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    Karachi City of Lights Festival

    Written by: Sadeem Shaikh
    Posted on: June 09, 2015 |

    Part of Maliha Hassan's Happy Buggy Ride Exhibition

    The Karachi City of Lights Festival brought together a sizeable crowd to Zamzama Park’s DHA Art Theater for a weekend of theatrical performances and art exhibitions. A concerted effort by I Am Karachi and The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP), the three-day event provided a platform for the audience to get acquainted with the city’s rich and longstanding heritage in the visual and performing arts. Through classical music workshops, oral history booths, improvised comedy acts and miniature art exhibitions, the City of Lights Festival made for an exciting weekend, attended by Karachiites of all ages.

    Karachi City of Lights Festival

    Tapu Javeri's 'Karachakra'

    Apart from the various theatrical and musical performances on stage, there was a permanent set of exhibitions around the venue, featuring pictures of Old Karachi, several oral history booths, and even a live painting session by Faiz Rahi. What stood out from other exhibits was Tapu Javeri’s Karachakra, a mesmerizing collage of colorfully painted monuments in Karachi, swiftly decorated with a string of flowery motifs in the center. The idea behind Maliha Hassan’s Happy Buggy Ride was similarly inquisitive in nature. Given the sudden disappearance of buggy rides from the roads of Karachi, Hassan’s work shed light on the lives of old buggy drivers, recording their accounts on the forgotten importance of this age-old means of transportation. Another distinctive setup was that of Aziza Ahmad’s Karachi Dance-athon, a brightly embellished mini-music stage which aimed to transport viewers to the rich dance traditions of the 1970s. Outside the theater, other art installations such as oral history booths and mobile museums of places such as the Mohatta Palace and Frere Hall provided insights into the life of a completely different Pakistani generation from several decades ago.

    The Festival was lined up with a series of dramatic and musical performances. Students from the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) initiated the event with an engaging storytelling session directed towards the children in the crowd. Through catchy songs and intriguing riddles, the 4-member group praised the unique culture of not just Karachi, but also the different provinces of Pakistan. The session sparked the intellectual curiosity of the audience; both children and adults not only sang along but also actively competed with each other in answering the riddles.

    Karachi City of Lights Festival

    (l-r) Yousaf Kerai and Shehroze Hussain during their Tabla and Sitaar Performance

    Two members of the classical ensemble, Tarz group, next took the stage to deliver a captivating workshop on South Asian music. 17-year-old student and Sitaar player, Shehroze Hussain, together with Tabla player and Mathematics teacher, Yousaf Kerai, interacted with a fascinated audience that was eager to learn about the foundational roots of classical music in Pakistan. Hussain, son of legendary Sitar maestro Ustad Sajid Hussain, reinterpreted contemporary Bollywood tunes as well as local hits by bands such as Fuzon. Kerai pointed out the distinctive nature of South Asian music, while Hussain provided note-by-note demonstrations of major and minor sounds with his enchanting Tabla beats. Together, their skills had the audience bemused by the intricacies of South Asian music. Kerai went on to point out that differences between East Asian, Middle Eastern and South Asian music are minute at best, and music in and of itself knows no boundaries. While one must devote a large amount of time and dedication in learning instruments such as the Tabla and Sitaar, nothing is ever planned in music – performers simply make eye contact with each other and play in the moment.

    During the latter part of the event, a local underground rock band named Zabardast also gave a passionate performance on stage, singing songs such as Junoon’s Saeen to cherish the Sufi spirit in music.

    Karachi City of Lights Festival

    Kids lined up before a bike ride in Karachi, late 1950s

    Contemporary developments in improvisational comedy were yet another highlight of the show, with Pakistan’s first ever long-form improvisation troupe, The Platoon throwing out some on-the-spot casual humor. Inspired by legendary improvisational comedians such as Remy Bertrand and Susan Messing, The Platoon humorously took some of Karachi’s most troubling problems, and made comedic songs and short acting games out of them. Other groups such as Spoken Stage brought ideas of freedom of expression on stage, encouraging storytelling and arts through poetry and writing. Mariam Paracha and Zehra Nawab acted out an awe-inspiring twenty-minute dramatic play on how Karachi has transformed over the decades. Highlighting the changed roads, buildings and urban landscape of the city, Paracha and Zehra left the audience in a wondering daze as they exchanged dialogues and drew comparisons between Old and New Karachi.

    The final session was a panel discussion on popular Pakistani culture, and how it relates to our sense of pride and identity. The panelists included renowned ghazal singer Tina Sani, artist and founder of Canvas Art Gallery, Sameera Raja, and a respected management consultant and certified football coach, Imran Ali. They tackled the fundamental questions concerning pop culture, pride and identity, engaging in an hour-long dialogue with each other. Despite constant repression of fine arts and sports in Pakistan, all three panelists agreed that there is much to be proud of when it comes to the country’s glorious past. Unanimously accepting the importance of media in promulgating a transparent and value neutral pop culture, the three panelists attempted to explain its significance through their respective fields of expertise. While Sani expanded on the relationship between music and pop culture in the various regions of Pakistan, Raja elaborated on truck art and the I Am Karachi sponsored wall painting project as crucial forms of expression and identity. With the added intention of tackling problems of crime and poverty, Ali similarly stressed on developing and institutionalizing community-based football at the grassroots level. 

    With a well-rounded set of workshops, exhibitions and performances, the City of Lights Festival provided a thriving platform for the residents of Karachi to remember and glorify the days past. A major step towards reimagining the city in a positive light, the event has laid the groundwork for similar initiatives in the future.


    As the new year begins, let us also start anew. I’m delighted to extend, on behalf of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and in my own name, new year’s greeting and sincere wishes to YOULIN magazine’s staff and readers.

    Only in hard times can courage and perseverance be manifested. Only with courage can we live to the fullest. 2020 was an extraordinary year. Confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic, China and Pakistan supported each other and took on the challenge in solidarity. The ironclad China-Pakistan friendship grew stronger as time went by. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor projects advanced steadily in difficult times, become a standard-bearer project of the Belt and Road Initiative in balancing pandemic prevention and project achievement. The handling capacity of the Gwadar Port has continued to rise and Afghanistan transit trade through the port has officially been launched. The Karakoram Highway Phase II upgrade project is fully open to traffic. The Lahore Orange Line project has been put into operation. The construction of Matiari-Lahore HVDC project was fully completed. A batch of green and clean energy projects, such as the Kohala and Azad Pattan hydropower plants have been substantially promoted. Development agreement for the Rashakai SEZ has been signed. The China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future has become closer and closer.

    Reviewing the past and looking to the future, we are confident to write a brilliant new chapter. The year 2021 is the 100th birthday of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan. The 100-year journey of CPC surges forward with great momentum and China-Pakistan relationship has flourished in the past 70 years. Standing at a new historic point, China is willing to work together with Pakistan to further implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, connect the CPEC cooperation with the vision of the “Naya Pakistan”, promote the long-term development of the China-Pakistan All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership with love, dedication and commitment. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan said, “We are going through fire. The sunshine has yet to come.” Yes, Pakistan’s best days are ahead, China will stand with Pakistan firmly all the way.

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    Last but not least, I would like to wish all the staff and readers of YOULIN a warm and prosper year in 2021.

    Nong Rong Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
    The People’s Republic of China to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
    January 2021