Lahore, Music and Mild morning- what a perfect combination it was to start off a music fest on last weekend. On 2nd and 3rd April, 2016-The Lahore Meet Music (LMM) festival took place at Alhamrah Art in Lahore. The fun-filled musical event was dedicated to the celebration and triumph of music in Pakistan. It helped us swipe to the flashback by the musical memories of early childhood. The melodious voices of Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi, Ali Zafar, Mai Dada, Sounds of Kolachi and indie-rock band Red Blood Cat kept the audience in exuberant mood. 

The core purpose of LMM is to create a platform for upcoming talent and boast the existing musical industry of Pakistan. LLM determines the revival of music and help maintaining healthy relationship with people working in the musical fraternity. By this way it also encourages and motivates the newcomer to dream their future in Pakistani musical industry. The idea of LMM not only evolves around listening to music but also sharing the experience in production, performances and various musical related department that inspire the young locals to enter this musical sphere. The official festival partner of LMM is EMI Pakistan and PR mavens remains Lotus.  

Lahore Meet Music featured various workshops and live interaction with many eminent artist like ,Ali Zafar, Ali Sethi, Ahsan Bari, Tina Sani, Meekal Hassan, Ali Noor, Ali Hamza of Noori and many more. The awe-inspiring musical virtuous performance by Shahzad Noor of Shorbanoor, Zoe Viccaji, Takatak, Sikandar Ka Mandar, Keeray Makoray, Quadrum, Natasha Beyg, and Sameen Qasim to name a few left the general public amazed. Part of the LMM were also the series of seminars featuring discussions on music and music related topics which helped local audiences to know music better. 

EMI Pakistan, previously known as Gramophone company of Pakistan parternered with LMM in an attempt to revive the classical culture of music in our homeland, Pakistan. It is one the largest and oldest musical company of Pakistan that owns the collection of Pakistan music industry dating back to 1933. EMI Pakistan holds record of more than 55,000 tracks and 34,00 contracted artists. Needless to mention, it has the largest collection of music in the industry.  

As ever, EMI Pakistan has came up with the distinctive idea of setting up a lounge area at LMM. Designed artistically this lounge depicts the heritage of music in Pakistan. The lounge was tastefully furnished in creams and made stylish and comfortable. It offers music enthusiasts the music of their choice and gave them the chance to experience the soulful tracks. The wall of the legends behind it truly aroused the memories of early times of cinema that played important in history of musical cinema. The musical booth with this was something one wouldn’t afford to miss the experience off. Present there were also the choice between the four genres of Pakistani music that is Evergreen, Ghazal Geet, Romentic and Qawali’s. The musical booth itself has the pictures of legendary artists-Abida Parveen, Nazia Hassan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mehndi Hassan. 

The well appreciated EMI Pakistan stall was seen becoming the favourite spot of all age groups.Audience loved listening to the Classical music and the heart wrenching ghazals, they couldn’t stop appraising the melodious voices of Abida Pareveen, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Noor Jahan. General public couldn’t thank more for this unforgettable experience where any track is just a click away. Visitors at EMI Pakistan Stall loved the collection of audio CDs, bookmarks, calendars and bookmarks with the legends pictures printed on it. The booth nearby it also gave the chance to enjoy the track in isolation away from the noisy world. 

I myself was overwhelmed with happiness to listen to my favourite requested ghazals of Abida Parveen. Many of fashion-related artists-actors, models, journalists and blogger visited the event. I myself visited it couple of friends whom I later interviewed to know about their experience and feelings about LMM. Each one them had a memorable and unforgettable experience. They couldn’t stop them self from praising the idea of this new venture in Lahore and hoped that such event will continue happening in Pakistan. The two day musical event was a joy to behold, full of memories and warmth.  

The official hashtag of the event was #EMIPakistan and #LMM16 to use on social sites-Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The people on social media couldn’t hold back to express the love and appreciation about two day event in Lahore. They expressed their views on social media by uploaded the photos and videos of the event and them self while enjoying. Surely it became the talk of town last weekend. It was beyond all expectation and everyone loved the experience.

Our country, Pakistan’s despite having immense talent has laid itself back because of the ignorance in this field. It is therefore each one of us duty to contribute in it by attending and helping it by any mean. The upcoming talent just needs to be shaped and guided rightly. Event like this plays an integral part in the upbringing the talent and future of music. Art and music are the two most impressive but highly neglected fields. In Pakistan events like these can help it getting an acclaimed fame and appreciation from all around the world. These events also help the existing talent to further explore the opportunities from neighboring countries that has the vast heritage in music. Many of us dreamt of pursuing the music but because of having very less knowledge and guidance didn’t take the chance to go ahead. I feel the right platform and source of academy is extremely important for new entrant. 

Great Job LMM and EMI Pakistan for bringing it in my homeland. Looking forward to seeing such musical events in near future too.