Karachi’s Lone Sitar Maker Fears Craft’s End

Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial capital, has only one sitar maker, and he is afraid that after his death, there will be no one to carry on the legacy. Zafar says that sitar making has become such a rarity that it alone cannot help him sustain and in the day he has to work as an assistant at the Karachi University. The evenings leave him enough time to tinker about in his small shop, manufacturing sitars or fine-tuning them. “Apart from competition from modern musical instruments, this is also the lack of training schools and enthusiasts. Those who teach charge exorbitantly, so many youngsters refrain from learning classical music.