Act Now for Harmony and Democracy

By Arshad Me'raj- Greater Kashmir - Srinagar, J&K, India
Sunday, February 24, 2008

Audience at a local hotel today relived the magic of legendary Pakistani Qawali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, through his disciple and an up and coming Sufi singer, Dhruv Sangari.

During his maiden performance in Valley, Dhruv sang the Sufi poetry of Hazrat Amir Khusroo (RA) amid applause from the audiences on the concluding function of three-day Youth Festival organised by Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD), an Indian NGO.

The audience was in Sangari’s thrall, as he sung the popular hits of his master. Dhruv began training in music at the age of seven and by the age of 13 he became deeply interested in Sufism and Sufi music.

An activist of ANHAD said Sangari is a talented vocal performer and has been working professionally since 1999. His repertoire includes Persian and Arabic, Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu poetry. Dhruv, she said, has also worked with renowned Mexican Saxophone player and artiste Ariel Guzik, Egyptian dancer Ahmed Farees, Birtish electronic musician Vishal Gopal, Russian violinist Gennady Lavrentyev, Panaman percussionist Osvaldo Jorge, Swiss musicians David Scruffari and Lionel Dentan, Pakistani Sitarist Qasim Ahmed and Iranian tar-saz player Reza Zemani.

On the occasion, noted Kashmiri poet Zarief Ahmad Zarief, writer and research scholar Shahid Budgami, stage and television actor Bashir Ahmad Dada, and leading Urdu poet and scientist Gauhar Raza also recited their poetry.

The ANHAD activist said the festival provided a ground to the young and unpolished talents who came up with their ideas at the exhibition -Young Voices of Kashmir- and at an informal debate Youth Activism: Achievements and Challenges.

About the NGO, she said, ANHAD volunteers arrived in Kashmir immediately after the October 8 earthquake to provide relief and expanded its work in Tanghdar and Uri.

“We have started three tailoring and women empowerment centres in three villages in Uri village Bimyar, Nambala and Limbar and four villages in Tanghdar comprising Gabra, Tadd, Nowpora and Chiterkote,” she said.

ANHAD, she said, strongly believed that it is the responsibility of the state to provide livelihood, education, health, vocational training and basic infrastructure to people, and voluntary organisations can play only a small role in this.

“We see our role more as a pressure group to raise awareness about issues and influence the State to provide these basic needs to the people,” she said.

[Visit ANHAD's website: http://www.anhadin.org/].