Lahore Music Meet

  Some great music, enthralling dance performances and melodically healthy discussions pretty much sum up the first Lahore Music Meet held this season, at the Alhamra Arts Council, Lahore.

‘There are literature festivals and film festivals but no consistent music festival. We aim to form a fraternity of music enthusiasts,’ Natasha Noorani, one of the founders of Lahore Music Meet 2015 said.

With over sixty musicians on board, LLM 15 was the first festival of its kind that dedicated two days purely to music and dance. Opening with Arshad Mehmood’s performance, the festival thronged music aficionados with music and dance performances from amateur and veteran artists of the country alongside interactive sessions and workshops on different genres of music.

Natasha Noorani said that LMM 2015 aimed to create an aura of interaction between music enthusiasts and veteran musicians. ‘We planned to create a platform where not just aspiring musicians but fans could come and enjoy great music while interacting with their favorite musicians,’ she added.

From the modern pop, rock and metal to the contemporary classical music and traditional kathak dance, Lahore Music Meet offered something for all kinds of music enthusiasts.

‘A lot many genres remain neglected in the mainstream music scenario of the country. With Lahore Music Meet, we aimed to give exposure to musicians doing unique genres,’ said Noorani adding that the Lahore Music Meet successfully managed to bridge the gap between aspiring musicians, mainstream industry and music enthusiasts all at the same time.

Despite a delayed start, the music festival kept the audiences glued and growing in numbers till the end. Performance by underground band, Keeray Makoray on day 1 particularly engaged the crowd in huge numbers.

While mainstream genres pop, rock, classic and metal kept the LMM attendees engaged, Mithu Saeein’s dhamal along with Nasir Shah stole the show on day 2. The dhamal session hypnotized the audience at LMM 15, and Nighat Choudhary’s fantastic rendition of Kathak dance added spice to the evening.

The two traditional performances brought an aura of culture and folklore to the otherwise modern day music festival, making Lahore Music Meet a perfect blend of contemporary music with folklore.

In another electrifying session, veteran drummer Gumby engaged the audience in a power packed drumming session. What was meant to be a workshop for drumming ended up being Gumby’s meet up with fans who kept chanting for more of his beats.

Coke studio fame, Jimmy Khan, Asrar and Zoe Viccaji also attended the Lahore Music Meet. Asrar’s power packed performance on the closing night of LMM 15, enthralled audiences and kept them wanting more.

Expressing her satisfaction with the turnout of Lahore Music Meet, Natasha Noorani shared their plans to make LMM an annual event. ‘We plan to do it again next year, but before that we are planning to do a similar festival in Karachi later this year,’ she added.

Abeera Ghufran