By Shaheen Buneri
PESHAWAR: In wake of the MMA government’s ban on music in public places, most of the Pakhto folk singers have decided to migrate to the capitals of the Punjab and Sindh provinces.
"We are the representatives of the rich and glorious cultural history of the Pakhtuns. There is no vulgarity and obscenity in our artistic presentations as most of us sing either Pakhto folk songs or the ghazals of prominent poets like Rehman Baba and Khushal Khan Khattak. We term the government’s move a conspiracy against the five thousand year-old history of the Pakhtuns that is discouraging the Pakhto folk singers to sing the songs of beauty, peace, love and colours," a group of the Pakhto folk singers said while talking to the Statesman in Dabgari, the music street of the provincial capital.
It merits a mention here that on the one hand every sort of musical show, mostly presented by the westernised pop singers, is put on air on the PTV and on the other the government agencies do not hesitate to harass and discourage the local Pakhto singers and ban their participation in public gatherings.
"The government should concentrate on resolving the real problems of the masses. Banning music and other cultural activities, which are the prime source of entertainment for the poor and down-trodden segments of society, is an illogical and anti-cultural step. What is wrong with our folk music? We have inherited this music from our forefathers who were the people with a very strong belief in religion and morality. This is the source of our livelihood and inspiration. I don’t think that banning music will do any good to the frustrated masses of this province," said a senior music composer, wishing not to be named for obvious reasons.
Another group of folk singers said that the government’s decision was based on prejudice and hatred against the Pakhtuns. They also warned that if the government’s discriminatory attitude against the Pakhto music was not stopped, they would migrate to the other provinces to earn their livelihood.
A grey-haired Pakhto folk singer, who enjoyed immense popularity as a singer in his youth, expressed his feelings in a Pushto tappa in these words:
Yao kaal ba bal watan ke ter krem,
Sta de khaist dauran che ter shi raa ba shama.
(I shall pass a year in another land and return home when the glory of your beauty has disappeared).
The aging singer complained that a large number of English and Indian movies, songs and stage shows, were easily available on CDs in the market. Such programmes were presented on the electronic media which were totally against the socio-cultural values of the nation, but the government was doing nothing about them because they were presented for the elite of society, he observed.
Another music composer said that the step had been taken to satisfy the sentiments of a few hardliners but it would mean a financial death for the 200 hundred families associated with music in the capital and thousands others in the province.
"Though the Taliban banned music in Afghanistan, they even did not touch the archives of the Pakhto music in the music library of the Radio Kabul. They were culturally more aware than the religious groups of our province. Music and culture are the shared legacy of all the Pakhtuns on both sides of the border. It is high time for the Pakhtuns-dominated MMA government to realise this fact and take steps to encourage the Pakhto folk music to counter the cultural invasion of the western media," the singer suggested.
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