A nation is built of not only mud and bricks, iron and steel but of humans, humans with their rich cultures, traditions, arts, crafts, poetry, music, dances, theater and a variety of other aspects that make the society civil. Kashmir possesses a great cultural heritage. Be it the Wakhs of Lala Ded or Shru’kh of Alamdar, poetry of Arni Mal, Haba Khatoon, Rusul Mir or for that matter the Sufi poetry of Shams Faqir, Socha Kral or Wahab Khar. Even in contemporary times we have greats like Rehman Rahi, Satish Vimal and so many great prose and poetry writers. We have rich dance forms and our Band-e Pather and Chakri is second to none. It is heartening to note that the culture of theater, which suffered serious set-back post-1990, is being resumed once again with full force. The paintings of our young artists are exemplary and a new breed of singers, musicians, artists and film makers are making their presence felt.
In this regard, a three-week cultural festival, “Jashn-e-Kashmir” inaugurated by the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday is a right step in the right direction. The festival is being organised by the All J&K Folk Artists Association, Shah Qalander Folk Theatre, in collaboration with J&K Academy of Art, Culture & Languages, and the Office of Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir. It goes without saying that such festivals will encourage artists, artisans and craftsmen to contribute their bit in nation building. This is a platform for budding artists and artisans to show their talent and make their mark. Culture and folk traditions of any society are the very corner stones of that society and thus their preservation is the duty of every citizen besides the government. Such festivals will help the younger generation to connect with their cultural roots and provide an environment and a forum to folk artists, visual artists and authors to show their talent.
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While mantra of progress and prosperity is to work hard today and look towards future, the past which includes a society’s cultural heritage is equally important. A society can’t live in vacuum, it has have strong connections with its culture and history to design a perfect future for itself. Kashmir has a treasure of folk songs and tales which actually are the real identity of the people loving here. This identity is to be preserved and thus holding such festivals will be of great help in doing so.
As rightly pointed out by the LG during the inauguration of festival, our artists are a reflection of social values and social progress therefore the government and its agencies looking after the affairs of art, culture, languages, crafts etc need to handhold these artists and artisans. There are people here who have dedicated their lives to preserve Kashmir’s arts, crafts, folk tales and songs. They need to be taken on board while devising policies for the preservation of literary, artistic and cultural heritage. Folk music, folk dances, folk songs, traditional crafts besides other aesthetic aspects of Kashmir’s heritage need to be preserved and showcased in a big way.
