Music, the State, and Islam

Pakistan’s pursuit of the sonic arts as national culture was carried out pragmatically within a largely laissez-faire economy controlled by feudal-military elites. Initially, the only major cultural institution was Radio Pakistan. This was established by Director General Z. A. Bukhari on the model of All India Radio, a colonial version of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), where Bukhari had apprenticed with the remarkably anticolonial, pro-Muslim founding director general, ...