Daily Times

As a student of matriculation I first attended the sessions of the All Pakistan Music Conference in 1960.

I loved music then. I still love it. It was my dream to sing in the APMC festivals. Now that the dream is fulfilled, I have been participating as a classical and light singer since many years. Thanks to the encouragement from Hayat Ahmad Khan and now from his daughter Ghazala Irfan. It has been a long struggle to rub shoulders with full-time professionals in music. When Pakistan came into being, the problems were insurmountable; social, political and financial. In this scenario, fine arts lay far behind in its priorities. Music especially was neglected by the government and people though the desire of the music lovers echoed to hear live music concerts despite abundance of artists available in all genres of music in the country at all times. Many classical singers like Ustad Nazakat Ali Khan, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan of Sham Chaurasi Gharana and alike had migrated from India. All practicing vocalists and instrumentalists were in a lookout for vocation but barring Radio Pakistan, nothing was in the offing. Pakistani film industry was producing good films but this industry too catered for a particular brand of musicians. It had limited market also. In this era of frustration, Ustad Bare Ghulam Ali Khan left for India. Malika-e-Mausiqi Roshan Ara Begum announced that she shall stop doing ‘riaz’ as none seemed to be interested to hear classical music. That was the last nail in the coffin.

Some concerned woke up and took action to salvage to counter this dismal scenario. On September 15, 1959 this concerned group met at a famous coffee house in Lahore, discussed the dismal state of affairs, convinced Malika-e-Mausiqi to continue practicing her music and set up a voluntary organisation The All Pakistan Music Conference (APMC). The agenda was simple; to keep music alive in Pakistan in the form of concerts, conferences and festivals. Hayat Ahmad Khan was asked to take over the responsibility of a secretary general, a job he undertook untiringly until his demise. After his demise, this job is arduously done by his daughter Ghazala Irfan. It has been an effort worth its cause and the organisation is flourishing for 47 years now. Many respectable names have been associated with this organisation like Syed Wajid Ali Shah, Javed Ahmad Qureshi, Muhammad Saeed Khan, Rubina Qureshi, Sarwet Ali, Abdul Waheed Khan, Ayub Munir, Ghazala Hamid, Irshad Chaudhry, Syed Mohsin Rizvi, Tariq Hameed, Syed Sarfaraz Ahmad, Sheikh Sajjad Hasan, Irfan Rehman Malik and alike.

The first APMC festival took place from February 19-23, 1960. It had to be an instant success quenching the thirst of classical and semi-classical music lovers. The sessions spread over five nights and two mornings. They still do. The best part was that music lovers from all over Pakistan came from Quetta, Karachi, Peshawar and Dhaka. Sessions start in-time at eight and lasts until wee hours in the morning each singer singing a classical raag according to the night or morning ones in the classical music session. The great maestros that were hidden from the eyes of music lovers in the past, came into limelight because of their appearance on stage at APMC festival. Those who participated initially comprised Ustad Qadir Bukhsh Pakhawaji, Ustad Nazakat Ali Khan-Ustad Salamat Ali Khan duo, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan-Ustad Fateh Ali Khan duo, Ustad Sharif Khan Poonchwale, Ustad Sardar Khan, Ustad Nathu Khan, Ustad Allah Ditta Pari Paiker, Ustad Shaukat Hussain Khan, Ustad Nazim Ali Khan, Munir Sarhadi, Zahida Parveen, Ustad Sadiq Ali Mando, Khamisu Khan, Sain Akhtar Hussain, Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan, Ustad Niaz Hussain Shami, Naseem Begum, Ustad Nabi Bukhsh Khan, Ustad Umeed Ali Khan, Ustad Zahoori Khan, Abdul Rasheed Beenkaar, Tufail Niazi, Ustad Talib Hussain Pakhawaji, Lal Muhammad and above all Malika-e-Mausiqi Roshan Ara Begum.

The venue for annual festival remained fixed at Open Air Theatre, Bagh-e-Jinnah barring a few years at Alhamra due to security reason. The encouragement led to holding monthly concerts on the first day of each month at Alhamra, The Mall, Lahore. These monthly concerts start exactly at 6pm sharp. The artist in APMC concerts are asked to concentrate on the performances rather than on speeches. The audience is asked to applaud only after the finishing of the performance. They maintain strict decorum and remain seated during the performance.

As time passed, the musicians and singers of all genres of music from the present generation grew large in number. The amateurs and students participated and competed after rigorous auditions.