By Shahid Pervaiz

Was it a blessing in disguise OR he indeed had a personal crush on the Punjabi Arts OR it was the kind auspices of mere luck (though short lived luck if it was the luck) to have Faiz Ahmad Faiz (as his Advisor for Arts); Josh Maleeh Abadi (as his Advisor for Culture); Khalid Hasan (as his Press Secretary); Aslam Azhar (as MD Pakistan Television); Aksi Mufti (as CEO Loak Virsa); Abdullah Malik (as chief of his Media Team); Hanif Ramey (as Editor Mussawat) and Shaukat Siddiqui (as CEO of his party publications) together with Abbas Ather and Muzaffarul Hasan on the team that drastic readjustments, restructuring and inception of institutions was implemented, although dramatically; during the short spell of 1972 - 1974 (at least) in the following:

Pakistan Arts Council Islamabad.

Punjab Arts Council Lahore.

NAFDEC Islamabad.

Loak Virsa Museum Islamabad.

Arts Councils Multan & Gujranwala.

However, apparent of all the result being a mass attraction to Punjabi Musical Concerts and Mushairas so much so that Habib Jaleb (wholesome of him) remained untouched by the police and independent enough to spend his late evenings in any darker end of the “Moora Stall besides Regal Cinema Lahore.

Saeen Akhtar Hussain was well patronized for his trivial addictive needs without much of a surprise to the then elite. He had become a “well honoured and well received celebrity at all the PTV premises.

Sayyan Chaudhry, Niggo, Zummurad, Bilqees Khanum, Adaa and Saiqa became the screen & sound popularities with whatever element of art they possessed.

Open-Door policy helped usher-in a brighter atmosphere for Sarwar Sukhaira; Hasan Tariq; Hameed Chaudhry; Naheed Siddiqui; Maharaj Kathak; Ghulam Hussain Saga and Madam Azuri.

Overwhelmingly (although sudden) the presence of Pathane Khan, Muhammad Jumman Khan, Allah Ditta Loney Wala, Shahida Perveen, Alam Lohar, Khazeen Qadri and Wazeer Afzal could be felt (all around).

Ghazala Hayat Khan surpassed the bounty of fame, her father had collected over the years; to organize well-attended public concerts at Open Air Theatre Lahore. Well-Attended� with the presence of Tahira Syed + Malika Pukhraj; Ghulam Mustafa Khar; Sadiq Hussain Qureshi; Mian Hamid Yaseen and Iftikhar Taari; besides more of the Focal Administration and the public at large.

Prime Minister House remained the Patron in Chief for all that activity and some of the Functions par Grandeur were organized at its lawns, too, both in Islamabad and Murree.

Ustad Amanat Ali Khan was keenly but successfully prompted to sing Ghazals and practice Geets & Kafies. Baba G. A. Chishti was provided a sponsorship with EMI Lahore.

“Those were the days - when the artists of Mela were given the way in to the emerging public media (PTV) enough to perform and receive the due folk applause.

Alam Lohar became far more popular than he was on the Mela Stages. Innayat Hussain Bhatti could re-record his career hits in his programDera Bhatti .

Aksi Mufti could not only record and preserve most of the folk voices for the Loak Virsa Museum but presented most of them in his Loak Tamasha also.

A mixture of Punjabi blended Urdu also surfaced via Shoaib Hashmi Taal MatolSach Gup and of course, vide Uncle Sargam of Farooq Qaiser. It however, would be worth a point that it was not Doaabi dialect. It was far more different and simply a new popularity.

Out in that conducive atmosphere, Noor Jehan although was already crowned as the Melody Queen by Yahya Khan at the hands of Justice Sajjad Jan in Wapda Auditorium, Lahore (Sayyo Ne Mera Mahi Mere Paag Jagawen Aa Gea); yet, she had some better stakes of her career that she brought-in (patroned or she minted) a number of musicians to become Music Directors like Wazeer Afzal; and Khazeen Qadri as the best selling poet for Punjabi Films; Waheed Daar as the then best Film Director - Melody Queen� became the “King Maker.

Lahore as (a loyal) centre of fine arts and culture should not but appears to have forgotten the legacy of HafizUllah Hasan (Aapi) the unshared patron of Fareeda Khanum Na chunee lae surmae kurae, toon buddal jae lagein kurae and the producer of film Baaji wherein only he could record a duet (ever once) of Noor Jehan and Fareeda Khanum.

Aftermath of HafeezUllah Hasan was carried forward in those days to revive the evenings at Alhamra (Punjab Arts Council) but not to last long.

Pathetic (how much) Faiz Sahib, Josh Sahib, Aslam Azhar, Khalid Hasan; all one after the other shifted away back to their own lives and careers or otherwise and Those were the days which ended more in tragedy an evening of the Prime Minister (perhaps at Murree); wherein the parts of Ustad Daman Siyasat Naama were read out (perhaps to the surprise of

May there be a revival. May be !