LAHORE, April 10 — In the shadow of Lahore’s centuries-old Badshahi Mosque, Zohaib Hassan plucks at the strings of a sarangi, filling the streets with a melodious hum and cry.
For seven generations, his family has mastered the bowed, short-necked instrument and Hassan is well-respected across Pakistan for his abilities, regularly appearing on television, radio and at private parties. Sara Zaman, a classical music teacher at the National Council of Arts in Lahore, said alongside the sarangi, other traditional instruments such as the sitar, santoor, and tanpura are also dying out.
“The instrument was close to the hearts of the top internationally acclaimed male and female classical singers, but it began to fade away after they died,” he said. The instrument costs around 120,000 rupees and most of its parts are imported from neighbouring India, where it remains a principal part of the canon.