Pakistani Jazz Music Tops Western Charts

Pakistan's Sachal Studios Orchestra, named after Sindhi Sufi Saint Sachal Sarmast (1739–1829), has topped iTunes jazz charts in America and Britain with its interpretation of Dave Brubeck's Take Five that blends classical violins with sitars, tablas and other South Asian instruments, according to British media reports.



It's the first time Jazz is being played in Pakistan in a big way since Jazz greats like Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington and other jazz legends performed in the country in the 1950s. Brubeck, 90, told reporters that it is "the most interesting" version of Take Five he's ever heard.

Sachal Orchestra's first album, “Sachal Jazz,” with interpretations of tracks like “The Girl from Ipanema” and “Misty,” and of course “Take Five” is available on iTunes. It's been produced, financed and directed by a wealthy British Pakistani Jazz enthusiast Izzat Majeed.

Inspired by the Abbey Road Studios in London, Majeed and his partner Mushtaq Soofi have worked for the last six years with Christoph Bracher, a scion of a German musicians’ family, to design and set up Sachal Studios in Lahore where their albums have been recorded.

In addition to Sachal's jazz interpretation, there are now other signs of revival of uniquely Pakistani music. An example is Coke Studio. Sponsored by Coca Cola Pakistan, Coke Studio is a one-hour show that features musicians playing a distinct blend of fusion music that mixes traditional and modern styles. Helped by the media boom in Pakistan, the show has had dramatic success since it was launched three years ago. The popular show has crossed the border and inspired an Indian version this year.

Here's a brief video clip of Sachal orchestra performance:



Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Pakistan's Other Story in 2010

Music Drives Coke Sales in Pakistan

History of Pakistani Music

Pakistan's Media Boom

Pakistan's Murree Brewery in KSE-100 Index

Health Risks in Developing Nations Rise With Globalization

Pakistan's Choice: Globalization Versus Talibanization

Life Goes On in Pakistan

Comments

Riaz Haq said…
Here's an ET opinion on the latest season of Pakistani Idol TV show:

The year 2011 marked the discovery of various musical gems through the emergence of Pakistani talent shows like “Uth Records”. The show played a key role in turning raw Pakistani talent into seasoned musicians and singers of today. Every episode had a unique flavour and charm; as it showcased a different musician, singing a different genre, belonging to a different ethnic background and representing a different part of the country. From the catchy tunes of Natasha Ejaz to the folk rock belted out by Yasir & Jawad, every artist created a cult following of their own, becoming a regular feature on the local radio channels. Of course, none of this could have happened without music producers Omran Shafique and Gumby who were integral in the success of the first season of “Uth Records”.

So when 2012 started and the second season of the show was announced, there were even higher expectations from it. However, this time, there was a slight variation in the line-up. Gumby had taken over Shafique’s spot as the solo producer of the show. The fact that Gumby was producing music left many confused as he is better known for his drumming skills than anything else. However, people had been talking about his creative input in producing “Coke Studio” for a long while and this would’ve been a great opportunity for him to put his talent to test.

However, Gumby couldn’t come even close to what was expected from a seasoned musician like him. With artists like Jarar Malik, Affaq Mushtaq, XXI, Sara Haider, Orangenoise and Rahim Saranjam Khan who featured on the show, only two managed to stand out — Khan and Mushtaq. The rest of the artists made no lasting impression and were not extraordinary by any means.


http://tribune.com.pk/story/365571/uth-records-tunes-of-disappointment/
Riaz Haq said…
Here's a story about Karachi's vibrant indie music scene:

The disconnect is emblematic of a new cultural era for the world’s seventh largest city, characterized by variety. Outsiders are noticing, from Rolling Stone to Pakistan's neighbors in India. A writer for the Delhi-based magazine Caravan recently dove into the city’s secret clubs and concluded that a “shift” aided by the internet is producing an unprecedented range of sounds, "reflecting [Karachi's] frenzied character.”

Even the band names seem designed to stir things up, with an almost overwrought indie sensibility: Mole, //orangenoise, Dynoman, Basheer & the Pied Pipers, Alien Panda Jury, and DALT WISNEY are a few of the current hottest indie acts. Because Pakistani hits historically come from the classical world or the movies -- meaning Bollywood, or the Lahore analog, Lollywood -- these independent artists are forming collectives that act as labels, helping bands put out albums and promoting each other.

As in any good music scene, there are turf wars. In an interview last fall with Vice Magazine's electronic music spinoff THUMP, the rising Islamabad-based producer Talal Qureshi distanced himself from “that word ‘trippy.’” According to Qureshi, his peers in Karachi are limiting themselves by sticking to “music which is good to dance and be on drugs to.”

