Folk Festival: Work of over 500 artisans, crafts persons on display at Lok Virsa from Today

Shazia Mehboob

Islamabad: Amid beating drums and festive winter, colorful Folk Festival kicked off at Lok Virsa, Islamabad today (Friday). The 10-day festival will continue from November 25 to December 4 at Shakarparian to entertain the people of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad with vibrant colours of Pakistan’s cultural heritage. The festival, which is part of the mega cultural activities of the federal capital, has been organized for the past over four decades.

The revenue generated by this year’s festival will be deposited to Prime Minister’s Flood Relief Fund to help the flood affectees, according to National Heritage and Culture Division Secretary Fareena Mazhar. Secretary Fareena said that the festival was open to a very limited number of audiences during the last three years due to Covid-19 pandemic, while this year the festival would be celebrated as a mega event.

The annual folk festival is a unique opportunity to experience the colours and warmth of diverse cultures from all over Pakistan. Separate pavilions have been established to display cultural diversity of all four provinces as well as Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Food courts, folk musical theatre’s, display of arts and crafts as well as traditional heritage from every corner of Pakistan is part of the festival to celebrate the dynamic creativity of Pakistan’s traditional craftsmanship and promote rural folk artisans at the national level without the involvement of any middleman. More than 500 artisans and crafts persons are participating in the annual festival.

Likewise the previous event, the festival was inaugurated with its traditional Dastarbandi ceremony to honour a Master Artisan. Addressing a press conference on Thursday, NIFTH (Lok Virsa) Executive Director Shahzad Durrani said the NIFTH is working under the federal government, Heritage division, aimed to promote and develop the traditional culture of Pakistan.

To achieve the objective, NIFTH had been organizing an annual festival in Islamabad for the last four decades to encourage those who wished to display and perform their art and crafts at the national level.

The main focus of the festival would be to promote inter-provincial harmony and national integration, highlighting the contribution of people from diverse communities in shaping the future of Pakistan, NIFTH Durrani added.

Hundreds of master artisans, folk artists, musicians and folk dancers from all over Pakistan, including from the remote and far-flung regions, are participating in the annual festival. An exotic craft bazaar featuring a rich variety of unique handicrafts, souvenirs items, antiques and decorative art will also be set up.