Strumming some Strings

The duo from Strings put on a fantastic show at the Lahore Gymkhana last Saturday!

We , as in the concert goers, had to be real patient throughout the night. Reason being that the band, in keeping with rock-star tradition came on stage about 2 hours after the slated time. Uncle, the violinist who looked like one, kept us from falling asleep. Yes, that is all that can be said in the positive about that act. Next up were Nexus, a local punjabi-pop band that I have heard frequent local universities and colleges. Lets just say they are better as a cover band and they did a commendable job pumping up the crowd; their original song was a unenthusiastic bhangra song praising rotund eyes (ankhian gol gol …). 

 After what seemed like ages the band members themselves graced the stage, as they say, the rest was history!

Here is a (super-duper short) teaser from the concert itself… Enjoy!

11 Second Teaser

Hello All,

Got this in my email today .. seems to be great … The Lahore concert features: Akash , Simt (excellent band), Axed, Lagan, 2d, Salahuddin, Zeeshan…

Should be a great show this saturday at Alhamra Hall 1 6 pm …

Who else is planning on coming ??? I’m going to be there definitely …

Cannes Lions is the world’s most prestigeous International Advertising Festival held each year at Cannes in France. While Abby Awards are considered to be the Oscars of Indian advertising industry and generally cover the South Asian region including Pakistan too.

World’s most creative ideas splashed Lahore this year, thanks to the people at Revelation who were responsible for the screening of award winning advertisements from the Cannes Lions and Abby Awards of 2007.

Revelation has been bringning the best of advertisements for screening in Pakistan for the last two years, however, for the people of Lahore, it was for the very first time.

 The event was held at Alhamra Cultural Complex on the Mall yesterday and was well attended by people from marketing, advertising and media factions of the Lahori society. Mekaal, the model was there too!

After a brief wait from the starting time, people started to fill the hall which was almost quarter full throughout. Screening started only after people from Revelation welcomed the participants to the longest commercial break of their lives - almost a two hours journey into the best of creative commercial expression.

First there were entries from the Abby Awards showing the best among Indian advertisements for products ranging from Healthcare, FMCGs to Consumer Durables and Property development while representing brands as diverse as Mentos, Hutch, Zee Cinema, Himani Memo Plus, Protex Happy Dent, Titan watches, Lexi pens, Nitco dirt-free tiles, Ponds and Playwin Lottery. Many advertisements were already known to the viewers as they are quite frequently run on Indian TV channels widely watched in Pakistani households. Each one was a masterpiece and many drew rounds of laughter and applause from the audience.

Abbys were immediately followed by Cannes Lions 2007 winners and they were even more enjoyed by the people. These included the ever famous Got Milk campaign, two Coca Cola advertisements (Happiness Factory & GTA), Volkswagon, Levi’s and many more

Though Pakistan’s advertising industry has been improving and progressing through all these years, it is only after watching these Cannes Lions & Abby entries that one wonders how far behind we still are.

This year Pakistan is sending about two dozen entries for the Cannes Lions 2008 which is a far cry from last year’s four or so entries. Let’s hope advertisements of the Telenor (Hum Aap Ki Amaanat Ko…) sorts bring honor and pride to Pakistan

Preparation for Life (PFL), formerly Lawrie Green Education Pakistan, has brought a bunch of reputable British Universities and their representatives to Lahore for the 1st UK Education Fair, 2008.

 This event provides an excellent opportunity for people planning for or thinking of getting higher education in the United Kingdom. A lot of useful information is being dispensed by foreign representatives of educational institutions such as the University of Manchester, University of Liverpool, Aston University, University of Sheffield, University of Swansea, Cardiff University, Kaplan Colleges and Cambridge Group.

 So if you have any reservations to be cleared, questions to be answered, or queries to be listened to regarding prospects of studying in the United Kingdom, just head off to the Emerald Hall, Pearl Continental Hotel, Lahore.

The Education Fair will continue for the 13th and 14th May 2008 with timings of 12:00pm to 6:00pm.

At the time of the history’s greatest migration, along with geographical disorientation, the infant Pakistan was also psychologically lost and depressed. These were dire times when simple survival as a seperate nation was the only priority and arts at such time could not be given much heed. This led to further gloom of the art lovers as well as artists themselves. Apart from radio Pakistan there was no more music in the air. Music lovers reminisced the live music concerts whereas maestros in the field of music started to crumble. At such a difficult time for music in Pakistan it was cocncerned citizens that collectively volunteered to initiate the All Pakistan Music Conference in 1959. Their main objective was to rejuvenate and relive the glory of classical music and arrange seminars, conferences and concerts. (courtesy: www.apmc.info)

Today, 49 years later the All Pakistan Music Conference maintains its poise and is held every year without fail reminding us of the art that breathes in the same ambience as we do. Classical music and dance is in the air of the subcontinent. We can choose to ignore it but not eradicate it.