The comments rippled through the Pakistani music scene. In a counter interview with THUMP, FXS hit back at Qureshi, using their respective cities as ammunition. “Karachi,” said one member, “is a living city.” Meanwhile, “after 8pm Islamabad shuts down. All the house lights are switched off. It’s a town full of retired army uncles.”

There is one meeting point for every young Pakistani hopeful: the internet. Scour YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Bandcamp, and SoundCloud, and you’ll soon be an expert in subcontinental indie.

But domestically, traditional venues still count. The Caravan article names a trigger for the "shift," when the band Mole performed on the popular Pakistani concert series, Coke Studio, in 2011. Sponsored by Coca Cola, the televised series tends to launch the careers of mainstream acts, as it did for the Pakistani pop star Atif Aslam.

The Mole appearance jumpstarted what the cautious are calling an “overly experimental approach” at Coke Studio HQ. (Notably, one of Mole’s members is the son of a Coke Studio founder.)

Hearing "drone beeps" of electronica mixed in with otherwise standard fare, a journalist at The Friday Times, an independent weekly in Pakistan, praised the new era at Coke Studio, marked by "the humility of the old learning from the new."

It’s not all revolution. Drinking alcohol is still illegal in Pakistan, a rule that ghettoizes the music scene into underground house parties.

But limitations bring their own opportunities. In the THUMP interview, DALT WISNEY compared Karachi to "a prison." As a kid, he wasn't allowed to roam due to threats of violence and kidnappings. It was on his daily circuit, from home to school to a pirated music store and then back home, that he found a CD of music-making software. "That's how I started making music," he told THUMP. "So I think I mean prison in a positive sense, maybe like being stuck in a library. You make the most of it."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/25/pakistan-indie-music-karachi_n_5020947.html

http://www.caravanmagazine.in/
Riaz Haq said…
Here's an excerpt of an NPR story on Sachal Jazz Orchestra in Lahore:

It recently released its second album, Jazz and All That. There's more Brubeck, among other Western classics by The Beatles, Jacques Brel, Antonio Carlos Jobim, R.E.M. — all with a South Asian flavor.

The weird thing is, Mushtaq Soofi says, while the old Lollywood session men are now winning plaudits abroad, no one back home knows or cares much about them.

"Music has to be recognized, and there is no patronage for music in Pakistan," Soofi says. "That is why people are upset, musicians are upset. If you sing, if you are a singer or a vocalist, you get kind of fame and name and money, but if you are a musician, a pure musician, people don't bother much about you."

The only people who do bother about you tend to be the religious extremists, like the Taliban.

"It is very difficult for musicians, because music is considered forbidden because it is un-Islamic," cellist Ghulam Abbas says. "Yet the same people think it is acceptable to kill people."

Be that as it may, Abbas says he isn't planning to hang up his cello again.
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A few decades back, Lahore had a booming film industry. Inevitably, it was known as Lollywood.

"This was like a magic age that fell apart," says Aqeel Anwar, a violinist in his 70s. He used to play in Lollywood soundtracks. "It was such an excellent time. I never thought it would end."

For many years, South Asian movies kept Lahore's session musicians pretty busy. And the Lollywood musicians were a class apart.

"In Punjab here in Pakistan, music is usually practiced by traditional musicians' families," says Mushtaq Soofi, a music producer. "They inherit it, they learn it from their parents and then transmit to the next generation."

Things started to change in the late '70s. General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq seized power in a coup, ushering in a period of religious conservatism in Pakistan that lingers to this day.

Movie theaters began to shut down. Lollywood went into decline.

Ghulam Abbas played cello in the movies. When the work dried up, he packed away his instrument and broke with tradition by deciding not to teach his children how to play. He started up a garment stall, but struggled to get by.

"When I left this work, I was very sad," Abbas says. "I thought about how I'd worked hard and invested 25 to 30 years in my music."

Now, Abbas is sawing away at the cello again — though some of the music isn't exactly what he's used to.


http://www.npr.org/2014/04/26/306874889/a-millionaire-saves-the-silenced-symphonies-of-pakistan
Riaz Haq said…

#Pakistani-#Canadian female punk rocker Urva Khan to perform in #Karachi #Pakistan this month

https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/lifestyle/mark-the-day-pakistani-canadian-rocker-will-be-performing-in-karachi-this-january/

Urvah Khan is ready to take over Karachi’s rock and roll scene with her music and her unique appearance!

Bearing a look which is very unconventional for a Pakistani woman, she dons a mohawk, tattoos and piercings effortlessly.

Urvah’s music style is inspired by the East and West both, according to the band.

According to latest news, Urvah is all set to take over Karachi with her band.

Khan has been trying to re-discover Pakistan and get in touch with her roots since she came here, as she had moved to Canada at a very young age. Gathering like-minded musicians to start a band in the country, she secured three musicians for her debut performance in Pakistan.

