Seven-Day ‘Pakistan Youth Festival – 2023’ ended with all the pomp and grandeur. This edition of PYF-2023 started off with a bang on 23rd January 2023 and ended on 29th January 2023. PYF-2023 was hosted by Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi.
President Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) Karachi, Mr. Muhammad Ahmad Shah and the members of Governing Body welcomed the chief-guest, official-dignitaries, ACP-members, members of press (electronic-media, print-media & social-media), festival-participants, distinguished-guests and youth to first edition of PYF-2023 at the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi.
The closing ceremony of the PYF-2023 was inaugurated with a spectacular musical performance by the renowned musical act Jambroz Band. After first performance, cash-prizes & awards were distributed to the winners of ten different categories of competitions and two special competitions of painting and photography were held. Special awards were given to the special children who participated in the Special Children’s Festival.
Honorable Minister of Culture & Education His Excellency Sardar Ali Shah was the chief guest at the closing ceremony of PYF-2023. During his speech he said; “64% of Pakistan’s population consists of youth and keeping in mind that we have not made any policy for youth, our youths are performing in the youth festival organized by Muhammad Ahmad Shah, this is his contribution to counter the intolerance and extremism in this country”.
Sardar Ali Shah further added; “we have to prepare our youths for trades also, we have to get out of this stereotype mentality that only doctors, engineers and officers are successful; our youth can be Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Atif Aslam and Hadiqa Kayani. Our Indus Valley culture has got traces of dance, in this context; the education department has decided to appoint seven and a half hundred music teachers”.
Honorable Minister of Culture went on to say that; “Ahmad Shah has made Arts Council a cultural hub and I don’t see any other institution in the whole country which is working like this for the promotion of arts and culture. I call Ahmed Shah ‘Guru Guntal’ who is a democratic dictator.”
On his concluding note, Sardar Ali Shah said; “I have seen middle-class children in large numbers in this festival which is a good sign. In the end I congratulate all the youths who participated in extra-curricular activities along with their curricular activities to make this event a success”.
President ACP Karachi Muhammad Ahmad Shah also spoke during the closing ceremony of PYF-2023, he said; “The youth in the ACP Karachi has kept the whole week very vibrant and energetic, we (ACP) is happy to have with this energy amongst us. We started the youth festival sixteen years ago, our entire team has worked hard, and you all in here in ACP have been making the whole week vibrant with this energy”.
Addressing the youth, Ahmad Shah said; “you have to have trust on yourself and if that is there, the world is yours, at this moment we our youth is facing lack of employment and to counter it we will soon be having IT Trainings for those who cannot afford it. You only have to dare and the world cannot stop you, after God’s will. First is your formal education and other activities after that the future of the country will change for good”.
On his concluding note, President ACP said; “we are grateful to the schools, colleges and University of Karachi for their all-out support to this youth festival and without your support, this festival would not have been possible”.
Nighat Chaudhry and Wahab Shah helped and encouraged the children during the dance finals and during the concert on the last day of the PYF-2023 Ali Azmat, Sahir Ali Bagga, Ahmed Jahanzeb, Natasha Baig, Wahab Bugti, Ahsan Bari, Arman Rahim and Afaq Adnan lit up the festival with the magic of their voices and received applause from the audience.
Star of the closing ceremony was none other than the legendary singer Ali Azmat, who had team of excellent musicians with one of the most energetic drummer in Pakistan Kami Paul on drums, Ustad Aahiq Ali Mir on tabla, Manu on bass-guitar and young kid on lead guitar.
Ali Azmat started off softly with yaaro-yahi-dosti, his first song had a feeling of ‘something-missing’. His second song of the evening neend-aati-nahi, another classic-hit from Junoon’s self-titled first album also had Ali Noor and Ahsan Bari on vocals. Ali Noor brought-in that next level energy which was felt missing in the first song. Ali Noor’s vocal-tone and pitch was much higher and audible as compared to Ali Azmat’s. A real treat it was to witness Ali Noor alongwith Ali Azmat.
Up next was mera-mahi with its nostalgic sound, then saain-mera-sacha, khud-hi-ko-kar-buland-itna and rangeela-re. All these numbers had the crowd singing along-side Ali Azmat
Then zamanay-kay-andaaz-badlay-gaiay and pappu-yaar-tang-na-kar were followed by a slow number tara-jala and then beastly garaj-baras.
After an hour’s performance, concert mellowed down a bit with slow numbers with na-re-na, mola and sayooni. Last song of the evening being a medley of jazab-e-junoon and josh-e-junoon.
I would rate an overall performance with 06/10 with flawless performances from Kami-Paul (Drums), Manu (Bass-Guitar) and Ashiq Ali Mir (Tabla) these three guys didn’t miss a beat. Kid on lead-guitar missed a few beats, but his overall performance was up there. Seems like Ali Azmat has lost his spark.
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