UPDATED: 04 Aug 2009 GMT
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Karachi celebrated U.S. Independence Day with Jazz Quartet at the CGR
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Karachi, June 29, 2009 – U.S. Jazz group “The Ari Roland Jazz Quartet” and Pakistan's highly acclaimed composers and musicians, Ustad Nafees Ahmad Khan on sitar and Ustad Bashir Khan on Tabla performing in a program to celebrate U.S. Independence Day.
On June 29, 2009, U.S. Consul General Stephen G. Fakan hosted a Fourth of July celebration commemorating the 233rd Independence Day of the United States of America at his residence in Karachi. In his welcome remarks, the Consul General thanked the guests for attending the event and stressed U.S. government's pledge to continue strong and deep bilateral relations between the United States of America and Pakistan. The occasion was attended by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Acting Governor, and Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro. Politicians, diplomats, journalists, media tycoons, leaders of business community, members of parliament, artists, and academicians attended the event. An early evening reception was followed by a Jazz concert for the guests. The Ari Roland Jazz Quartet traveled from the United States to conduct local workshops on Jazz and was the highlight of the evening. The Quartet played for about 20 minutes and then fused with two of Pakistan's highly acclaimed composers and musicians, Ustad Nafees Ahmad Khan on sitar and Ustad Bashir Khan on Tabla. Everyone agreed the music and the camaraderie of the evening was a special treat. Earlier, the Jazz Quartet conducted a workshop for music students of various institutes at the Arts Council Karachi. They discussed music theory and similarities between Jazz and indigenous music. Students were very eager to interact with the group and a few were brave enough to come forward and jam with the Quartet at the end of the workshop. The Quartet spent some time explaining the differences between Bebop & Swing Jazz. They then played examples of both types of music to better illustrate the differences and similarities between the two. Asif Samad, a student, asked the Quartet to show them how to take an existing song and "change" into Jazz. Another student wanted to know how and when a musician decides to play Jazz. Overall, it was a wonderful interactive workshop and participants were grateful to have the opportunity to hear live Jazz and interact with professional jazz musicians.
The purpose of combining the Jazz Quartet concert on the occasion of celebration of the United States Independence Day was to spread a message of peace, harmony and tolerance and to bridge cultural gaps through music. This was an ideal way to introduce Jazz to a wide cross-section of society and pay sincere tribute to the cultural heritages of both Pakistan and the United States.
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