All-woman American bluegrass band enthrals city audience

By Aliya Mirza

LAHORE: American bluegrass band “Della Mae” on Tuesday enthralled the Lahoris at Ali Institute of Education, aka Ali Auditorium. Della Mae played to an enthusiastic audience of more than 150 people, mostly women and children.

The all-woman five-member band visited the city as part of the US Department of State’s ongoing cultural exchange efforts. During their concert, the band collaborated with Pakistani band Laal and recorded a song with this group. Earlier, they also had a jam-packed performance at a local women’s college where they learned about Pakistan’s rich musical heritage. Della Mae is on a six-week tour of Asia. After Pakistan, they will be visiting Azarbaijan, Kargistan and Azbykistan.

Talking to Daily Times, the banjo player of Della Mae, Courtney Hartman, said that she had a great experience in Lahore where meeting people was an amazing experience. She said, “This is for the first time our band has come to Pakistan. After receiving such a warm welcome from the Lahoris, we would love to come again. A collaboration with Laal band was really a nice experience to know about Pakistani music as Pakistan’s traditional music is very much connected to the American traditional music.”

She added, “Lahore is a very busy and exciting city and its people are very lively. The most exciting thing for me was to see donkeys and horses on streets over here.” Bass player Shelby Means said that people of Lahore are great and she would love to come again. She said that their band visited Lahore Fort and Badshahi Mosque. “We had an awesome Pakistani lunch at a local hotel and loved kababs a lot. To see such a large number of females and children at the concert is very encouraging for us,” she said.

Laal Band’s Mahwish said that their experience with Della Mae was good. She said collaborating for the first time with the only all female members band was a great experience. “To fuse our music with theirs was remarkable as they have latest musical instruments which are not available in Pakistan,” Mahwish further said.

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