he Lahore Lahore Aye festival has started with a controversy. It was alleged at the very outset that it was not appropriate for the people or the government of the Punjab to be seen indulging in revelry at a time when the Palestinians were suffering unprecedented persecution at the hands of the Israeli forces.

The festival, like most such festivals, consists of performances revolving around music, folk dances and stage plays. It attempts to revive some of the cultural practices that are now on the wane. This gives the people the opportunity to get together and be joyful for the evenings out. The performances were scheduled to be held in a number of open air public venues. However, some adjustments have been made in the programme and some of the events have been moved to enclosed venues like art council buildings.

This seems to be a standard response because music and dance, as indeed all cultural expression, is considered by some people to be no more than revelry. A typical reaction to music and dance is to label these sensuous pleasure seen as a poor substitute for the well thought out, meditated response. The latter is associated with protest demonstrations and agitation, even as many in Pakistan are demanding the application of force to counter it. Some people have already demanded that Pakistan should get militarily involved in the Middle East conflict.

Why should music and dance be equated with revelry and frivolous expression not worthy of proper consideration? Music and dance can be about anything including the saddest possible emotions and deep agony. It would be wrong to say that music and dance are only superficial festivity and nothing more serious than that.

The reason behind this simplistic reaction perhaps lies in a poor understanding of the arts. This view of the arts concentrates on revelry seen as base compared to the higher pleasures associated with abstraction, not visceral but cerebral.

Why can one not argue that songs carry deeper human emotion, about the right to resist and the act of denial? After all, these stances have been centred in many forms of performing arts. The song and dance need not be something that only satiates the senses for that moment and is soon forgotten. Why should these be accused of pandering always to the lowest common denominator and thus not to be taken seriously?

We practice many of the song compositions, dastaans, ballads, bolian and other musical forms without realizing why these came about. These have survived in practice while the immediate cause has not. This reverberates through as the archetypal. This ignorance leads to an instant reaction to the performing arts that can often be outright dismissal. It is the task or the work of the lowly, pandering to emotions that are not worthy of being considered of value. In popular discourse there are tropes upon tropes emphasising the reining in of the performing arts, though the first impulse is of not letting it happen at all; that it should be seem to be lowering the standard of seriousness for it is too allied to the pull of sensuality to merit any consideration. It is not for the high and mighty but for those seen to be pandering to base emotions.

Culture is thus not seen to be integral to our lives. It is considered as something frivolous, an accretion that can be dispensed with. This comes from a puritanical reading: whatever is not essential, is frivolous. Culture often become the first casualty of such a mindset. Culture can thus be done away with as many think that it is not integral to our living. Actually, much should be done away with in any case as the so-called purists see it.

Some of the prime cultural organisations in the province are among the organisers of the festival. As the Walled City Authority is also a partner, it is very good that the festival as planned is not restricted to a few venues. It is spread across the city, particularly the Walled City for the people of Lahore to have a sense of participation. It is an effort to revive some of the dying cultural traditions. These traditions have been threatened by the great technological revolution that has affected the landscape, including the cultural landscape of many societies.

The authorities decided to go ahead with the festival despite the criticism. By the time these lines were written, it was almost halfway through. There are many performances for the people to engage in.

The writer is a culture critic based in Lahore