[Event Diary] Indigenous languages, cultures face danger from globalization
ISLAMABAD, Dec12: Noted linguist, Prof Dr Tariq Rahman, has endorsed the aspiration of Pamiri people for saving the 3,000 years old Wakhi language and culture. As he put it, languages endow prestige, pride and power to a people who speak it.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on “Wakhi language” on the third day of the Wakhi Cultural Festival at the Heritage Museum here on Friday.
“Your people are giving a call for the right to educate children in your Wakhi mother tongue from becoming obsolete, and it is a cause we support,” he said.
Prof Rahman recalled UNESCO concern about the danger confronting indigenous cultures and languages. Among the 6,000 languages in the world, 2,500 are about to disappear or have already ceased to exist. According to UNESCO about 3,000 languages lose their carriers every year. Smaller community languages face danger from globalisation that wanted to impose a monolithic world culture across the globe.
“This in turn provokes reaction of the kind that we find reflected in religious extremism and terrorism,” Dr Rahman said.
He suggested a three-tier scheme for education in the mother tongue, with a bridge opening to a more appealing language, such as Urdu, and also rounded off with education in English. But the system must be applied uniformly throughout the country, including in the schools in which the children of the elite receive education.
He said that economic and cultural trends influence attitudes of people towards their language. No language is superior or inferior intrinsically. It was the political and economic power of a nation that determines the position of a language.
He said that due to globalization the powerful economies were influencing minority cultures and resist their promotion. He emphasised pluralism in the globalised world with space for all cultures.
The seminar was addressed by a number of experts including, Asmatullah Mushfiq, Nazir Ahmad Bulbul, Fazal Amin Beg, Azam Beg and Shambi Khan. They expressed the fear that the Wakhi language will die unless it received proper attention for its conservation and preservation as was being done in Xinjiang, China and Tajikistan. There the Wakhi language was being used and researched extensively.
Nazir Ahmad Bulbul lamented that the younger generation was prone to developing feelings of inferiority when they come to the cities in search of work or education and stop using their language with which the culture also suffers. Once a small community language goes into disuse among the young, it dies with the death of the elderly speakers. Once that happens, the nation loses its individuality and in course of time it also dies with its peculiar culture, character and moral attributes.
The speakers highlighted the history, rich cultural heritage and traditions and evolution of Wakhi language over the centuries. They also presented recommendations for promotion of Wakhi and other local languages of Giglit-Baltistan as all the dialects spoken in the region were in danger of extinction.
The speakers lauded efforts of Lok Virsa and GECA for their combined efforts for promotion of Wakhi culture and language.
Director of Lok Virsa Khalid Javaid vowed to play his role to promote the Wakhi language and culture.
In his presentation Fazal Amin Beg traced the history of the language and said the Wakhi language belonged to the Iranian group of languages, assimilating a number of Persian and Arabic words, but recently it had been overwhelmed by the spread of modern information technology. He also complimented those women of letters who had contributed to the richness of these languages with their literary and poetical work.
Azam Beg Tajik also paid tributes to Wakhi scholar Haqiqat Ali for his pioneering work on the script of the Wakhi language. The assembly resolved unanimously that all Gojali should speak their own language and disseminate it through publications and propagation on electronic media.
Tayib Jan,Vice-Chairman Education com mittee of the Gojal Educational and Cultural Association thanked the chief guest and other guest speakers for the valuable contribution for the promotion of Wakhi language.
Neelum Nigar, secretary of the education committee in her introductory remarks explained about the Wakhi language in historical perspective. [DAWN]
Wakhi Festival concludes at Lok Virsa
ISLAMABAD, December 13: The five-day Wakhi Cultural Festival, organised by Lok Virsa in collaboration with Gojal Educational & Cultural Association (GECA), has concluded with a prestigious ceremony marked by traditional cultural ensembles of music and dance.
The slogan of the festival was ‘Harnessing Culture for Peace & Harmony’ and the organisers succeeded in bringing the message of peace to the entire Pakistani nation through the vibrant depiction of the Wakhi heritage with performances and demonstration of skills by the Wakhi artisans and artists, who came from the far-flung valley of upper Hunza and Gojal.
Murtaza Solangi, Director General, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) was the chief guest at the concluding ceremony, who eulogised the efforts of the organisers Lok Virsa and GECA for their combined efforts for promotion of Wakhi culture and language.
