Daily Times

LAHORE: The colourful two-day festival of Lahore Music Meet 2017 concluded by attracting a large number of youth, families, music lovers, students and performers as well as people from different walks of life with a message to promote the music industry and local singers.

The LMM team arranged a series of seminars to entertain and stimulate the audience with a variety of discussions on music, singing and the industry in general. On the last day, a total of 18 storytelling and discussion seminars were held with 10 performances at the premises of Alhamra. Fourteen sessions were held on Day 1. During these two days, singers, producers, rappers, music teachers, composers and artistes participated and shed light on the music industry and its importance and challenges which are being faced by all the concerned people from this industry.

Some of the sessions that were held included ‘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-Andaz – Surr Milao’ and much more.

On Day 2, a session titled ‘Patari Tabeer’ was held which was moderated by Ahmer Naqvi with Abid Brohi, Nazar and Layari Rappers on the panel. They shared the story of their journey and challenges which they faced at the start. Abid Brohi said that his friends, parents and family members had always discouraged him but he never lost hope. He also added that, one day he ran away to Quetta and got a job at a tea stall as a waiter but his passion did not diminish from singing. “One day, I came back to Sibbi for attending the Sibbi Mela where I met a group member of Patari who provided a platform for me after a year,” he went on to say.

A group member of Lyaari Rappers named DJ Khalifa Karachi, while talking exclusively with Daily Times said that they have faced several problems in start but did not stop from struggling and fighting for music. He said that their purpose was to present a good image of Lyaari in front of those people who think that they are criminals. He said that Lyaari was famous for being called Mini Brazil due to the passion for football present in the local people. He said that now 20-30 percent youth want to become rappers. In a query, he said that they learned a lot from YouTube for producing quality in their music before joining Patari.

On the occasion, they also shared the views about Lahore city and thanked Lahoris for giving positive response and their hospitality.

Patari Tabeer musicians captivated the audience through their fabulous performances on “Sibbi Song”, “Players of Lyari” and “Jugni”.

Moderator and Patari Director of Content Ahmer Naqvi said that their purpose was to present something new in the music industry that presented the issues of local community. “We founded six voices from different cities of Pakistan and paired them with top producers by providing a platform titled Patari Tabeer that is a culmination of six dreams. We make six amazing songs. They include a sweeper from Islamabad, a rapper from Lyari, a peon from Sukkur, a tea-seller from Sibbi, a young girl from Peshawar and nomadic singers from central Sindh,” he said.

Another session titled “Storytelling through Dance – The Kathak” was moderated by Asad Khawaja and speaker Rehan Bashir. “Kathak has a very nomadic and gypsy feel to it while it is also an art of storytelling through dance. A lot of rehearsal is required with full attention for Kathak dance,” the speaker upheld. On the occasion, Rehan Bashir also performed a Kathak dance which was met by immense applause.