The ezine story
[Community]

From the first ezine to the current, this article seeks to solve the following questions: what is an ezine? Where did it come from? And where is it headed?


Ezine, how many internet users can actually relate to that word? More so, what exactly is an ezine? According to Wikipedia ‘an ezine is a periodic publication distributed by email or posted on a website’. So technically, an ezine is a publication posted periodically on a website and is also part of the spam emails that one is constantly receiving from various organisations promising all sorts of miracles in return for a seemingly small amount they would periodically charge on one's credit card.

What really constitutes an ezine then? Further investigation needed to be done since the definition provided by Wikipedia did not have much to offer. Most ezines have an option through which readers can post their comments on an article or to reply to the comments posted by other readers. All this leads to what is known as ‘online interaction’. This naturally leads to the following question: what is then the difference between an ezine and an online forum?

An ezine is an electronic publication which is periodically updated and is either sent via email or is uploaded onto a website. An online forum on the other hand invites members to engage in discussions regarding a certain topic or subject of interest. Since most ezines have the ‘comment-on-the-article-posted’ option, an online forum could also be part of an ezine. Therefore, part of an ezine could also act as somewhat of an online forum. But an online forum is not an ezine. Make sense?

The next question that pops up is whether ezines are a recent phenomenon? Are they a product of the internet boom? Or have they been around for a lot longer than most people think? Online sources claim that the first ever ezine was a result of a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) media and the computer hacker network called Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc) which was formed in 1984. The name was derived from the Hexadecimal value DE AD BE EF (read dead beef), the value depicting the debugging method used for initialising unused memory. The cult's goal was “Global Domination through Media Saturation” and were the pioneers not only in developing the first ever ezine, but had also begun to exchange audio files in MP3 format in 1997, long before it became common. They were the first hacker group to have their own Usenet newsgroup (alt.dan.cult-dead-cow) and also developed and released different software for system administration. They invited journalists and hackers to most of their conferences, stayed in touch via underground ezines and now maintain their own web-log on their website. In fact, cDc gained media attention and credibility after one of their members briefed President Clinton on internet security and they were the first ever hacker group to receive official approval by the United States government to “export strong encryption in their 6/4 System application”. In summary, cDc was the first ever ezine, created in 1984 by an underground hacker group and steadily gained popularity with time reaching the height of their notoriety when the United States government sought their guidance concerning internet security and granted them permission to export strong encryption in one of their application programs.

Moving over to the subcontinent, more specifically towards Pakistan, it can be safely said that the first ever ezine is Chowk.com. Launched and maintained by a group of Pakistanis and Indians, Chowk.com was formed in 1997 and was created as a “platform to publish, discuss and debate writings on a variety of issues that are important to the people of India, Pakistan and other South Asian countries and a place to express and exchange ideas, discover eclectic thoughts, get useful information, meet new people, engage in social change” and for the enjoyment and education of the reader. With time, Chowk.com has managed to amass over 20,000 registered members and contains 3,500 published articles. The articles are not confined to a specific genre or subject. The writer or a reader can talk about and comment on practically anything as long as they conform to the guidelines which mainly has to do with refraining from using abusive language or causing another member undue discomfort. Pushing the technicalities aside, Chowk.com provides for a good read with well-rounded articles and interesting discussions taking place amongst the writers and the readers. The privileged few who get to keep their own columns (rightfully so) have their work arranged in a chronological order which makes it easy to access the articles by a specific writer. Chowk.com also offers the option of a reader emailing an article to a friend or ‘monitoring’ an article and the comments made on it by other readers.

With time, Chowk.com has managed to attract a variety of readers from diverse backgrounds and varied age groups. It would be difficult to profile the Chowk.com reader because of the way they have categorised articles on their websites. There is a section for those who like to discuss current affairs, a section dealing purely with fictional literature, one section about the issues pertaining to the society, another on anything related to a person's academic life and so on. The Chowk.com reader could be anyone or of any age and gender.

Another ezine, now dead, is Bandbaja.org. The brain-child of Safwat Saleem and under the patronage of Nadeem Farooq Paracha, Bandbaja.org was created in 2003 by several college students to promote quality entertainment journalism. It rounded off a healthy and loyal following soon after its launch. According a Wikipedia, it was known for its “blunt views and the promotion of modern popular music as a social and even political tool.” To the disappointment of many regular readers, the website went offline in 2005. Although rumours are being circulated of Bandbaja.org making a come-back soon, there have been no valid claims in support of that.

For those who knew about Bandbaja.org, it provided endless hours of good reading and a medium through which they could feel ‘connected’ to others who share their point of view on the musicians within the industry. Mainly composed of individuals with an active interest in the comings and goings of the entertainment industry, the typical Bandbaja.org reader would have to be someone between the ages of 14 and 32. Their reviews and interviews mainly covered current musicians which is why it is assumed they did not have much of an older audience.