Lok Virsa Executive Director Khalid Javaid appreciated the efforts of the participating master artisans, folk artists and musicians from Wakhi community on the successful completion of the festival. He said that the festival afforded an excellent opportunity to the residents of the twin cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad to witness at the capital city the first time in the history of Pakistan live presentations and display of the rich of cultural traditions, lifestyles, musical heritage, traditional cuisine and the rituals connected to various festivities and celebrations of the Wakhi community living in Gilgit-Baltistan region.
On behalf of Lok Virsa, he assured the participants that Lok Virsa will continue to patronise and support all regional and local cultural institutions in Pakistan for documentation and preservation of their indigenous folk culture and traditions. He also acknowledged the generous contribution made by the partners, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs represented by Royal Norwegian Embassy for holding this unique cultural activity of its kind at Islamabad.
Also appreciating the role of Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, Khalid Javaid said that it is a source of great satisfaction for the cultural organisations like Lok Virsa that state media institutions like PBS are keen to help out in projecting cultural heritage of Pakistan. He said that Lok Virsa recognises the contribution of PBC in documenting and promoting folk musical heritage of Pakistan through its provincial and regional radio stations. He expressed hope that Both Lok Virsa and PBC can join hand together to make some more concerted efforts in this direction, he added.
GECA Chairman Farman Ali Baig thanked Lok Virsa and the Norwegian partners in giving an opportunity to the Wakhi people to showcase their rich culture, traditions, folklore and musical heritage in the capital city through Wakhi Cultural Festival.
The ceremony concluded with life cultural performances by a select number of Wakhi folk singers and musicians as well as poetry recitation by the Wakhi poets and writers. Certificates and shields were presented to the participants at the end of the ceremony. Over 60 participants including master artisans, folk artists and musicians attended the festival.
The 5-day Wakhi festival remained a centre of attraction for the visitors from the twin city metropolis. Visitors enjoyed the elderly people and notables of Gojal tribe dancing to the tunes of traditional music wearing their cultural white cap and long woollen coat embroidered with flowers called ‘Chugha.’ The white cap and ‘Chugha’ clad elders remained the centre of attention.
Apart from poetry recitation session, melodious songs, skits and drama staged by local Wakhi artists were also presented during the festival and a drama depicting the various phases of historical development of Wakhi people received warm appreciation. Stalls showcasing the traditional dress, cuisines and artwork of Wakhi Pamiri people remained the centre of attention of visitors. Local cuisines such as Bat, Molida, Gral, Shulbut and Moch offered a unique traditional taste to the visitors. The warmth of the food stalls and the colourful cultural presentations of the festival provided a good warm environment in the chilly weather of the twin cities. [The NEWS]
Wakhi Festival in full swing
ISLAMABAD: Wakhi culture seems to have won many admirers in Islamabad as could be seen from audience response on Thursday when folk artists on the second day of the Wakhi Cultural Festival at Lok Virsa presented some popular songs, folk music and dances.
Elders and youth from Gojal danced ecstatically on the beautiful tunes of rubab (a lute-like plucked musical instrument) played by Fazlur Rehman Sheerin Sodo, Haider Murad and Ali Ahmed Shani, daf (a large-sized frame drum), surnai (wind instrument) and dadang (a large drum). The main attractions of the day were the famous classical Persian song and dance ‘Sawdogar’ (Trader’s eulogy) presented by Shambi Khan, Mehman Khan and their team and loos (poetic funeral oration) by folk singer Sultana Mehman from Shimshal.
The colourful display of indigenous crafts, handicraft and local cuisines, especially molida and moch (chicken barley soup) attracted a large number of people.
Besides folk artists clad in traditional white chogas (long woollen overcoat), an array of folk arts and crafts from Gojal represented by master artisans are also present in the festival showing their mastery in various crafts like plos (floor rug weaving made from Yak hair), pattu weaving (lamb wool rug), embroidery, wooden spoon making by master artisan Shafqat and gemstones, etc.
Aziza Begum, the master artisan of traditional floor rug called plos, was also one of the attractions. Plos is usually woven by both male and female members of the family and are made throughout Gojal valley like Shimshal, Chupursan, and Ishkoman, Boroghil, Nagar, etc. It is traditionally made in natural colours of fibres used (black and white) from hair of the tail of yak and sheep wool.
