Revolutionary poet Abdul Ahad Azad remembered
A grand function was organised at Town Hall Budgam to remember the revolutionary Poet Abdul Ahad Azad on the eve of his 71th anniversary.
The function was organised by Jammu Kashmir Sakafati MarkazBudgam and Sahitya Akademi award-winning broadcaster Dr. Satesh Vimal was thechief guest on the occasion.
Those in the audience included Rahim Rebar, Ayub Sabir,Advocate Abdul Rashid Hanjora, Advocate Muhammad Shafi, Dr. Syed IftikharAhmed, Majeed Masroor and Abdul Rashid Jawhar .
Dozens of poets present in the function paid rich tribute toAzad and enlightened the audience with the writings and poetry of Azad.
The poets who presented their thoughts in poetry include:Bashir Ahmad Gamgeen, Mubarak Ahmad Mubarak, G M Gayab, Gh Mohiuddin Mir, AbAhad Gotapori, Ab Rahim Dar, Gh Nabi Owaisi, Gh Mohiuddin Aijiz, Gh Qadir BeighDreyghami, Ab Majid Dar, Ab Rahman Sikander, Peer Mohiuddin, Ab Ahad Shahbaaz,Hakeem Zarina Aijizi, Ashiq Mushtaq, Gh Ali Majboor, Ayoub Sabir, Zahoor Sultanand Faqeer Gh Muhammad
At the end of the session Abdul Rahman Sikandar presented aresolution which reads as, Degree College Chadoora should be named as AbdulAhad Azad College, Soibugh Budgam College as Peer Azizullah Haqqani College,Shamus Faqeer Sufiyana School to be established in Budgam and JK CulturalAcademy sub office to be established at Budgam and much more was presented inthe memorandum.
In the second half of the ceremony, the organisation awardedfamous writer Rahim Rehbar, Advocate Abdul Rashid Hanjora and young writerDr Syed Iftikhar Ahmad with Abdul Ahad Azad 2019 award.
The programme was presided over by Dr. Shabnam Rafiq.
Mahjoor Day celebrated in Srinagar, Bandipora
Literary functions were organised in Srinagar and Bandipora on the eve of 67th death anniversary of Shayir e Kashmir Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad – Mahjoor.
In Srinagar the main function was organised at SP College.The event was attended by various writers, poets, students and art loversacross the valley.
Students of Kothi Bagh Girls Higher Secondary School alsoparticipated in this program and sang the famous songs of Mahjoor.
In Bandipora, Mahjoor Foundation Jammu and Kashmircelebrated Mahjoor Day in a Programmeorganised in collaboration with Majlis Shabaan Khuehoom and Tehreek-e-AdabSkafat-e-Kashmir. Prof Ismail Ashna was chief guest on the occasion.
On the occasion, several writers and poets presented theirresearch papers highlighting the contribution of Mahjoor in Kashmiri literatureand received huge applause from the audience.
Speakers remembered Mahjoor as a revolutionary poet whorevolutionised the traditional forms of Ghazal and introduced a new style intoKashmiri Poetry.
They said through his verses in Kashmiri, Mahjoorcontributed a lot of fire and ignition to the freedom struggle during the Dograregime.
While recalling the contribution of Mahjoor, speakers saidthe literary contributions of Mahjoor clearly prove that he is so powerful andimaginative that he has been able to inspire his readers not onlyaesthetically, spiritually, morally and socially but also intellectually.
A Mushaira was also held during the day-long program whereinthe poets presented their poetry to pay tribute to the Kashmir’s famousrevolutionary poet Mahjoor.
Kashmiri fusion song Katyuchuk My Love wins award at VIMA Malaysia
New Delhi: The world’s fourth largest music awards, the VIMAmusic awards presented by Spa Ceylon took place in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia thisMarch. Out of nominations received from 38 + countries all across the world, NewDelhi based Kashmiri artist Pragnya Wakhlu took home two bronze awards in the”Best Genre Bending song” and “Best Overall Female Act”categories.
Her song Katyuchuk My Love from her latest Kashmiri-fusion album ‘Kahwa Speaks’ rose above songentries from Canada, Japan, India, Singapore and Malaysia to secure the win forfor India. This is Pragnya’s second VIMA win, after her earlier win for herdebut album Journey to the Sun – in 2012.
“I hope this award will create more acceptability andexposure to cross-genre music worldwide and inspire more women to take up musicas a career. The reason I wrote this album was so that more people can startlooking at the positive side of Kashmir through the music. We need peace in theworld, more now than we ever did before. I’m honored to be able to put India’sname on the world’s music map,” said Pragnya as she accepted her award.
Pragnya is now in the preparation stages of launching anationwide tour of her album Kahwa Speaks by means of an experientialaudio-visual performance platform and story-telling medium. The tour will takeaudiences through a lens that celebrates the positive side of Kashmir and itsculture. She is also hosting a new music show on DD Kashmir to be launched thisApril. The show focuses on Kashmiri poets and poetesses of yore, mystic poetryand it’s relation to Bollywood songs. Her new EP is slated for release thisyear.
The VIMA awards are Asia’s first independent music awardsand was launched in 2008 as platform for independent musicians not only in Asiabut globally. The VIMA awards are considered the most important and anticipatedmusic award in South-east Asia.
JK Fiction Writers Guild organises 162nd meet
The 162th meet of Jammu and Kashmir Fiction Writers Guild was held here under the chairmanship of renowned writer and researcher Dr Ali Muhammed Nishtar. Writer and broadcaster Pirzada Abdal Mehjoor was the chief guest on the occasion.
The function comprised several events. The function startedwith a speech on fiction writing by young writer Dr Shahzada Saleem. During thefunction several writers read out pages from their novels. The novels whichwere read and discussed included Wrong Number, Chatter and Unveiled wife.Maqbool Ferozi, Rouf Qayyas and Asif Khan led the discussions on the fictionwork.
Nishter while congratulating the guild on the 162nd session,deliberated on the importance of treatment of subjects and objects in fiction.
Abdal recounted his own experience in writing whileaddressing the gathering. He praised the guild for organising such meets andsaid that such events will go a long way in promotion of literature.
Those who participated in the event include Dr NazirMushtaq, Professor Bashar Bashir, Shahzada Bismil, Sohail Saalim, Ghulam NabiShahid, Muhammad Saleem Salik, Jahangir Ahmad Bhat, Shafi Ahmad, Sheikh BashirAhmad, Dr Niloufar Naz Neḥwi, and other.
Folk music festival held at Tagore Hall
Traditional folk music and cultural dance event was held at Tagore hall in Srinagar.
Large number of people turned up for the event to experiencethe traditional and old dance forms of Kashmir.
According to the organisers, the main motive of organisingthis event was to spread awareness of rich Kashmiri culture among local youth.The highlight of the event was the ‘Damali’ dance, traditional folk dance,performed by several artists.
The event was organised by the Ministry of Culture incollaboration with the Education Department of Kashmir. “These type of eventscan make a difference in the society and it helps people, especially the newgeneration to see their culture in past,” the organisers said. A large numberof students also were present in the audience and many appreciated such stepsto promote folk dance in Kashmir.