Napa's performing arts fest begins.

Byline: Peerzada Salman

KARACHI -- The National Academy of Performing Arts' (Napa) International Performing Arts Festival 2020 began on Thursday evening with a collaborative performance between the academy's music department and UK-based artists Ustad Shahbaz Hussain and Zayn Mohammad.

Prior to the show, Hassan Khan of Qalandar Arts which has brought the two artists from London addressed the audience. He touched upon the narratives that he had heard in the UK, the importance of Sufi music and its message that 'transcends everything ... it unites us more than divides,' he pointed out adding that the collaboration on Thursday, as he discussed earlier the idea with Napa's Nafees Ahmad, was about building a narrative. So the performance was a result of that discussion bringing together Napa, Ustad Shahbaz Hussain (tabla), his student Junaid Ali and, what he called, an enigma of an artist, Zayn Mohammad who graduated in music from the US.

The speech was followed by arrival on stage of the main artists along with the academy's (music) students. It was Zayn who began proceedings with the beautiful chant of the kalima. Ustad Shahbaz Hussain then flexed his vocal muscles and recited the qaul, 'Mann kunto Maula'. It was so nice to hear him sing...