Pakistan’s leading scholars joined prominent artists to celebrate cultural resistance and resilience at a special event held at the Alhamra on Friday 12 August.
Organized by Ajoka Theatre, in collaboration with Lahore Arts Council and Samosa Media UK, the event included scholarly presentations on sustainability by writers, poets, musicians, dancers, theater activists and visual artists, as well as spectacular performances by dance guru Sheema Kermani and The radical Laal gang.
Ajoka Executive Director Shahid Nadeem and Ajoka Chair spoke about the purpose of the event and said that Pakistani artists have shown remarkable resilience in the face of challenges like military rule and religious extremism. The 75th anniversary of Independence provides an occasion to honor the heroes of cultural resistance and celebrate their achievements. Anwar Akhtar of Samosa Media UK, spoke of the keen interest of British Pakistanis in the 75th anniversary of independence and the partition of 1947. He said that South Asian culture is now an important part of British society, reflected by the Games ceremony To the recently concluded Commonwealth revolving around Bhangra performances. Mariya Afzal from the British Council spoke about the Council’s plans for the 75th anniversary and congratulated Ajoka for organizing such a significant event. After the opening remarks, a video compilation “Ushaq Ke Qaflay” was shown, which paid tribute to the artists and writers who continued to create freely despite imprisonment and bans. They included Faiz, Faraz, Jalib, Daman, Sadeqain, Ajmal Khattak, Sheikh Ayaz, Gul Khan Naseer, Fehmida Riaz, Yousaf Lodhi, Kishwar Naheed, Sheema Kermani and Madeeha Gauhar.
In the next session, the researchers made presentations. Asghar Nadeem Syed and Nasir Abbas Nayyar discussed resistance and socio-political criticism in Urdu literature. Academician-musician Taimur Rahman spoke about the role politically aware musicians have played in the struggle for freedom and social justice. Dancer and social activist Sheema Kermani shared her experiences as a dancer and dance teacher in continuing her work in defiance of pressures from authoritarian rulers and extremists. She also recited Latin American revolutionary Pablo Neruda’s poem about resistance to oppressive forces. Playwright Shahid Nadeem, in his presentation on resistance theatre, said that though theater suffered an irreparable loss at the time of partition, groups like Ajoka and Tehrik i Niswan picked up the pieces and developed a powerful theater for the movement of social change. He said that although Ajoka is now allowed to perform in arts councils, the challenges of censorship and thought control have not gone away. The final presentation of the session was by visual artist and former director of the National College of Arts, Naazish Ata-Ullah, who discussed political and social criticism by Pakistani artists, showing their work on slides.
The last session of the evening consisted of performances. Noted Punjabi poet Afzal Sahir and poet-activist Khalid Javed Jan of “Main Baghi Hoon” recited inspirational poems, followed by songs from Ajoka’s plays. A very well acted dramatic reading of the English translation of Shahid Nadeem’s play “River of Sorrow” was the next highlight of the program. The play was translated by Amena Chima and recently published by Sahitya Akademy in an anthology titled Dreams from a Broken Land. Editor of the anthology Playwright Atamjit Singh spoke from the US and hailed the play as a major contribution to Punjabi drama, popular TV and theater actor Samiya Mumtaz read the lead role and was ably assisted by Fizza Jamal, Yusra Irfan, Naseem Abbas. Qaiser Khan, Sameer Afzal, Qurrat Taj, Fizza Tirmizi, Faizan Sukhera, Saira Salman and Rizwan Riaz. The highlight of the session was a spectacular dance performance by Sheema Kermani, based on a poem by Fehmida Riaz. The event ended on a high note with an energetic performance by the Laal Band, led by Taimur Rahman.
Director Ajoka finally thanked the artists and scholars for their valuable participation and Lahore Arts Council, Punjab Arts Council and British Council for their support. A large number of young people and artists from different disciplines participated in this activity.