Riaz Haq said…
‘There is no fear’: how a cold-war tour inspired Pakistan’s progressive jazz scene

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jul/12/there-is-no-fear-how-a-cold-war-tour-inspired-pakistans-progressive-jazz-scene


A producer such as M Ashraf composed 2,800 film tracks in over 400 films across his 45-year career, aiding the careers of Pakistani singers such as Noor Jehan and Nahid Akhtar who would become some of the country’s most beloved singers. “An independent music space didn’t exist like it does now; radio was sticking to a more patriotic agenda and labels were limited in what they would champion,” explains musician and ethnomusicologist Natasha Noorani. “So, film is what you would rely on to see the deeper side of Pakistan’s culture. You could experiment with film, and that’s where the craziest records would come from” – ones where jazz clashed with pop, psychedelia and more.

The Lahore-based Tafo Brothers brought an entirely fresh dimension to Pakistan’s film music in the 70s, incorporating drum machines, analogue synths and fuzz pedals over the jazz infrastructure, allowing a more electronic, dancefloor-inclined energy to emerge. However, Pakistan’s cultural momentum stagnated in 1977 when military dictator Zia-ul-Haq seized power, and saw cinema, provoking different ideas and thoughts within the population, as a threat. Censorship laws curtailed creative independence. “If you study south Asian culture, the minute film is doing well, then your music industry is doing well too,” Noorani says. “By the late 70s, film began to be doing terribly and that was the moment the music industry collapsed.”

Session musicians and jazz players fell into unemployment and poverty, and gradually lost respect in a society where the creative arts were not a desirable field to work in. This had a damaging impact on the families who had preserved certain instruments for centuries, through a social system called gharānā. Suddenly, the attitudes towards some of the most historically respected figures in Pakistani society had completely shifted, and parents were contemplating whether or not to teach their children the instruments that had been the pillar of their family’s story.


Zohaib Hassan Khan is a member of one of Pakistan’s most esteemed sarangi-playing families from the Amritsar gharānā, which had been passing the instrument down each generation since the early 1700s. Khan is now continuing the tradition in the superb Pakistani jazz quartet Jaubi, part of a tiny yet imaginative new generation that also includes artists such as Red Blood Cat and VIP.

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It was the same in 1956, when Dizzy Gillespie also appreciated the freedom within the rules. He spent afternoons between performances jamming with locals and street performers, trying to understand their musical approach, resulting in the track Rio Pakistan released the following year. It is arguably the first raga to be incorporated into American jazz, unfolding over 11 and a half minutes as Gillespie’s trumpet combines with the violin of Stuff Smith, combusting in a unique track that is noticeably limited in its melodic range.

The fearlessness of Khan, Baqar and Tenderlonious in working with their opposing approaches has resulted in similarly groundbreaking music: merging without ego or hierarchy, aided by the magic of improvisation, appreciating both rules and fluidity. It is the same approach that Gillespie took, and that Davis exemplified so boldly, incorporating Badal Roy’s tabla, an instrument known for its strictness, into an experimental free jazz album. Pakistan’s jazz players show that at a time when so many are conscious of what separates us, music can find a common ground in that very difference. As Roy puts it: “Our musical languages are different, but with patience, we learned to understand each other. That is when the real magic occurred.”
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistani-#American singer Arooj Aftab inspired by Ghalib, Cohen and Rumi to create a unique fusion #music presentation: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/pakistani-musician-arooj-aftabs-neo-sufi-music-blends-rumi-with-reggae-and-more

Arooj Aftab recently debuted work from her latest album at a concert at Brooklyn's Pioneer Works. Her compositions are personal, her performance intimate, but it was far from a solo effort.


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Audio engineering's loss was composing's gain. Where else would we get a song like "Last Night," with lyrics adapted from 13th century Sufi mystic and poet Rumi put to a beat like this one?


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Her loss and her art converge in a composition called "Diya Haiti," its lyrics derived from a poem by the popular 19th century Indian poet Mirza Ghalib.

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Still, she had the self-assurance to take on a poet of more recent vintage, Leonard Cohen, and his celebrated composition "Hallelujah."
Riaz Haq said…
5 Things to Know About 2022 Best New Artist Grammy Nominee Arooj Aftab
Check out five things you need to know about the best new artist nominee ahead of January's 64th annual Grammy Awards.

https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/arooj-aftab-grammy-nomination-best-new-artist-things-to-know-1235001996/

When the 2022 Grammy nominations were announced Tuesday (Nov. 23), there was a name in this year’s pack of best new artist nominees that was likely unfamiliar to most American music fans: Arooj Aftab.

Tucked between the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, FINNEAS, The Kid LAROI and Jimmie Allen, the Pakistani multi-hyphenate is a Berklee College of Music-trained composer, producer and vocalist with three solo albums to her name and a fascinating life story to tell.

