Is Napa merely an institute for theatre, not music?

With the staging of Dil Ka Kia Rung Karoon, the National Academy of Performing Arts’ (Napa) Repertory Theatre Company (RTC) will complete its fourteenth production. Despite the success of the RTC, however, graduates of the music department complain that neither has the academy initiated a single music production, nor does it provide its students with adequate support.

“If Napa is an academy of performing arts, then it should cater to performing arts as a whole, and not simply theatre,” Ahsan Bari, the lead vocalist of Taal Karisma, told The News at the launch of their debut video.

Taal Karisma, the first band formed by Napa graduates, received no support whatsoever from Napa, said Bari, explaining that the initiative was borne out of their own resources. “I am happy that we have a had a successful video launch, but it deeply hurts me when I hear of Napa’s fourteenth theatre production while there have been no music productions despite the fact that people have graduated in this discipline as well,” he said.

On the contrary, the Napa administration believes that no student or department is meted a “step-motherly” treatment. “We have never ignored any one, it is just the way they feel about it,” said Arshad Mehmood , director programmes at Napa and a faculty member of the music department. “Napa is an academy of performing arts, and we focus on the need of the day,” he said.

Mehmood argued that theatre was not being staged at all in Karachi when Napa was formed, and the idea of establishing a company was for the purpose of revival of theatre in the city. He said that students of music have not been ignored, but were given less preference and priority than theatre students. However, he justified this phenomenon by saying that while theatre wasn’t taking place at the time, music still was.

When asked if this gives the academy an excuse to concentrate on just one department, he retorted: “Music students and graduates are as dear to me as other students, and we push them in whenever we get a chance. We gave Taal Karisma an opportunity to perform in front of former president, General Musharraf, at a convocation, and many times at different events in Napa.”

The veteran theatre artist agreed that such ventures provide only a handful of people with a chance to perform. “Art is a ruthless field by nature; only the best get chosen while the others are automatically kicked out,” he said.

“Music is still happening and it always has been. We have done our job by teaching a craft like music to our students, and once they have graduated, its time for them to take an initiative. I am very proud that Taal Karisma, a band that came out of Napa, actually took a stand and released a video,” Mehmood said.

In Karachi, where concerts are a rarity and the law-and-order situation has restricted the music scene to cafes, there seems to be little space for a separate platform for educated musicians. “I know the situation is bad, but the nature of music is not such that something can be designed for a week-long performance,” the Napa faulty member said.

“Moreover, there are lots of problems in music; for example, recording of songs and getting hold of a record label. No academy has a record label of its own to facilitate their students,” he said.

Slating the attitude of music graduates towards their craft, Mehmood said that on a personal level, he was always available for guidance regarding their careers, but for some reason, he did not get a suitable response. “I asked one of the graduates to join us for the music of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but they never showed up for the composition process,” he lamented.

The Napa music ensemble is still in the pipeline as a platform for music graduates, and some students also recently performed in Islamabad. Mehmood maintains, however, that the ensemble is far from being a finished platform.

“The ensemble is still in process and it will take time. Hopefully, we will be able to provide music graduates with bread and butter through that platform,” he said. Till such time that the ensemble is not finalised, Mehmood hoped that music graduates would approach the faculty if they had an idea which was economically feasible and achievable.

On the other hand, Bari maintained that when plans were forwarded, no response was forthcoming from the faculty side. “We gave them a plan for a Napa’s music production while we were studying, and I will provide them with a feasible plan in a week’s time. I hope there is some response after that.”

Courtesy: The News