LAHORE:The three-day cultural and literary extravaganza – 8th Faiz Festival, that was held at Lahore Arts Council from February 9 to 11, concluded here at the Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, on Sunday.
The Faiz Festival concluded with a pledge to spread the social and progressive ideology message of the great poet around the world for generations. The festival promised a cultural extravaganza of literary dialogues, music performances, theatre, book launches, documentaries, dances, drum circles, workshops, open mic sessions and a discussion on the future of Pakistani films. Delegates from around the world arrived for converge of the festival that began with an exhibition, ‘Women Artists of Pakistan’.
According to a statement, the inaugural day featured renowned Qawwals Saleem and Waseem Sabri. On the second day of the three-day festival, 32 sessions are lined up to explore diverse themes in art, literature, language, politics and poetry. On the third and final day, 35 sessions were scheduled, to pay tribute to prominent women from various fields.
The festival reflected delving into world affairs, societal shifts, politics, literary nuances, linguistics, and events shaping different nations. On the final day, the international festival attracted rather bigger turnout as compared to the inaugural day.
Faiz Foundation Trust Chairperson Salima Hashmi said told the audience that the title of the exhibition had been espoused from a line of a ghazal of Faiz Ahmed Faiz ‘Dil Na Umeed Tou Nahi’ that talks about hope, struggle, resilience. The exhibition is a homage to the struggle of living women artists, who depict hope and resilience in their works, she said.
Arvinder Chamak, a poet from India, who spoke in Punjabi, held Faiz in high esteem. He said he was from Amritsar, a city where Faiz taught. Chamak said he would eagerly wait for the Faiz Festival every year. Besides Faiz’s Urdu poetry, his Punjabi poetry was also full of messages for humanity.
