Festival to mark ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ from Feb 3

Jammu & Kashmir

A three-day colorful Kashmir Cultural Festival will be held here at National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, Lok Virsa from February 3-5, to mark ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’.

The festival is being organized in collaboration with Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan and Federal Directorate of Education, at Shakarparian.

The main attractions of the festival include Kashmiri Artisans at Work, Kashmiri folk crafts, Kashmiri patriotic songs performance, Kashmiri folk musical performances, Kashmiri folk paintings by youth, Kashmiri cuisines, photographic exhibition on Kashmir, screening of video documentaries on Kashmir and many other attractions.

The event aimed to highlight the Kashmir issue, and to promote cultural heritage through soft expressions of art and crafts prepared by Kashmiri artisans, said the organizers.

The activities have been arranged to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people struggling for their right of self-determination in the Indian Occupied Kashmir through purely a cultural perspective.

“A special exhibition of Kashmiri arts, crafts by master artisans in different specialized craft fields like papier mache, embroidery, namda, gabba, jewelry, weaving, etc. will be part of display while live folkloric performances by folk artistes, folk musicians and instrumentalists will also be presented through inspirational and national songs to project the Kashmir cause.”

“Since music has no language, its melodious tones reach hearts and can convey any message effectively,” said the organizers.

Arrangements underway for a two-day “Gandhara Festival”: Director of Punjab Arts Councils (PAC) Rawalpindi Waqar Ahmed on Monday said that arrangements were being finalized for a two-day “Gandhara Festival” to be held on January 29 at Taxila Museum.

Talking to APP, he said that the Gandhara art exhibition, Gandhara book fair, folk dances, documentary on Gandhara culture and traditional food stalls would be part of the event.

At the same time, Waqar informed that famous Lok artists Saine Zahoor and Hamid Ali Khan would perform in the Sufi musical night on January 30. He added that PAC would also organize an event from January 31 to February 4, connecting with the Gandhara festival.

The director informed that Naeem Hazarvi would perform folk music on January 31; Mehfil-e-Samaa by Imran Aziz Mian on February 1; Musharia on Feb 2, Folk music night on Feb 3. Meanwhile, drama “Ashoka the Great “would be performed on February 4. He said the event entry would be free of charge for the people.__Daily Times