Dua Abbas Rizvi Nationalism in the arts can be seen as a contradiction in terms. Paying homage to the nation state requires acquiescence and acceptance whereas artists by their very nature are rebels and scrutinisers. Can the idea of a nation state still appeal to their sentimental and nostalgic sides? Can they see ‘nation’ as evoking the notion of ‘home’ …

Runyu Liang This week’s video features Himalayan rap set in New York City. The rap refers to the new generation of the land of snow and to classic items of Tibetan cuisine, specifically Tsampa, made from barley flour and mixed with Tibetan butter tea. Named after Tsampa, the rap is produced by Zurich-based Tibetan rapper Karma Emchi, also known as …

The composers who stood out were Ajay-Atul, Niladri Kumar, Shashwat Sachdev and Shantanu Moitra, and among lyricists, Shellee and Varun Grover.   Devarsi Ghosh For Hindi film music, 2018 was a much better year than 2017, even though we got no albums from Pritam or Vishal-Shekhar and the only Vishal Bhardwaj-Gulzar collaboration was a sorry dud. Amit Trivedi dropped nine …

  By Zameer Abbas I shared the first part of this piece on an elitist WhatsApp group of government officials, assuming that the members would read and comment on it. But, barring two out of 49 participants, the piece was met with a bureaucratic indifference. Perhaps the group members, well-educated by all standards, found the piece uninteresting even though most …

In his two-part article, Zameer Abbas touches upon the other sides of Juan Ellia’s personality as a progressive thinker,  biographer, translator, and historian which have been overshadowed by his poetry. Zameer Abbas The popularity of Jaun Elia (1931-2002) as a poet has risen in recent times. Despite his intellectual versatility, he was not as well-known during his lifetime as he …

By Farman Ali Islamabad, Oct 14: Artist and poet Ahmed Habib’s latest artwork is a self-reflection on relationships, inner conflicts, and emotional attachment with personal belongings. The exhibition titled, Aayiney (mirrors) was inaugurated by Austrian Ambassador Briggitt Blaha on Ocxtober 3 at Nomad Gallery that was followed by the screening of a short documentary on the artist’s work. A large …

Ali Ahmed Jan The much-awaited Gilgit-Baltistan Champions League (GBCL) kicked off with a greater participation of the enthusiastic and talented teams from over two dozen universities and colleges of twin cities of Islamabad-Rawalpindi and Lahore. The opening ceremony of the third season of the mega event was held at the Open Air Theatre of the Pakistan National Council of the …

HAH Report Islamabad (Feb 27): Two books on the oral tradition of Pamiri Kyrgyz people living in Turkey have been published. Authored by renowned Kyrgyz folklorist and ethnographer Dr Sulaiman Kaiypov, the books Proverbs and Sayings of the Pamiri Kyrgyz Living in Turkey, and Funeral Laments of the Pamiri Kyrgyz Living in Turkey, have been published with the support of the University of …

M. Saleem Beg Leh, the capital of Ladakh and the first major town as one descends from the Tibetan plateau and the Karakoram mountain range, has been variously described as a “true little capital, the seat of a tiny cosmopolitan world” and it has been said that “what Port Said is to the Suez Canal, Leh is to the Central …

Aasim Sajjad Akhtar AND so Nawaz, Maryam and Safdar have been indicted. All while reconciliation between Maryam and Hamza is in the works. And all while Safdar’s hateful speech in the National Assembly continues to create ripples inside and outside the N-League inner circle. For good measure, Imran’s troubles in the Supreme Court are also in the headlines. Will we …

MUMBAI, Oct 5: Two fearless Asian women who have risked their lives campaigning against religious extremism — one of whom was murdered last month — won a joint award Thursday for their common courage. Gauri Lankesh, 55, an outspoken Indian newspaper editor, was shot dead outside her home by unidentified assailants in the southern city of Bengaluru, at a time of …

By Waseem Altaf Qurattulain Haider, author of one of the greatest Urdu novels ‘Aag Ka Darya’ had come to Pakistan in 1949. By then she had attained the stature of a world-class writer. She joined the Press Information Department and served there for quite some time. In 1959 her novel ‘Aag ka Darya’ was published which raised important questions about …

Aziz Ali Dad Gilgit-Baltistan has historically remained at the peripheries of the power centres of Central Asia and South Asia. This relative isolation enabled local communities to develop indigenous social, state and economic structures that allowed small principalities to remain autonomous in decision-making. Despite its political marginality and geographic inaccessibility, GB managed to develop trade routes with Central Asia and …

News Desk The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), and the University of Central Asia (UCA), Kyrgyzstan have joined hands to strengthen relations in the fields of curriculum development exchange of faculty and students strengthen the relationship between the two institutes. The representatives of the two institutes Tuesday (Sept 12) signed an agreement of cooperation in the field of communications and …

By  Waseem Altaf Street libraries or “aana libraries” existed till the 70s but gradually vanished in the 80s. Presently, these are almost non-existent. These street libraries were housed in small shops in bazaars and mohallas and would cater to the needs of the local readers. Usually, novels, digests, magazines and storybooks were available which could be borrowed for a day …