{"id":20370,"date":"2025-09-24T09:07:51","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T09:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=20370"},"modified":"2025-09-24T09:07:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T09:07:51","slug":"classical-musics-pull-why-it-still-hits-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=20370","title":{"rendered":"Classical music\u2019s pull: why it still hits home"},"content":{"rendered":"
Walk into the Zia Mohyeddin Theatre on festival night, and you\u2019ll see it: a full house, heads swaying, phones tucked away, ears tuned in. For two evenings (Sept 13\u201314), the 15th Tehzeeb Festival at NAPA proved that classical music, with all its ragas and rhythms, is far from a fading art.<\/p>\n

From Mehak Rashid\u2019s soulful khayal to Ustad Mumtaz Ali Sabzal blending Baloch folk with classical ragas, the performances weren\u2019t just music, they were lessons in how a centuries-old tradition keeps finding new ways to stay alive.<\/p>\n

So what keeps audiences, many of them young, coming back to a form often dismissed as \u201ctoo serious\u201d or \u201ctoo niche\u201d?<\/p>\n

\u201cClassical music is our strongest link to who we are and where we\u2019ve come from,\u201d says Sharif Awan, founder of the Tehzeeb Foundation. \u201cWithout that, it\u2019s impossible to imagine the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ethnomusicologist Arsalan Pareyal puts it more simply: \u201cIt\u2019s in our DNA. Our great-grandfathers listened to it. We carry it with us, whether we know it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Niloy Ahsan Zulkernaeen, a dhrupad musician who performed at the festival, the appeal runs even deeper: \u201cClassical music nurtures compassion, empathy, self-reflection. It gives clarity and balance. In a noisy world, that\u2019s rare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Old roots, new energy<\/p>\n

Classical music here goes back a thousand years. Mughal courts gave rise to gharanas, schools of music that built distinct identities through patronage. While that culture has faded, the music has kept evolving.<\/p>\n

Take khayal, for instance. Once a branch of dhrupad (originally devotional), it grew into a freer, more improvisational style that even influenced film songs and ghazals. Or the alap section of dhrupad, an unhurried, wordless exploration of a raag, that still feels radical in its simplicity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWestern musicians are moving towards our traditions,\u201d says Sharif. \u201cEastern music will shape the future.\u201d Niloy agrees, noting how dhrupad is finding new listeners abroad.<\/p>\n

More than nostalgia<\/p>\n

The Tehzeeb Festival itself, running since 2009, is part of a wider wave. From the All Pakistan Music Conference to the upcoming World Culture Festival, classical music is carving out space in a fast-paced, pop-driven city.<\/p>\n

And maybe that\u2019s the secret: in Karachi\u2019s chaos, this music offers something rare: a pause, a connection, a reminder that not everything meaningful has to be fast, flashy, or trending.<\/p>\n

Note: Reporting was supplemented by AI editing for clarity and brevity<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Walk into the Zia Mohyeddin Theatre on festival night, and you\u2019ll see it: a full house, heads swaying, phones tucked away, ears tuned in. For two evenings (Sept 13\u201314), the 15th Tehzeeb Festival at NAPA proved that classical music, with all its ragas and rhythms, is far from a fading art. From Mehak Rashid\u2019s soulful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}