Denies artistes permission to perform at NCPA.A performance by the Pakistani band, Sachal Jazz Ensemble, which is composed of musicians of that country and collaborators from the UK and India, was cancelled on Monday after the police denied the Pakistanis permission to play at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA). According to Culture Grind and Sama Arts Network, who organised the event, while the state home department had accorded the UK artistes the requisite No Objection Certificate (NOC) to play at the Tata Theatre, their collaborators from Pakistan were denied the same privilege.Repeated attempts to elicit a response from the state home department and the city police were unfruitful.Nearly 900 disappointed fans returned from the NCPA on Monday evening, after an announcement was made that the show had to be cancelled “due to permission issues”. Within minutes, the city’s music enthusiasts began to make their displeasure known on social networking sites.Music journalist, Amit Gurbaxani, who was at the venue, said, “I got to the venue around 6.45pm. There were already plenty of people waiting outside the Tata Theatre. It was a pretty good turnout for a Monday evening. Usually at the NCPA, the audience is ushered in and seated even if the concert is slightly delayed so it was strange that at 7.30pm, the doors were still not opened.”By this time, people in the crowd, some of whom had been waiting around for over an hour, perched on the auditorium’s steps, a fairly novel sight at the SoBo venue. “Finally at around 7.45pm there was an announcement that the concert could not take place, even though the musicians were ready to perform, because the organisers did not receive the requisite permission,” said Gurbaxani.According to an organiser who belongs to both Culture Grind and Sama Arts Network, the UK musicians Phillep Achille and Steve Lodder, received an NOC while the Pakistani musicians were denied the certificate. They were not offered an explanation. “We have been at it for the last week, when we received visas for the artistes,” she said.“Our musicians are unhappy. This is heartbreaking and disappointing; even more so because the Gundecha Brothers (Dhrupad musicians from Bhopal) are performing in Karachi currently, while the Pakistani musicians are made to feel so small by our folks,” the organiser added.The NCPA, for their part, couldn’t do much to save the show. Their spokesperson said, “Whenever the venue is given for hire, seeking the required licenses is the organiser’s responsibility.”The ensemble comprising Nijat Ali (conductor), Nafees Khan (sitar), Baqar Abbas (flute), Ballu Khan (tabla), Rafiq Ahmed (naal), Najaf Ali (dholak, mardang), Asad Ali (guitar), Phillep Achille (harmonica and double bass) and Steve Lodder (piano) had performed at Nh7 Delhi last week without a hitch.