Pakistani Potpourri
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Touring for freedom

Courtesy of Sangeet Records, Call and Noori are due to perform for a ‘Freedom Tour’ in New York in October 2006. Sangeet Records, which launched Call in North America will soon be launching Roxen’s album there as well.

Making music for tomorrow
Concerning their next album, Bilal Maqsood of Strings released a statement that “The way it’s coming up, it’s very different. It’s definitely more along the darker lines. But it will take time.” Strings expects to release their album sometime in January or February next year.

Continuing their work as the Pakistani Ambassadors for UNICEF’s AIDS/HIV awareness program, they also have plans of organising concerts for this cause and possibly release a video as well.

Jamming with Shallum

Shallum had been hard at work preparing for the launch of his show, “Playing it live with Shallum” which made its first appearance on Aaj TV on Monday August 7th, 2006. Based on the concept of showing televised jamming sessions, the show depicts Shallum’s playing chemistry with other musicians.

When I grow up, I want to be a Sufi

Inspired by her collaboration with Salman Ahmed on the song Ghoom tana, Shuba Mudgal’s album The Awakening contains several songs based on the Sufi theme. Sung in high pitch, Mein sutti raiyan is one of the sufi-inspired songs in the album. Other tracks include Ali o Ali and Kar sajda.

Speaking about Sufi music, M udgal is of the opinion, “Sufi is not only music. It is like a faith, a belief and deals with man-God relationship. All Sufi songs sound like love songs. I have always been an ardent admirer of this form”.

Hadiqa collaborates with the Jogi Ranjha

The Britain-based singer K hiza who scored a hit amongst desis world wide with the release of his single, Ranjha jogi ho gaya, has collaborated with Pakistan’s very own Hadiqa Kiani on a song. Titled Mehr ma, this is the first time Hadiqa has collaborated with Khiza. The video of Mehr ma is being directed by Sohail Javed and is expec ted to be released soon.

Jjilawtan launches online radio

The Jilawatan management company has launched its own online radio. The radio is meant to stream music online 24/7 and is currently in its Beta phase. At the moment, the only options available to potential listeneres are that of having the radio streamed and of requesting a song.

Jilawatan Radio: http://www.jilawatanradio.com

LAUNCHED THIS SUMMER

The questions within

The Rushk duo, Uns Mufti and Ziyyad Gulzaar re-launched their debut album Sawal after a period of almost five years. The current re-launch as well as the initial launch of the album had been done via BMN records. The album had previously been launched in India making it unavailable for many in Pakistan till now.

Uns Muft i now currently heads his baby, the creative house Rola whereas Ziyyad Gulzaar has moved on to play with Ali Azmat as a part of his band. Ziyyad has also played on Ali Azmat’s debut album, Social Circus. This is not to say that Rushk as a band has dissolved, it is still very much there. In fact, the Rushkies would like to release a second album sometime.

Listen to me

Following the release of Abbas Ali Khan’s video Malal, depicting a vampire-dominated story line, Abbas Ali Khan has released his album titled Sun Re, named after the first video that was launched from this album. The album was released via Indispensable Communications, Tariq Amin’s record label. The cover had also been designed by Abbas and to date, this is his second album as a solo artiste.

The journey ahead
Sajid and Zeeshan also launched their debut album this summer. Titled One light year at snail speed, the album contains songs written and composed by Sajid Ghafoor with one song, Deserts, written by Fasi Zaka. The album had been recorded at Zeepar Studios with the entire post-production work being done by Sajid and Zeeshan’s other half, Zeeshan Parwez. They intend to release their next video soon, based on a song from the album, Have to let go sometime, directed by Zeeshan Parwez.

EMI has decided to resume operations in Pakistan. Marking their comeback with Sajid and Zeeshan as the first band to sign up with them, EMI plans to incorporate anti-piracy laws introduc ed by the government and has set up a whole wing to govern their implementation.

UPCOMING ALBUM LAUNCHES

The dark side of Aaroh
Aaroh has plans of releasing their self-titled second album, Aaroh, this September. Initially the launch had been planned for June, but because of some unavoidable circumstances, it had to be delayed. Most of the songs in this album have been written by Haider, the lead guitarist of the band. Two videos from the new album, Yaara and Pyaar ka jaal have already been released and have been making regular rounds on the television ever since.

High on Haroon
Haroon is set to release his third album in the September this year. The album was recorded in Haroon’s Turbo Charged Funky Lil Studio in his Karachi home. The album will be called Haroon ka nasha and most of the songs in the album have written by him. The composition of the album however, has been done entirely by him.

Dominated by lots of powerful melodies, the album does not follow a particular theme with the songs exploring subjects related to love, social issues as well as peace. Asad Ahmed, the guitarist from Karavan, who used to be with Haroon previously when they were both a part of Awaz, has worked with him on the album and the acoustic guitar sound that the album embodies can be attributed to him. The keyboards had been handled by Vicky.

According to Haroon, “I’m very happy with the album. The songs have a lot of depth in them, which is very important. It is musically very powerful and has a very fresh sound.”

Mirroring the wall
Jilawatan, the group responsible for the success of Jal before they parted ways with them, and who are currently managing Call as well, is busy nowadays in planning the release of two of the bands that they manage.

Roxen, an upcoming band that already has a little fan following, plans to release their debut album Roxen-e-deewar. Preceding the album launch itself, they plan to release the video of their song To phir aao.

Another Jilwatan project, the launch of Akash’s debut album is set to release sometime at the end of September. Their next video, Arman, directed by Xulfi is also set to be released on the tube around that time. Akash’s album is titled Aks.

Celebrities almost famous
Coming out from the Lahore underground, Coven has plans of releasing their album this September. Having been around longer then most underground bands, Coven is credited to have contributed greatly to the underground music scene in Lahore. Three Coven singles, Third world celebrity, Sailing fast and Boundries broken have already been released over the internet. The video of Third world celebrity, directed by Rola was nominated for a Viewer’s Choice Award at The Musik Awards.

Nowhere Land
Shahzad Hameed, also a product of the Lahore underground, plans to release his debut album titled Songs from the Nowhere Land this fall. The video of his first single, Fish out of water was released sometime in December 2005 to critical acclaim but failed to connect with mass audiences. According to media professionals, his album is brilliantly unique and holds promise. Let’s hope record companies will be able to see that.

Note: Column was written under the pseudo-name/pen-name of Band Baji

First Published:
World Music Magazine
Sept/Oct 2006