Hindustani music’s decline in Pakistan began the day the nation was born

There was a time when Takia Meerasian, a Sufi shrine in Lahore’s walled city, was the “hatchery” for Hindustani musicians, says the late Pakistani critic M Saeed Malik in his book The Musical Heritage of Pakistan. For here, in front of an unforgiving audience, was where you proved your mettle. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan, Narayan Rao Vyas and just about every legend performed here and in other baithaks and takias of Lahore.

But many purges later – political, social and cultural – that legacy departed, leaving not just Takia Meerasian, but much of Lahore and Pakistan. Classical music, as we know it in India, as khayal, dhrupad and thumri, are now on the margins of the country’s culturescape. Where you find some fine and delightful representation of it is in its popular music – in its ghazals, qawwalis and raga-rock.

Why the syncretic and shared classical music tradition exited Pakistan has been the subject of multiple inquiries, including the acclaimed 2007 documentary by filmmaker and author Yousuf Saeed, Khayal Darpan. Continuing this line of investigation is the work of Kabir Altaf, a young Pakistani American scholar. His book, A New Explanation for the Decline of Hindustani Music in Pakistan, based on his dissertation for a Master’s degree, was published...

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