Heritage Live | The Shadow of Shenai | Attaullah Multani & Muhammad Sultan

Most people think of Dhol and Chimta when it comes to Punjabi musical instruments. But Heritage Live, a one of a kind music residency has brought forward many hidden gems from the music world, that are endangered with respect to existence, yet magically hard to compare with the modern contemporary instruments.

The eighteen days residency began on August 15th and ended on September 2nd, 2020 at Lok Virsa, Islamabad. Twenty musicians from all across the country were selected upon the basis of their music instrument endangerment and financial status.

Heritage Live is a first-time residency program in Pakistan initiated by the Foundation of Arts Culture and Education, and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund. The program was aimed to empower indigenous musicians through training and workshops based on the Maestro-Apprentice relationship exclusively focusing on their audio-visual productions and social media marketing campaigns which would graduate them out of poverty, and preserve and promote Pakistani culture through music.

This music video revolves around two of the most popular instruments of southern Punjab, out of which, one instrument known as Naqqarah is endangered. Naqqarah and Shehnai Maestro Ataullah Chambal is determined to revive these energising instruments by transferring the talent to his students. He has a number of talented students learning Naqqarah and Shehnai from him in Multan. Mohammad Sultan is one of his exceptionally talented students who plays Naqqarah just like the maestro himself. Ataullah played the renowned tune “Yaad Sajan Di” on Shehnai, which was beautifully teamed with Naqarrah by Mohammad Sultan and jazzy beats by Zain Ali.

We hope that such empowering initiatives are noticed and supported by the relevant communities in order to let the art and culture flourish and be widely welcomed in our society.