LAHORE THE Rafi Peer Theatre in collaboration with Royal Norwegian Embassy is holding its 11th Annual National Folk Puppet Festival from March 27 to Mar 30 at Rafi Peer Cultural Centre.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Usman Peerzada and Tasneem Peerzada talked of reviving folk arts in Pakistan. Usman Peerzada said that the festival, which is open to the public, would celebrate local folk puppeteers, storytellers, musicians and local crafts from all provinces of the country.
This year the participants of the festival will be PNCA National Puppet Theatre, Islamabad, Alhamra Puppet Theatre, Bahawalpur’s Asgher, Multan’s Mohammed Bashir, M Nadeem, Muhammad Ali, M Shahid, Khanewal’s Yasin and Aziz, Lodhran’s M Ashiq and Dunyapur’s Durwaish.
The festivals such as these create work opportunities for local artists and their families, who have been doing this work from generation to generation, said Usman Peerzada. He said the tradition of puppetry could be traced back to the court of Mughal Emperor Akbar. He said that as there was no formal education for puppet-making and theatre, different families had taught their children without government support in Pakistan.
The art form is currently facing extinction, as it no longer financially viable to be a puppeteer, noted the festival founder. He said children nowadays were getting their entertainment from television, and theatre in Pakistan was being completely commercialised for profit.
Peerzada said he was personally involved in stopping 10 puppeteer families in the country from leaving their endangered profession.
He said the art form was scarce in Pakistan, whereas in neighboring India, puppet theatre continued to attract audiences, especially tourists from Europe.
He said the city of Jaipur, Rajasthan, was known for a particular kind of wooden puppets, used to tell stories of their history and culture. He said the Rafi Peer Theatre last year had brought its Indian counterparts to share their craft.
The festival founder hoped that terrorist groups would refrain from attacking the four-day activity, as children and their parents were expected to attend it. Rafi Peer’s 11th Annual National Folk Puppet Festival is being sponsored by Radio FM 91, Royal Norwegian Embassy and The News International, Jang Group.
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