Preserving the cultural heritage of Chitral

CHITRAL, Dec 7: The Chitral Heritage and Environment Protection Society (CHEPS) arranged a joint musical event of both senior and junior artists at Pamir Riverside Inn here. Most of the acclaimed senior and junior artists of the district were invited to perform together. The purpose of this joint performance was to bridge the gap between the two generations, and to provide an opportunity to the younger artists to duly take over the heritage of classical Khowar music in its original form from the senior artists. The event was marked by enthusiastic participation of youth. The senior artists of classical Khowar music who performed on the occasion were Gul Nawaz Khaki, Baba Fatahuddin, Sultan Ghani and Muhammad Wali. The young artists of modern Khowar music included Mansoor Ali Shabab, Muhsin Hayat Shadab, Aftab Alam, Muhammad Zafar, Nisar Ahmad and Saleem. Apart from the vocalists the Band of Chitral Scouts also participated on the occasion. Rahmat Ali Jaffer Dost, the chairman CHEPS, in his welcome address said that preserving Chitral’s musical heritage is one of the two objectives of his organization, namely environment and heritage. He stressed upon every Chitrali to play his due role in preserving and maintaining Chitral’s unique cultural heritage. Talking on the occasion, Gul Nawaz Khaki, a prolific artist and literary figure, highly hailed the event and said the classical Khowar music and folk songs were on the verge of oblivion due to the unhappy fact that most modern Khowar songs and lyrics have lent themselves to non-Khowar melodies. He stressed and appealed that such events of joint performance be regularly arranged in order to properly preserve Chitral’s musical heritage, and pass it on to the new generation. Mr. Abdul Wali Khan Abid Advocate in his address appreciated the initiative of joint performance, taken by Rahmat Ali, and said such events were of vital importance to preserve Khowar’s classical music. The spellbinding performances lasted till midnight and a variety of traditional dance performances were displayed.–Zahoor ul Haq Danish  ]]>