From the mighty stretches of the Karakorams in the North to the vast alluvial delta of the Indus River in the South, Pakistan remains a land of high adventure and nature. Trekking, mountaineering, white water rafting, wild boar hunting, mountain and desert jeep safaris. More...

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Performing art in Pakistan

The art which is performed in front of public such as singing, dancing and acting is termed as ‘performing art’. Performing art uses body as the medium to present various emotions. This form of art is categorised in the following classes:

Music
Dance
Acting (drama, theatre, film)
Puppet art

Pakistan

is culturally a rich country and the musical traditions of this part of the world date back to India, Arab, Central Asia, Persia and Turkey. A number of melodious music genres are performed by artists here. These are film music (Lollywood), classical music, folk music (belonging to different provinces), patriotic songs, pop music and qawwalis. Some commonly used musical instruments in local music are rubab, drum, dhol, tabla, been, shehnai, bansari, chimta, guitar, harmonium, sitar and sarangi.

Folk dances are very popular among rural people and they perform these dances on various occasions such as weddings, birthdays and other important national and cultural festivals. Some well known folk dance forms of Pakistan are bhangra, dandia, Baltistan (flower dance), dhamal, gidda, Cholistan dance, Baluchi dance, ho jamalo, jhoomar, kikli and sammi.

Classical dance forms include Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Mohiniatamn and Odissi. Some theatre groups in big cities often perform various musical dramas and dance shows that are not very popular among commons but only a specific group of people — who are highly educated and understand the classical music and dance — loves to watch them.

Film industry in Pakistan is not that developed and the popularity of Lollywood movies went down during 80s when Indian movies got hold of the showbiz market. The cinemas were converted into shopping malls but during recent years some new directors and writers worked hard to revive the film industry inPakistan, which gave a chance to the film industry of Pakistan to survive.

Puppet shows, though not very popular these days, hold importance as a lot of hard work is put in this art. Some cultural festivals especially in rural areas still organise puppet shows to entertain the public. Puppet shows — an ancient form of entertainment — locally known as ‘putli tamasha’ besides providing entertainment to the audience also convey some very important social messages.

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Performing art in Pakistan

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