Islamabad: (Parliament Times) The folklore of potohar presented at Lok Baithak attracted a potohari community from twin cities at Lok Virsa media centre.
Faisal Raja, a Pothohari folk singer, and Chaudhary Sagheer a famous “Pothohari Bait Baz” with his party, performed and enthralled the audience. Lok Virsa organized this session with especial cooperation of Syed Muntazir Imam Rizvi – a research scholar in Pothohari folklore and a renowned radio and TV anchorperson.
The special attractions were folklore of potohar, Potohari Bait, traditional dhol performance and poetry recitation by local poets.
“The session aims at promoting the rich musical heritage of potohar” said Lok Virsa Deputy Director Research and Media Centre Zubia Sultana. Talking to mediapersons, she said that Lok Virsa was in a unique position to highlight the culture, art and crafts of all cultural entities of Pakistan including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir and sought to give everyone equal representation at the national level.
She said “The main purpose of “Lok Baithak” is to revive the traditional informal sittings of the traditional and rural communities”. The Lok Baithaks were multifaceted and used to serve the multiple purposes of associationalism, camaraderie, entertainment, social cohesion, knowledge sharing, creation of disciplinarian and organizational spirit, and above all hub of promotion of art and culture in the general communities, she added.
A female student from a local academic institute said, “The Potohari Lok Baithak at Lok Virsa truly represents the cultural identity of the people of northern Punjab.
This program at Lok Virsa is open to the people of all age groups and multiple ethnicities in the style that they themselves are the speakers and listeners with the Lok Virsa being a regulator and facilitator only.
