Artists from across the border bringing people closer

The legendary Pakistani Sufi singer Abida Parveen is all set to mesmerise her Indian fans at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi on November 13. The concert is being organized by Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), a NGO named Routes 2 Roots and Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC).  She is a rare female Sufi singer as females are traditionally not allowed to sing in Pakistan. She mainly sings ghazals, Urdu love songs and her forte, Kafis, a solo genre accompanied by percussion and harmonium. She sings in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi and Persian. She took initial training from her father Ustad Gulham Husssein and later under the legendary Ustad Amanat Ali Khan. The 56 year old Sufi legend says that she has dedicated her life in spreading Sufism.

In August, Routes 2 Roots along with ICCR organized a four city tour of Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan where improving the Indo-Pak relations was highly empasised.

“Artists like Abida Parveen have huge fan following on both sides of the border, so they are very important in bridging the differences and animosity which people share on both the sides and such concerts definitely give a humanising touch” says Anushri Gupta of Routes 2 Roots.

Things are definitely improving, in last few years, with more and more artists performing across the border but there are still major challenges in getting artists across the borders to perform. Some Indian artists complain that they do not get the same opportunities in Pakistan and are against the involvement of Pakistani artists in Bollywood especially at a time when nearly every movie has atleast one song with Sufi touch and mostly sung by Pakistani artists.

Ms. Gupta further says “It’s very difficult to get visa clearances for Pakistani artists to perform in India and similarly, for Indian artists to perform in Pakistan.  Also when Indian artists go to Pakistan, they are very much concerned about security, as Pakistan is not a very safe place to perform”

“There is a lack of mutual trust in both countries, the visa norms are very strict for Pakistan and the procedure is time consuming and same thing happens in Pakistan” says former Indian ambassador to South Africa, Rajiv Bhatia

Mr. Bhatia further added regarding the improvement of Indo-Pak relations “there should be more leniency in giving visa to such artists as they are quite helpful in improving Indo-Pak relations especially people-to-people relations”