The blurred gender lines

The gender lines are blurring in many occupations that were previously dominated by one sex or the other. And, this is a good thing. When people pursue careers based on interests and abilities, everyone benefits. Gone are the days when a pilot could only be a man and the beauty and fashion industry were just for women. It is heartening to see how Pakistani women today are deviating from the stereotypical roles at work and are heading towards professions which we never imagined as a woman’s domain. One such example is of the multifaceted band of women who broke the glass-ceiling by becoming part of a mainstream music festival in Lahore. Natasha Noorani, Zahra Paracha, Munizeh Sanai and Sara Nasir are the brains behind Lahore Music Meet (LMM). The USP of LMM is that it is a women-led music festival which happens every year in the historical city of Lahore. From managing the festival’s marketing to its curation, crowd control and security, these four dynamic women do it all... “It’s definitely a male-dominated field especially backstage,” says Natasha Noorani, Founder LMM. “It’s phenomenal that we have a team of women who are able to handle every aspect of the festival. However, it’s extremely difficult for us and other women to navigate. Most young girls, myself included, don’t get the permissions or access to these fields which makes LMM’s team such a magical place for all of us,” shares Natasha.

When it comes to music festivals, Sound Design is key and Zahra Paracha continues to give her best. Handling LMM’s sound while facing struggles in terms of its curation, Zahra narrates, “As a sound engineer, I personally face a lot of hurdles. It would have been different if I was a man. A lot of government organisations don’t like to talk to us because we are women and they have certain pre-requisites which they don’t want to communicate with us. Even if we do face the sexist overtones, we also have people who respect and support us. They become a great buffer between us and the people who we don’t want to deal with but we need the services from. Even with sound requirements, I have to talk to artists. Many a time, they have talked through me rather than to me, but more often I do get the respect from musicians. I guess it takes a little time for people to understand that we are serious about our work.”

It is very difficult to manage a public festival and pull it off well. For that, it takes a successful marketing strategy and good PR skills. In Pakistan, there are many women in this field but marketing a music festival is definitely a task. For that, it is vital to be organised and start putting together a plan from selling passes to spreading the word. Munizeh Sanai, the Creative Director of LMM gave her two cents. “This year’s promotion relied heavily on social media platforms and I think that worked out really well for us,” tells Munizeh. “A lot of audiences and musicians take their information from Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook so we were kind of secure in the fact that we would be reaching a lot of fans. Along with that, I have an amazing PR team that ensures our message and information get out there and reach out all the publications and electronic media. We have partnerships with City FM 89 and FM 91 and they help us a lot in promoting our event. Moreover, the turnout was amazing and we were really happy with the amount of people who came from all walks of life to participate and be there for the music they love,” she informs.

LMM has become a mainstream music festival and has several unique elements which add to its popularity every year.

While the scribe asked about its spread to other cities like Karachi - which supposedly has better sound - Zahra Paracha comments, “It is true that Karachi has better access to sound gear but as far as sound is concerned, generally there are very few sound engineers in Pakistan.

Since I am a Karachiite, I have seen many shows in here that were really bad in terms of sound.

 We would love to see LMM spreading in Karachi as well but we have little support. People might think that we have brands who partner with us but it’s all on barter. Furthermore, there is a huge cultural difference between both the cities and Lahore is more receptive towards festivals so it also depends on the culture and how people consume it in the form of such activities.”

Talking about the selection of the venue and musicians for LMM, Natasha explains, “The venue has been set since the first year. Very few venues exist across Pakistan that are designed for music. In fact, even Alhamra is designed for theatre which posts a huge challenge for sound management. Being in Lahore though, it’s the perfect venue for our multifaceted festival which focuses on providing easy access to music, education and new music to all classes of audiences. As far as the line up is concerned, Zahra and I scout all year round and go over 300 applications to find the artists for LMM’s showcase. It involves us trying to find new sounds and artists who would unlikely fall under the ambit of mainstream/corporate promotion. It’s hard for brands and older producers etc to keep their finger on the pulse considering their main aim is virality. We focus on musicality, craftsmanship and innovation when we select our line up.”

As LMM is not just about music, selecting workshops and panel discussions is also another responsibility. Natasha shares that in their curation, it follows their personal musical journeys to create meaningful conversations and masterclasses that they think would appeal to the avid Pakistani music fan.

To decide on the visual appeal of the show, Sana Nasir - the Art Director of LMM - comes to the rescue. The scribe asked about her strategies which make the festival fun, creative and relevant to Lahories on which she responds, “We paused to reflect on all the objects and ideas that shaped us in the local music scene as we shaped them back. The spirit of Lahore Music Meet is rooted in creating a culture of inclusion and representation while building from the ground up. The simple kindness of sharing one’s craft with people is a humbling and a brave act and any art that emerged from it has to reflect this. Not the celebrity-centric VIP culture but the culture of sharing a community. The LMM design language has adopted a very DIY/found objects/opportunities style of salvaging things and restoring them. It is a very raw grassroot movement. Thus the visual landscape for LMM is a tribute to Pakistan’s distinctive music, old and new. Low-tech audio devices with high-tech electronic equivalents, all make up our unique heritage and future.”

At any large festival, public safety is the number one priority, and the key to public safety is crowd control. While addressing the challenges of crowd control, Munizeh emphasises, “Security, of course, is a great priority and concern for us. For instance, we did what we could when people at LMM were walking in and made sure they were aware that the security forces were around them.

We had the Punjab Police, Alhamra’s own security and on top of that we hired our private security as well. When it comes to safety of women at a free public event is something we are constantly trying to work on so that our visitors feel that they are being looked after.” According to Zahra Paracha, the team is also looking into developing a sexual harassment policy so that small instances do not occur. It is trying to be preventative but also making sure that the mistakes are countered.

Pulling off such a feat is a commendable task. And these women are determined to make it even better, “It comes with a lot of responsibility as we think if this happened this year then we have to be bigger and better next year. After the event, we as a team feel this is a much-needed annual occurrence which cannot be taken lightly. We have to do whatever we can to protect this experience and make sure everybody who is there to enjoy gets to enjoy,” concludes Munizeh Sanai.