide to the Big Screen’, ‘Soundcheck’, ‘Talking Tablas & Beats: Building Rhythmic Textures’, ‘Saaz-e-Andaaz: Surr Milao’ and a plethora of others. The LMM team consists of festival directors Natasha Noorani and Zahra Paracha with Sana Nasir as the lead designer and Munizeh Sanai as the programming manager. Music lovers, composers, artists, music teachers, celebrities, singers and music enthusiasts from different walks of life attended the LMM and seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. LMM is a platform for music lovers and also for Lahoris to meet their fans and music bands by enjoying their performances and to listen to their life’s journey in the music industry. Visitors said that LMM was a good event for them to attend. It provided a platform to young artists and was also a form of entertainment for Lahoris, which was cost free. They said that LMM was really a one of a kind event and definitely the right forum for the promotion of the Pakistani music industry. Published in Daily Times, December 7th 2017.