I took the bus to Hyderabad, grabbed some Chinese food, then visited my friend Abdul Majeed Soomro and Saqib Syd at their office in the area. The bus to Lal Shahbaz Qalander’s Urs would leave from the radio station at 4pm, so I just enjoyed time with friends. I went over to the station and met a contact my friend Ustad Anb Jogi had given me to get a seat on the bus.
While waiting, I sat around the radio station lawn. I didn’t know anybody, but there was a funny little kitten that played with me for a while, before it decided to start biting my shalwar and I had to gently shoo it away.Musicians kept arriving and sitting in circles, chatting, catching up. They would all be performing at the Urs tonight. I was very glad to be able to hop on this bus and join them. After another hour and a half, the bus arrived, we piled into it and were on our way. What luxury, an air conditioned bus ride all the way to Sewan. The drive is quite beautiful, with desert landscapes and some beautiful mud walled homes and huts along the way.
Once in Sewan, we stopped in the local government guest house where there was a nice dinner prepared for the musicians. I joined in of course, and then we went to the concert hall. Since the concert was at this hall, instead of the dargah, we avoided most of the madness, which was just as well. It was crazy when I went a few months ago, so I could only imagine how it might be now. Traveling with the musicians, I had a very easy time getting there, then going backstage with them. I walked over to the stage as they were setting up, then down into the audience area during the sound check, where I found a seat a few rows in so as not to step on any VVIP toes.
The crowd filled in, and the show began after a couple of hours. It was quite amazing. The musicians were great, and each performer came and did a song or two. There were so many acts. The accompanying musicians would also switch out after a while, as they were playing all night. Ustad Anb Jogi came out and played dholak with several groups, and left and returned several times.It was a pretty amazing lineup. I can’t really stay up all night, so I was nodding off at times throughout, but the performances were amazing. I would doze off for a few minutes here and there as the night went on.