Emanuel Sarfraz
Lahore - And there was pin drop silence in Hall II. The hall was packed to the capacity. It was a breathtaking moment. On the stage sat a 13-year-old boy with a big sitar in his lap. What began after that was a mesmerising performance. The boy with his eyes closed perhaps in meditation played on for half an hour. The performance ended with a huge applause from the audience. It was a huge treat for the music lovers.
Mumtaz Tafu, son of renowned guitarist Sajjad Tafu and grandson of Ustad Tafu, was recently performing at All Pakistan Music Conference. He is the seventh generation musician in his family and is making his ancestors proud. The boy is all set to create ripples in the music industry in the near future.
He is a student of class seven and goes to school regularly. He gets his training in music from his father in  the evening. He has a rare talent for playing all kinds of musical instruments. His favourite instruments are violin, table, guitar, table, mandolin, sitar and tabla.
 The above mentioned performance was unique in many ways. He presented raag Anandi Kalyan with taal hori dhamar in 14 beats. This is something only the maestros can play for it is difficult and complicated. The raag was last played by the legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar. Mumtaz has done it and that too at the age of 13, which is a great feat. The way he is performing he will certainly go places with such performances.
Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan, Ustad Shaggan Ali Khan, Ustad Riaz Ali Khan and Ghazala Hayat (President of All Pakistan Music Conference) present on the occasion were all praise for the young musician and wished him the best of luck.