LAHORE: “Our music industry should raise voice to get PEMRA’s attention to ensure that their officials take action to stop the extra broadcast foreign music content, which is being broadcast on different mediums,” singer Haroon Rashid said during the first day of the Lahore Music Meet (LMM) 2016.
He said that media could play a vital role to introduce and produce young talent from Pakistan but unfortunately its role is depressing, as he has observed for the past several years. He said that broadcasters are showing approximately 90 percent foreign content and 10 percent local content of music on radio and channels, however its totally illegal as per PEMRA laws.
The event featured workshops and storytelling sessions conducted by renowned musicians such as Haroon Rashid himself, Tina Sani, Ali Noor and Ali Hamza of Noori and Sikander Mufti to name a few.
The LMM team have set up a series of seminars to stimulate a variety of discussions on music and relevant topics such as ‘Scoring for the Big Screen: Soundtracks and Music in Pakistani Cinema’, ‘Audio-Visual Collectives in Pakistan’, ‘The Dissemination of Music in the Digital Age’ and ‘Location our Heritage: Traditional Folk Music in Pakistan’.
On the first day, a total of 18 indoor sessions were held on different music and melody topics and their different applications at Alhamra. Ten outdoor performances were observed where young talent performed and received enormous applause from spectators. At the end, Red Blood Cat and Mai Dhai performed that enthralled the audience with their enthusiastic performances. The two-day event was dedicated to the celebration and critique of music in Pakistan.
A session titled “Lessening for Success” with Rashid was also held. Rashid shared how was convinced he will be a musician from the age of nine. While, speaking on the issue of music and the film industry’s decline, he said that actors and musicians moving to India for work could not be blamed, as they were being recognised there more both monetarily and in terms of respect.