Music in Pakistan

I could`nt agree more with Sammeer, a major reason why we do not appreciate the classical music is that we do not understand it. All these nuances of ragas and thumries, and the classical lyrics in ancient Urdu or Hindi are a bit too difficult to comprehend. I personally have alwyas been enthralled by semi-classical music but if you ask me on which raga a certain song is based, I would`nt be able to tell. As far as the interest in classical music in the West is concerned, here in UK I have hardly ever seen a teenager who is into it, may be with the exception of serious music students. I have never seen a teenager who likes Mozart`s symphonies.
In Pakistan you can still find a large number of people who love Mehdi Hassan, Lata and Rafi songs, that is the closest they can come to appreciating the classical music. Afterall, not everybody comes from a music gharana.

I think, somebody should write a book in Urdu or English to explain the differences between various raagas in easy to understand language and possibly with couple of CDs containing renditions of famous ragas. All I know is that most songs are sung in thumri or dadra. I have no idea what it really means.