Aag Alive ‘09 on 25: 12-hour-long musical festival to send a message of peace to world | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Aag Alive ‘09 on 25: 12-hour-long musical festival to send a message of peace to world

By Shahab Ansari

LAHORE: “We are not blood thirsty, uncivilised, throat slitting, cold blooded terrorists or war mongers. This is the message 22 top pop singers of the country would deliver to the world in the 12-hour long mega musical called ‘Aag Alive ‘09 titled Dunya Daikhay Gee”.

The musical festival would be held in Lahore from 12 pm to 12 am on October 25, said Geo President Imran Aslam, Dr Akbar Yazdani of Fire Records and Wajahat Rauf of Geo TV at a crowded press conference.

They said that Aag and Fire Records were taking the major initiative to change the face of live music in Pakistan. In the spirit of famous events such as Woodstock and Live Aid, that simply made the art of live music more popular all over the world, the Aag TV will present “Aag AliveÂ’09” – the first-ever music festival that will be broadcast live in five countries for 12 hours.

The basic aim of the festival is to set a new precedent and put together an all-live musical event in the provincial metropolis – the cultural capital of Pakistan.

Musicians will get together on a single platform provided by Aag TV and Fire Records for only one purpose: To show the world that Pakistanis are a peace loving nation and not terrorists, they said.

“We are proud of our artists. They are the best and they have brought a great name to the country,” Imran said. Dr Yazdani said: “We have a lot of talent and we want to tell the world that we are a lively nation”. “We will give them a show to remember for the rest of their lives,” he said. He said security arrangements for the show will be fool proof and it would be the biggest-ever musical show in the country. “You must prepare yourself for a rollercoaster ride. It is very important to show to the world that we are one and we have not lost our sense of pride,” he said.

Pop singers, including Atif Aslam, Strings, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Hadiqa Kiyani, Noori, Ali Azmat, Shiraz Uppal, Annie, Amanat Ali, Rahim Shah, Call, Roxen, Adeel Chaudhry, Laal, Mauj, Raeth, Rabi Peerzada, Noman Javed, Nida, Arab, Circle of Trust, Seige, Jal, and Fusion will perform at the festival.

Speaking on the occasion, Ali Azmat said the country was going through very difficult times and the world media was wrongly projecting Pakistani people as terrorists. “That’s definitely not us. We are not terrorists at all…we are just being dragged into this,” he said.

Shiraz Uppal said the festival would be perhaps the biggest congregation of pop and rock stars. Singers and artistes of this country were united and they would show to the world that Pakistanis were peace-loving people, he said.

The festival is a unique two-day marathon for 15,000 strong live audience and millions of others across USA, UK, Europe and the rest of the world. Students will be allowed to camp at the venue the night before the mega musical show on 25th October in an environment that will be purely music. Live jam sessions in front of bonfires, DJs, dance floors and everything that makes for a perfect start for a festival shall be there at that the camp day session.
Source: The News
Date:10/13/2009