The success of Bandbaja.org propelled a rapid growth of desi entertainment ezines all over the internet. Some of them include TheSaturdayPost.com, Revaj.com, and Raw.com.pk. Sadly, none of them measure up to the quality of work that made the Bandbaja.org articles stand out. Chowk.com on the other hand has managed to do amazingly well for itself, improving quality of content with time. Ezines can prove to be a valuable source of information for many with people already using it them as references. Realising the potential that ezines hold, many newspaper and television channels have ‘internet editions’ of their publications and programmes. Ezines are relatively easy to create as all a person needs to do is register a domain name and get contributors. The only drawback is that there is no way a certain piece of information can be validated and information may at times prove to be unreliable. Also, when it comes to ezines, one is led to conclude that Pakistani ezines have yet to explore areas other than just entertainment and literature.

First Published:
Spider
July 2006

Second time lucky?


With a career spanning over 17 years, Ali Haider has seen it all. Both his personal and professional lives have followed a similar pattern: he arrived with a bang in the early 1990s, stole people’s hearts with his shy smile and pop-tunes and he continued to do so until late in the decade. Enjoying one hit after another, he was the only local artiste to have released over 13 albums (10 of which went multi-platinum), until the release of his album Jadu.

Although critically acclaimed, Jadu — a trance album — did not do well with the masses and marked the beginning of the fall of his popularity. Around the same time, from having enjoyed a spotless reputation throughout his career, he was suddenly up against scandals that seemed to follow him everywhere. He retreated from the limelight and, after a while of reclusion, has now returned fresh with no qualms about his past.

In this exclusive interview to Images, Ali spills the beans on what he has been up to. With one single from his upcoming album, Jab Kabhi, already making rounds on the tube, he plans to release his 14th album, Janey Do, in September. Further elaborating upon how this album is going to be, he says, “I will be changing my sound in this album the way I did in Jadu. It’s not exactly trance, but it is something from Ali Haider.” With self-composed melodies and compositions, some of the songs in the album have been written by Anwar Maqsood, while Shahi, Shezi and Faraz Anwar (the latter no doubt with his guitar), have contributed to the music.

Ali is obviously excited with the prospect of his latest release. “My new album will surprise you. I’m practicing with Ustad Siddiqui saheb. Although this certainly doesn’t mean I’m going towards the classical side of music, I am training and refining my voice.” He smiles, elaborating upon how the album will reflect a more mature, darker side of his personality. He has left the Purani Jeans days behind; this album is a reflection of how he has evolved into the man that he is now. He states that the feedback on his album so far has been one of shock and surprise since he has sung completely different kinds of songs in it, but he reveals no further.

Speaking about music, he relates his experience of singing for the band Rushk. It must be mentioned here that Rushk embodies a sound which is very much inclined towards rock and metal, a genre of music that is not normally associated with Ali Haider. “I told them I needed to be alone for a while. I was with the sound engineer for about half-an-hour during which we practiced. The band members were very excited (with the end result) and said that the song couldn’t have been better.” So then, has he ever thought about switching to rock? “I do songs which I believe in and which I feel I can sing. If I were asked to make an album based on that kind of music, I may not be able to do so on my own. If someone else is producing the music and I just have to express my inner self, then I may do it. But on my own, I won’t be able to compile an album based entirely on that sound.”

And how was the experience of working with Rushk? “Excellent,” he says laughing. “In fact, I did a song with Uns, Goli Maar Zamanay Ko. That was one song which hasn’t been released yet, but is available on the Internet. It’s even more different than the song I did with Rushk: very funny, very serious and political. It’s for a series called Golimaar, which will be written and directed by Uns. I like singing all kinds of song, but when I sing for my album, I sing what defines me.” Ali is known for diversifying his career into acting. He started in this field when he was offered a role in a musical play by Anwar Maqsood, somewhere in the late ‘80s. Since then, he has worked in quite a few plays, tele films and Eid programmes. He has even tried his hand on the big screen, in his debut film with Meera that went unnoticed. In fact he was once offered a role in a film opposite Manisha Koirala, but the venture failed to materialise because of scheduling problems. He opines upon acting, “When you are doing a play, you are portraying a character, whereas in music, you are portraying who you really are. Acting is really tough, especially if you don’t believe in that role.”

His recent marriage came quite as a surprise to many because despite his boy-next-door looks, he has never really been associated with women before. In response to why he took so long to get married, he relates how he had been in a very serious relationship a couple of years ago which didn’t work out. Heartbroken, he decided not to get involved with anyone any time soon until he was introduced to Sabiqa through a friend. He left the matter to his mother, who instantly took a liking to her, and what followed after was that he finally got married.

On how he is finding married life, Ali responds happily, “She’s a lot of fun and it’s going great because she has adjusted wonderfully into my family. All my sisters live abroad and it’s difficult for my parents to live alone. The best part is that they love her and she loves being in the house with them. It’s such a filmi ending,” he adds with a laugh. With the video of the first single Jab kabhi —directed by Sohail Javed — from his upcoming album recently launched on television, it’s still a little too early to predict whether Ali will retake the world by storm and prove himself again.

