The change in literary fashion and taste

By Sadiq Ullah Khail As far as change in literary fashion and taste is concerned, it is the need of time. For literature depicts the trends and tendencies of a particular society at a particular period of time. Renowned Professor Dr. Barret Wendel says that if you want to know the whereabouts of any nation at any particular age, you should observe the literature of that nation because it is literature that tells you how much gravity that particular nation had at that certain span of time. Literature is one of the many channels in which the energy of an age discharges itself. So, by changing literary fashion and taste a nation can tell the world about its companionship with time. Many people have complaint against the contemporary taste of Khowar music. They call satirically this new and heart touching taste as “The trend of Masoom Studio”. They are of this view that this new trend has abated the originality and harmony of the old folk music of Qashqar valley. A couple of days back I came across a complaint on Facebook by Chitral’s old folk singer Baba Iqbal Uddin Sahar against the new fashion and taste of Khowar music. He believes that the change in our music is hostile for the preservation of its identity and he terms the modern singers paralyzed. However, this new taste is not tumble rather it is progress. Due to the new trend in our music it has become possible for every Chitrali to surmise that how much lyrical and musical talent and sense our new generation has. The credit of the increased number of singers and poets goes to “The trend of Massom Studio” which has marked a tremendous and presentable variation in our music and has achieved the status of milestone in the literary history of Chitral. Being a Graduate in literature I personally believe that change either in literary fashion and taste or in other things is natural as well as necessary, because “Varieties are the spices of life”. Varieties lead to inconsistencies and inconsistencies lead to pursuit joy. It is variety that imparts glamour and charm to human life and bestows hope and courage to every individual of the universe regardless of cult, creed, color, community, culture and currency to survive in the turbulent marine of life. It is, again, variety which causes the curves of smile in the faces of troubled individuals. It won’t be wrong if I say that fluctuation is one of the best creations and inventions of Almighty Allah. By creating this element Allah has granted the gut, the energy to His being to hoist the flag of victory over the adamant and thorny arena of life. As we know literature is the mirror of a society and it is affiliated with the taste and attitude of the dwellers of a society in a particular period of time. Change in literature occurs because change itself is one of the inseparable features of human existence. It occurs in human life before the birth and never ends up as it is constant. As time grows up the change becomes visible in the taste and perception of every individual. For example, a child’s seeing of life is dead different that of an adolescence. A child prefers sweets, candies, cookies over the money and he/she prefers games and excursions over studies or any other serious move. When the child grows a bit older, I mean when the child steps into adolescence, his/her perception changes dramatically about life. Now he/she prefers smoking, branded dress, cosmetics and other items related to fashion over the money as well as sweets and only eats sweets when someone else offers to him/her otherwise he/she has to wait either for someone’s marriage ceremony or someone’s birthday, friends or siblings, or any festival, like Eid because he/she has no money for that. He/she also gives some preference to studies than games and excursions. Similarly, as soon as, the adolescence gets good enough maturity, a great deal of change occurs in his/her perception and taste towards life and other ingredients of life. From this example it can be inferred that with the passage of time change occurs simultaneously in human outlook and attitude regarding different things. Therefore, change occurs in literary taste and fashion as per the change in perception of people. And it is change which shows the growth and progress of human being. Last of all I would like to say that instead of criticizing “The trend of Massom Studio” in our music we should hug cordially this new trend, because due to this new trend our music remains no more domestic. It is now heard and appreciated beyond the territories of Chitral district. We should not quarrel with those who follow this trend rather we should gladly allow them to do their own work in their own way because now it is their time and turn to preserve a literature for the coming generation.]]>