World culture comes to Karachi

By Imran Shirvanee

A five-week cultural festival, the largest of its kind in recent times, was held at the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi, where participants from 20 countries graced the city and presented theatre plays and musical performances. Arts Council had earlier announced a national theatre festival to be held in October, which then culminated into an international festival of not only theatre but also dance and music.

The festival began at the end of September continuing into the first week of October. Musicians from five countries joined hands to perform at the inauguration ceremony with Rwandans, South Africans, Nepalese, Azerbaijanis and Pakistani musicians presenting a scintillating music experience for the audience.

The following two days, Lahore’s Olomopolo Media staged an experimental play White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, enacted first by Nadia Jamil, and the next day by Sarmad Khoosat. This experiment was a success as both actors did a commendable job giving their versions. On the weekend, a mega concert was held with different performers from the same five countries presenting their music. This was followed by a theatre play by the Kosovan group, Art Per Art. The play, Waiting for Train, had a packed audience. Rwandan Mashirika Performing Art and Media Company presented their play, Generation 25, also on the same day.

Pakistani, Rwandans, South Africans and Azerbaijani artists presented a dance for peace. This fusion of various dance forms was a very inspiring experience for the audience. Theatre play, Karachi ka bichhu, a farce by Khalid Ahmed who wrote and directed the play was followed by Khwaja Moin’s Taleem-e Balighan, modernized by Farhan Alam in a 2.0 format the next day. Another comedy, Slaver: Aaj ki taza khabar, followed. The next day a puppet show was presented called, The Devil/Le Diable, followed by another puppet show from Italy by Nina Theatre Put your heart into it. This play was shown twice in the festival. Bazelah Mustafa’s play, V-gen …error 404: not found, was staged later. This was a bold play and thus marked 18+ for the audience. Japanese theatre play, Are you lovin it, was staged by Theatre Group Gumbo, directed by Kayo Tamura.

Another mega festival showcasing work from Pakistani and Ukrainian musicians was presented, the next day, followed by a Qawwali night, featuring Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad Qawwals.

Play, Suicide Incorporated a satire was well received by the viewers followed by another Pakistani play, Clue, which was also popular within the audience. Sri Lankan Stage Theatre Group staged a play called, Patterns of our genocide. Written by Ali Johar and Amal de Chickera, the play was directed by acclaimed Sri Lankan director, Ruwanthie de Chickera. The tagline of the play said it all: from Rohingya to Palestine. Shahnawaz Bhatti’s play, Chaturaee, staged next was a social commentary. Bhatti who is good at directing social plays proved his mettle with this presentation.

Mazhar Noorani and Syed Muntazir adapted and directed the next theatrical experience, 39 steps, with two days of dance returning to the stage but in the form of a play about a dancer. Mi Raqsam by Iftikhar Akram was a choreographed storytelling, inspired by stories of artists that exist all around us. Indian author Javed Siddiqi’s Saalgirah was presented in Sindhi. Directed by Paras Masroor who also acted in it, the play created a magic of its own. Tehrik-e Niswan presented Ibsen’s A Doll’s House as Guriya ka ghar, a thought provoking play.

The last week of the festival started with a comedy play, Khwabon ki nautanki. It was written by Babar Jamal and directed by Uzma Sabin. Russian Lidia Kopina Company presented Road, a dance performance that mesmerized everybody. No world cultural experience can be complete without mentioning the Bard and so, Shakespeare’s Fool was the next show. Directed by British artistic director Maren Scott, the presentation was well received by the audience.

A fusion of German and Pakistani music, Berlin nach Lahore was next. Ashraf Sharif Khan on sitar, Christoph Reuter on keyboards, and Thomas Rudigar on percussion proved that music knows no boundaries. There were German, Egyptian, and Pakistani plays towards the end of the festival along with some musical performances too. The festival was dominated by theatre shows compared to music performances, but the end result made it a complete cultural experience. Also, notable was the fact that most of the Karachi performances had graduates from the National Academy of Performing Arts-NAPA in them.

Kudos to Arts Council’s President Ahmed Shah and his team for conceiving such a brilliant programme, executed on such a huge scale without any glitches.