Jadu, his past experiment with music, lacked appeal for a mass audience — a market that Ali is now targeting and hoping to recapture. Whereas the songs he recorded in Rushk are nothing short of brilliant, steering completely away from the typical Ali Haider sound, one feels he should still pursue with the same producer who worked on the Rushk tracks.

What with the impending launch of his album this coming September and his hands full with acting gigs, one wonders whether Ali has something he would like to tell his fans. He stresses upon the need to respect our musicians and artistes and expresses disappointment about how Pakistani artistes are looked down upon by Pakistanis themselves. “Don’t wait for Pakistani songs to come on MTV before beginning to appreciate them. Go out, grab the CD and listen to it. We need to start believing in our own people,” he says.

First Published:
Images
June 25th, 2006

When dreams come true
Karachiites recently flocked to the Bahria Auditorium on a Friday night where they were treated to a night of culture, dance and entertainment with renowned classical dancer, Naheed Siddiqui. Organised by the All Pakistan Music Conference (APMC) — the Karachi chapter — the event was titled Khayal.

Both members and non-members of the APMC were requested to arrive early to avoid any trouble accessing and/ or purchasing passes and to ensure seating by the due time. Despite the precautions, many hopefuls arriving by the usual “half-hour-late” rule, were left stranded outside, since the tickets had been sold-out completely. The programme started almost 45 minutes after the scheduled time.

The crew that accompanied Naheed Siddiqui included her protege-in-dance, Ahsan Nadeem, Javed on violin, Babar Ali on flute, Muhammad Baksh on harmonium, Sajid Ali on tabla and Hasan Ameen Mohiuddin on ghatam, while vocals were rendered by Akbar Ali. As the musicians tuned their instruments, the audience patiently waited to be blown away.

Depicted by the hues of red worn by Naheed, the show opened with Khayal, a Raga Jogeshwari, created by Hazrat Amir Khusrau in the 13th century. Slow, subtle and increasingly graceful, Naheed handled her dupatta with finesse as she very slowly transitioned between the different postures signifying khayal (thought), her prop the dupatta, casting a silhouette on the background screen, creating an almost poignant romantic air about her. Her postures mimicked those of statuettes, the alaap of the body appropriately rendering salaam (greetings); Khayal had an understated beauty and set the mood for the rest of the evening.

Tarana — a Raga Chandra Kauns, followed after, another creation of Amir Khusrau. It had a lighter feel to it and was more playful in nature, the play being between Naheed Siddiqui and the tabla. It is difficult to imagine the piece being choreographed; Naheed clearly enjoyed herself and seemed to dance by the ear rather than by counting the taal.

Naheed’s student, Ahsan Nadeem, joined her in the third composition, Illusions — a Raga Suddh Sarang, which was meant to depict the merging of reality and fantasy and that the lines that define them are not what they seem to be. Naheed and Ahsan at first seemed to be each other’s shadows but the subtle differences in their moves soon rectified that initial impression. Ahsan was clearly the illusion in this inter-play between reality and fantasy. Had it not been for the stage presence that Naheed commands naturally, she would have been overshadowed by her own student. Graceful and delicate in his movements, Ahsan danced with emotion, displaying a lightness which gave the illusion of him dancing on air. He is a student Naheed should most definitely be proud off.


The best part of the evening, where Naheed truly seemed to come to life was in the last composition, Rhythm of Life — a Raga Jaijaiwanti. Set to a rhythmic cycle of 16 beats, Rhythm of Life was an improvisational piece. Known for pausing between performances to explain the philosophy of the Kathak dance and the meaning of her gestures, Naheed stayed true to that reputation and while her musicians tuned their instruments, she addressed the audience, talking about the importance of supporting classical dance and of projecting a softer image of Pakistan; she further explained the improvisational nature of Rhythm of Life.

Before her next performance, Naheed repeated the bol of the sequence she was about to follow and launched herself into a delightful dance, clearly displaying her mastery over tatkaar. The exuberance she displayed made it all the more enjoyable. At the end of it all, she received a full two-minute standing ovation from the audience. So far there is no comparison to Naheed Siddiqui in Kathak and she enjoys mastery over some of the most difficult tatkaar compositions.

Although the event was primarily focused on dance, it was disappointing to see that the rest of the crew members including the musicians and vocalist were kept rather in the background. The fact is that the crew contributed equally in making the show a success and therefore should not have been ignored. However, despite the routine hiccups that threatened to jeopardize the evening, the APMC team managed to pull off the event enjoyably, and they deserve to be commended for their effort.

Credits:
All of the photographs were taken by Amean J.

Note:
Only the photograph on top from this particular ensemble is been part of those that had been published in print.

First Published:
Images
June 18th, 2006