The exquisite embroidery of Hunza Gojal which is mostly done in cross-stitch is famous all over the world. Haji Bibi, Sultana and Aziza are the master artisans of Wakhi style of embroidery. They make beautiful caps, handkerchief, crochet work, etc. Haji Bibi informed that their embroidery is so intricate that it takes almost a month to finish a traditional Wakhi cap. There were times when the raw material including silk was easily available near the Pakistan-China border, but due to political reasons, they have to go to Punjab to buy silk, she said.
Another stall which catches your eye is fabric weaving by Sehat Niso. She said that this craft is not a traditional craft of Gojal region. She actually got training from foreign experts some years back and now she is practising this art at her home. She makes traditional floral and geometrical patterns on her fabric.
Haqiqat Ali was busy in carving a thick branch of apple tree which later, would turn out to be a beautiful spoon. He said that traditional wooden spoons are an integral part of kitchen cutlery and are very famous throughout Gilgit-Baltistan. They are mostly used for eating soup prepared on different occasions. The large spoon is called kupchlaiz while the smaller one is called kupch which are made from apple wood. DAWN
Wakhi food and music enthral twin city residents
by Najeeb ullah Naveed
Islamabad, December 10: It was the second day of Wakhi cultural festival 2009 at Lok virsa Islamabad. A large number of residents of the twin cities and people from all parts of Hunza and Gilgit-Baltitan witnessed the proceeding of the day.
Many interesting programs were staged today and visitors expressed great interest in various stalls. The stalls related to Wakhi cuisine and handicrafts were frequented by visitors.
Among the cuisine stalls Molida was very popular among the visitors .the visitors enjoyed the taste of Quruth and felt the warmth of Apricot oil in the chilly weather of Islamabad.
Besides the hand Wakhi carpet weaving and wallet making were visited and lauded by the visitors. The stall run by wazir aman holds various products made from seabuk thorn including jam, dried seabuk thorn and juices. These products are considered very important on medical ground as experts believe that their use can be helpful to reduce the risk of cancer and also can be a potential cure for cancer patients.
The hall mark of toays programs werequfuz palying and singing of lus by an elderly lady sultana arman. Qufuz is a musical instrument cositing of a single sting which was used in ancient times ingoajl whreas lus is a gener of music through which the singer eulogies any deceased fellow or relative. Another important item presented today was the famous Wakhi lus Sinisai by a group of elderly ladies led by Meam sultana from Gojal Hunza.
The visitors were exhilarated with the tunes of Rubob, qufuz, Duf and Dudang. The enchanting voices of Fazal RehMan Shirin Sudo ,Ali Ahmed Shani ,Hyder Murad, Tariq, Zia and Rehmat Karim kept them dancing and enjoying the whole day.
Anisa a student of arts at F7/2 College said she was really inspired by the uniqueness and tranquility of Wakhi Culture. She took special interest in the works of craftswomen and asked about the role of women in Wakhi society. She was impressed by the positive and constructive role of women in Wakhi culture; she expressed her astonishment for the extraordinary talents of Wakhi women particularly mentioning the playing of qufuz and singing of lus by an elder Wakhi lady Sultana Mehraban.
Another visitor Naseem Shah, a renowned social worker from Islamabad, expressed his gratitude for the festivities and stalls satged in the festival. He said that he wished to visit Hunza and Gojal to observe the cultural activities and life styles of Wakhi people in their own region. He said that he found wakhis among one of the most forward looking and peace loving ethnic groups of Pakistan.
A seminar on Wakhi language and a Wakhi Mushaira are highlights of tomorrow’s program.
Good media coverage for Wakhi festival
The NEWS
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=212603
Daily Times
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\12\10\story_10-12-2009_pg11_8
DAWN
Tree Hugger (Blog)
http://topics.treehugger.com/article/0gYo0yH2F82Ed
Hunza Times (Blog)
http://www.hunzatimes.com/archives/3867
Pamir Times
http://pamirtimes.net/2009/12/10/wakhi-festival-inaugrated/
Also covered by Urdu Press and TV Channels, including Geo and ARY Digital.
Wakhi Cultural Festival inaugrated
by Najeeb Ullah Naveed
Islamabad, December 9: The Wakhi cultural festival began today at Cultural Heritage Museum of Lok Virsa, Islamabad. The event is being organized by Gojal Educational and Cultural Association (GECA) with the support of Lok Virsa and Norweign Embassy and is to continue for five days till 13 Dec.
