Daily Times

The National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, Lok Virsa, organised a Lok Baithak on Folklore of Hindko in Islamabad at the Lok Virsa Media Centre with the aim to promote the art and culture of Hazara division Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Renowned Hindko folk singer Shakeel Awan presented his popular melodies for the people of capital and enthralled the audience by singing local and traditional Hazara music. Awan a Hindko singer from Hazara, sings in different languages including Hindko, Pharhi Potohari, Panjabi, and Urdu.

Lok Virsa has recently launched a new fortnightly series of folklore and folk music called Lok Baithak to revive the informal sittings of the traditional and rural communities.

These Lok Baithaks were multifaceted and used to serve the multiple purposes of associationalism, camaraderie, entertainment, social cohesion, knowledge sharing, creation of disciplinarian and organisational spirit, and above all, were hub of promotion of art and culture in the general communities.

This programme is open to the people of all age groups and to all ethnicities.

A large number of people from different walks of life attended the event, whereas, the prominent Hindko anchorperson, Kashif Malik hosted the event and Zafar Iqbal Khan, alias “Swati Mama”, a very popular Hindko “poet” was also present at the event.

Published in Daily Times, February 2^nd 2019.