The remaining APMC Festival 2008 has been postponed but the last of the few events was last month when Hajrah Khan, a Social Sciences Major from Lahore University of Management Sciences read an academic paper on “Urdu Ghazal & English Sonnet” very intricately interlacing the two and reminding us , art has no boundaries, geographical or demographic. The esteemed presence of Shaista Sirajuddin to read out the English Sonnets selected by Hajrah and Dr Arfa Syeda Zehra to recite Urdu Ghazals added to the magic.

The research paper was followed by Tabla maestro Shahbaz Hussain from Manchester, who gave a talk on different components of Tabla(solo) playing again resembling those of an English Sonnet and and Urdu Ghazal. Shahbaz Hussain is a student of Ustaad Allah Rakha’s son, Ustaad Shaukat Hussain and Ustaad Fayyaz Khan. He has also performed with Ustaad Valayat Khan on his last concert in London. Shahbaz Hussain teaches at NewCastle University which happens to be the first university in the world to have introduced a degree in Tabla. Himself being born in the UK, his parents hail from Lahore and so here’s a son of the soil making us all proud of the fact that we share his roots. This event was by far the best account of playing any classical instrument and the accompanying talk (given in English) was surprisingly free of any (greek!) jargon  and completely comprehendable by the common man.

The best part was where he told how long ago a girl from Lahore was married into a musical “gharana”(family) in Delhi and her father gave her 500 “gats” as her dowry. Shahbaz also played one of those Lahori Gats in the end.

All Pakistan Music Conference is an association which is truly (and quietly) conserving our heritage and not letting it wash away with the graffiti of all things new.

Daata Darbar :-)

Faith System Originally uploaded by Awais Yaqub

Well, this is the least damn thing that one must care about at this moment.

Cricket Australia postpones Pakistan tour

They are scared and are rightly so. I’m scared for my city’s happiness too! :(

The 23rd Lahore International Book Fair at the Fortress stadium main ground was opened yesterday. The five-day mega book fair with the theme Education for All, Books for Peace was inaugurated by Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Justice (r) Ejaz Nisar. Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Book Fair he laid stress on the necessity of promoting book reading and improving the education system by all means.

The book- fair is becoming more and more popular and expanding each year. That is why publishers from around the world are attracted. Around 175 publishers from around the world, including the US, UK and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, would set up their stalls at the fair. The international publishers will offer attractive discounts and local publishers will give as much as 50 percent discounts on their books. Sounds good enough, no? :)

So, all you book-lovers out there hungry to discover the best selling authors, grab your wish-list and don’t miss this exciting and extraordinary literary event. It’s worth your while.

See you at the festival.

Experiences, insights, thoughts and ideas were shared in abundance at the 6th Startup Insiders session held on February 24 at the LUMS campus.

With quite an active, participating and respectably patient audience, though limited to almost 50 individuals, the session took off in high spirits and was able to maintain it throughout.

Main topic of discussion was ‘the ways of finding, identifying and targeting the right customer’ as an entrepreneur specifically in the Information Technology industry which was very intelligently moderated by Jehan Ara [President, P@SHA] and Jawwad Farid [CEO, Alchemy Technologies].

Everyone benefited from listening to and questioning some of Pakistan’s most promising IT entrepreneurs including Zafar Khan [Sofizar]; Faisal Qureshi [Kolachi Advanced Technologies]; Fahd Bangash [Amaana]; Zia Imran [Vahzay]; Umar Saif [BumpIn; Chopaal] and Jawwad himself. Almost all of these people started off with just a few individuals and have tasted success of varying degrees.

The most refreshing aspect of the session was the desire as expressed by all panelists to help and guide people who really want to break barriers and are striving to make a mark for themselves and their country. It was very heartening to see these people actually willing to share and spread their success among promising stars of the future.

Valentine’s Day this year was colder than in many years, however, the feelings remained ever-warm. And Lahore was all covered in red hearts for the occasion.

Balloons, cards, cakes and roses - all posted record demand and in some cases record rate hikes as well. Afterall, this day IS a special day for people like the one pictured below - but obviously for a different reason :S

Despite of all the critcism by certain circles of the society, Valentine’s Day or ‘Youm-e-Mohabbat’ is becoming more popular by each passing year. Apart from the logical argument of actually not fixing a day to express your love, all other reasons don’t seem to appeal much to the love-birds of today, who just can’t stop falling prey to cupid’s arrows.

Two interesting Valentine’s Day specials that I happened to listen to on the radio were FM91’s Munch on Lunch (Ali & Beenish) with the theme ‘HATE‘ and Punjab Rung FM 95’s ‘Love in Sufism‘.

Munch on Lunch made a funny exception to the usual norms of discussion on love by talking about why people actually ‘don’t love’. On the other hand, FM95 focused throughout on the message of love and peace as spread by Sufi poets of the subcontinent and played quite a moving collection of recitals. Both were a rather fresh take on the usual ‘I ~dil~ you’ themed programs usually aired on our media on Valentine’s Day.

But then again why would those who actually are in love be listening to radio than to their respective ‘wohs’ on all-night free calls packages ;)