The proceedings for the day stared with recitation of Quran by Qari Shuja. Chief guest of the opening day was presented with traditional Wakhi cap and Choogha by a wakhi elder from Ishkoman and Ejaz Karim former chairman of GECA.
The chief guest, Terje Thodesen, Counsellor/head of the development section of Norwegian Embassy, and Executive Director Lok Virsa Khalid Javaid, cut a ribbon to formally inugrate the event . This was followed by traditional welcome song Sho muborakbod sung by eminent Wakhi singer Fazal Rehman shirin Sudo and Wakhi elders shambi Kahn and Mehman Khan.
The chief guest in his speech lauded efforts of GECA and showed immense interest in Wakhi culture. He also visited many stalls including traditional Wakhi dishes. He was briefed about different stalls by GECA chairman Farman Ali and director of lok virsa.
The director of lok virsa in his address urged the participants to preserve their cultural and social values, Wakhi language, customs and folklore and promote unity, inter-communal harmony and enlightenment in society.
Earlier the GECA chairman welcomed the guests and highlighted the importance of culture and the challenges being faced by the Wakhi community and stressed the need for efforts to preserve the language which is facing extinction as mentioned in the UNESC0’s red book. He thanked Norwegian embassy and lok virsa for their support to make this festival a success.
A group of Wakhi elders including eminent poet Asmat ullah Musfiq,wali Baig, Awal Baig and Shambi Khan danced in traditional Wakhi style, fascinating the
people with the unique and soothing rhythm and surreal body movements .
The famous folk song from Wakhan “Bulbulik” was sung by Ali ahmed Shani and Fazal Reman shirin Sudo and they were assisted by Rehmat Karim and Hyder Murad. Another unique item presented in the day was traditional Sword dance performed by Shambi Kahn and Niamat Karim. Songs were also sung by singers including Rehmat Karim, DW Baig, Tawakal Ali, Ali Ahmed shani, Riaz Sahar, Amanullah Nachiz, Rehbar Kahn, Shirin Sado and Hyder Murad among many others.Gojali Wakhi people residing in the twin cities danced to the tunes of Dhol, rabab ,Daf ,pipe and damal. The band trio from hunza helped sooth the occasion with musical tunes of dudang surunai and damal.
Many stalls including trational Wakhi dishes, such as Molida, Buth, Chilpindok, Moch and Shulbut, different products made from seabuk thorn, Wakhi handi crafts, traditional Wakhi carpet, “Plos”, were also staged.
Program – Day One
Start 11 AM
Recitation from Holy Quran
GECA Welcome speech
Gift Presentation
Lok Virsa Speech
Chief Guest speech (Norwegian Ambassador/Governor GB)
Sho Muborakbod (Folk Song)
Traditional Dance
Chief Guest departs ….
Cultural variety show (dance, music, songs, food stalls, handicrafts stalls) (will continue for 3 hrs, approximately)
Inaugration Day
Reach Lok Virsa today and enjoy the hues of Pamiri culture.
Lok Virsa to host Wakhi Festival, from 9-13 December
The National Institute of Folk & Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) plans to hold Wakhi Cultural Festival at its complex from December 9-13.
The festival is being organised in collaboration with Gojal Educational and Cultural Association, Gilgit-Baltistan, under the joint institutional cooperation between Pakistan and Norway.
The festival marks various dimensions of the Wakhi culture, traditions, customs, folklore, folk dances and more importantly historical dynamics of Wakhi culture and heritage in this region.
Lok Virsa Executive Director Khalid Javaid told ‘The News’ that the festival would feature artisans-at-work exhibition, folkloric performances, folk dance performances, traditional cuisine and a seminar on Wakhi culture and language. He said that Lok Virsa has taken various initiatives for the preservation of cultural heritage to support and encourage artisans, folk artists and musicians through a network of regional cultural associations, societies and community-based organizations.
Following historical background, Wakhi people have lived in the mountainous regions of Northern Pakistan, which is also known as the junction of cultural transition. Global media onslaught and interventions have endangered the unique culture, folklore and language of Wakhi people. The Wakhi Pamiri people live in four different countries of this geographical region.
In Gilgit-Baltistan, these people are settled in Gojal, Ishkoman, Darkut and Broghil. They also live in many parts of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and China.
