A Pakistani Festival Of Change

In Pakistan, dancing was banned for many years, and some clerics would like to do the same to music. A new festival is changing things. “For Lahore, the 10-day festival was a huge, at times startling cultural event. The music ranged from pop to classical but the finest show was the pure Sufi night. Festival president Faizaan Peerzada runs an event that aims to transform Pakistani life. By promoting Sufi music he hopes to ‘counter the extremism of the mullahs who use the mosques to spread ill-will against the west’.”