Daily Times

“When I think of Pakistan after 50 years I see a land of peace, love security with a clean environment and respect for fine arts and music.” This was a young Bachelors student sharing his vision in training on peace. I was really surprised as trainer to listen to the boy as he belonged to a region where talking about music and art in the past few years has been quite a challenging thought. Unfortunately in our society at times religion and cultural norms are amalgamated in such a manner that one finds it difficult to identify that thin distinguishing line. We rarely see people promoting love of art and music. The dwindling line between the cultural norms and religious obligations, the growing number of religious seminaries particularly the unregistered ones, the biased and bigoted content of the textbooks, lack of check and balance on the content taught in private schools, the deterioration of social fabric — it all leads to a new different style of family and community, Hujra, Panchait, Chopal which once used to be the source of social interaction and promotion of folk lore and unconsciously nurture the centuries-old traditions and artists at work in all forms. It was definitely soothing for souls and thought quite contrary to what we listen to in the name of music.

Each piece of art comes into creation after continuous and hard labour

Similarly when we talk about arts and crafts, a world of colors and unique ideas captures our imagination each one unique in its self no matter if it’s the glass work from Balochistan, a folk singer from Sindh or the Khattak Dance from KP, or woodwork from Punjab. Each piece of art comes into creation after continuous and hard labour.

Pakistan is one of the luckiest countries with rich and diverse cultural heritage in all four provinces with the most enchanting arts and crafts, and the folk music as well. The different musical instrument which are a rare sight these days are in KP and are called ‘Rubaab’ and ‘Mangay’ (pitcher). The romance associated with these instrument in folk lore and the village life is mesmerizing. Similarly in Punjab, ‘Bansuri’, ‘Chimta’, ‘ghara’ in Sindh ‘sarinda Murli’ in Balochistan, ‘Benju’, ‘Suroz’ all have a history and special association with the cultural heritage of these particular areas. I still remember the days of PTV when we would witness these instruments being played by local artists on specific occasions and people would love to to watch it even if they didn’t understand the language. That was the actual beauty the invisible connector.

Arts and crafts and design and technology are among the compulsory subjects in many of the developed and developing countries. As it is believed that the presence of art color has a lifelong impact plus the span of retention, concentration and most important creativity finds its way in the life of an individual. When we look at our national curriculum, the presence of arts and crafts is minimal. We as parents, as teachers and as adults usually don’t let the artist grow.

One reason for the absence of this is a perception that the artist has no future in financial terms. Artists do have some respect but musicians are also looked down upon and often end up having a miserable life.

We are in continuous debate upon how to deal with growing extremism, intolerance, frustration around us. Let’s think out of the box. A little attention to the dying arts and crafts and folk music can help the society and state in handling not only the extremist vibes but also the endangered cultural heritage can be preserved. We need to introduce some kind of art and crafts classes in the public schools to open up a channel of creativity for the young ones unleashing their artistic skills (at primary level as well as middle and secondary level. It can be a blend of traditional cultural arts (including music and cultural arts of that particular area province) along with the modern subjects of design and technology as it is done in the most of the developed and even in developing countries.

Secondly, if the artisans and experts of traditional musical instrument and art crafts are engaged by the state as mentors, trainers at different levels, it would help a great deal.

Lastly, there will be minimum resistance towards traditional/cultural music particularly as there is a sense of ownership whenever it comes to the folk music and indigenous art work of a particular province. It is also embedded in culture and is a part of everyday life in villages and remote areas plus there is a history. We can see in recent past how truck art got appreciation by certain companies. Despite militancy and conflicts, we can still see musician and their workshops in in old city areas of Peshawar so would be the case in other provinces. Folk music and traditional instruments have a history and have contributed positively to the cultures and this form of art should be promoted.

The writer has experience in the field of education and is currently working as a resource person in the development sector

Published in Daily Times, June 26th, 2017.