Highlights of cultural activities in Lahore this past week were the much-hyped launching of a book on music and a Press briefing by Chairman Action Committee, Pakistan Film Exhibitors Association at which he demanded of the government to allow screening of Indian movies in Pakistani cinemas. Included in other noticeable events of the week were a seminar on journalism and Public Relations, announcement of the results of a photography contest and a meeting of the concerned persons about the input of Punjab in formulation of national cultural policy.
Not much seems to have been written in this country on music during the past 57 years. Those few books, which reached bookstores, could not satiate the curiosity of the readers about the historical, philosophical, theoretical and teaching aspects of this esoteric art.
Music is a unique discipline, which can be treated both as an art and a science. Like other subjects, it can be taught as an academic discipline, only if plenty of quality literature on music is available to support such a programme. The literature will be required by the teachers and the taught to pursue any research project.
If rich Pakistani melodic cultural heritage is to be prevented from slipping into historical oblivion, more books and literature should be produced in the country for the benefit of posterity.
That was the thrust of arguments advanced by different speakers at the June 30th launching ceremony of Urdu Mauseeqi, a book on music written by Khalid Malik Haider from Peshawar, which took place at Nairang Galleries, Lahore. The ceremony was turned into a heated debate when several speakers accused the author of lifting material from different books without acknowledging the sources. One of the speakers sang several classical compositions to substantiate his point regarding the practicability of using Western Staff Notation for the preservation of our classical heritage. The launching ceremony ended in fiasco due to the impatience of speakers from the audience to present their points of view ahead of others.
Chairman Action Committee of Pakistan Film Exhibitors Association at a Press briefing on June 28 in Lahore has urged the government to remove restrictions on the import and screening of Indian films in Pakistani cinemas. If that was not possible, he suggested that the government should annually pay Rs.600 million to film exhibitors for production and monitoring of quality movies in Pakistan. The Press briefing was arranged primarily to register protest of the representatives of Pakistan Film Industry against what they called the government's indifference to the current sorry state of affairs prevailing in our film industry.