Ahead of the Jan. 31 ceremony, Billboard has rounded up five things you need to know about the best new artist contender. Check out all the nominees for the 64th annual Grammy Awards here, and learn about Aftab below.

1. She got her start as a pioneer of the Pakistani indie scene

In an April 2021 ArtForum profile, the Saudi Arabia-born artist revealed that she taught herself how to play guitar and learned to sing by listening to everyone from Billie Holiday and Mariah Carey to the late Indian singer Begum Akhtar. Once she started making her own music, Aftab became one of the first artists in Pakistan to promote herself using the Internet, with her covers of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and Amir Zaki’s “Mera Pyar” going viral and helping establish the indie music scene in the country.

2. Her third album was released earlier this year

Aftab unveiled her latest studio effort, Vulture Prince, in May via New Amsterdam Records. The seven-track LP is rooted in a form of Arabic poetry known as the ghazal and contains acclaimed tracks such as “Mohabbat” and “Last Night,” as well as collaborations with multi-instrumentalist Darian Donovan Thomas (“Baghon Main”) and Brazilian singer Badi Assad (“Diya Hai”).

3. She went to Berklee College of Music

Now living in Brooklyn after moving to America in the mid-2000s to attend Berklee College of Music, Aftab originally grew up in Pakistan.

4. She has plenty of other nominations under her belt

While her Grammy nod is certainly a breakthrough moment, the Pakistani artist is no stranger to the awards circuit. Last year, Aftab picked up her first Latin Grammy in the best rap/hip-hop category for contributing to Residente’s “Antes Que El Mundo Se Acabe” as a backing vocalist. She also took home a Student Academy Award in 2020 for composing the music to Karishma Dev Dube’s short film Bittu, which also made the shortlist that year at the Oscars in the live action short film category.

5. She earned a shout-out from President Obama

Aftab’s music has earned her a pretty high-profile fan in former president Barack Obama. In July, the 44th president listed the artist’s song “Mohabbat” as one of his favorite tracks on his official summer 2021 playlist.

Riaz Haq said…
#Spotify partners with #cokestudio14 to introduce #Pakistani singers to the world. Roster include Meesha Shafi, Momina Mustehsan, Quratulain Balouch, Zain-Zohaib, Karakoram, Eva B, Abdul Wahab Bugti, Abdullah Siddiqui and Talal Qureshi. #Music #Pakistan https://images.dawn.com/news/1189224

If you're Coke Studio Pakistan aficionados, we come bearing good news for you! Your favourite music franchise has partnered up with Spotify, making it easier to listen to your favourite songs from all seasons, whether you're a Free or Premium user on the audio streaming service.

Spotify — a popular global audio streaming subscription service — is now the official music streaming partner of Coke Studio Pakistan. Coke Studio's artists will now have a place to share their music with millions of users on Spotify in and beyond Pakistan.

Starting today (Jan 12), users will be able to songs from all seasons, available for Spotify's Free and Premium users on their mobile and desktop apps. For now, the destination for season 14 on Spotify is only available in the United Kingdom, United States, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Japan, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. In Pakistan, the season is set to air on January 14 on television channels.

There are also a myriad of playlists on Spotify you can start listening to right away, playlists like Coke Studio Pakistan, Women of Coke Studio Pakistan, Best of: Coke Studio Sufi and many more

Coke Studio released the official trailer for Coke Studio Season 14 on January 9, teasing a a mad line-up of music grandmasters and Gen Z soloists with a promise to revolutionise the music platform. The trailer unveils returning favourites like Abida Parveen, Atif Aslam and Ali Sethi, as well as new kids on the Coke Studio block Hasan Raheem, Young Stunners and Faris Shafi. You'll also catch a glimpse of Grammy nominated artist Arooj Aftab in the trailer!

The roster also includes artists Meesha Shafi, Momina Mustehsan, Quratulain Balouch, Zain-Zohaib, Karakoram, Eva B, Abdul Wahab Bugti, Abdullah Siddiqui and Talal Qureshi amongst many others. Twenty-year-old electro-pop prodigy Siddiqui — who wowed us by making it to the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2021 — announced that he worked as an associate producer for Coke Studio as well.

The 14-year-old music platform promises a "new vibe" in its latest season, conscious of the kind of music listeners crave in 2022 -— music that is "direct and uncensored, the way creators intended it to
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistani singer Ali Sethi wows Coachella crowd with Pasoori

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/18/pakistani-singer-ali-sethi-wows-coachella-crowd-with-pasoori

The Punjabi track was 2022’s most-searched song on Google and has surpassed half a billion views on YouTube.

A tale of forbidden love with an infectious hook, Ali Sethi’s song Pasoori has become an international phenomenon, fusing poetic tradition with global beats to fuel the rise of the Pakistani singer’s star.

The Punjabi track whose title roughly translates to “difficult mess” was 2022’s most-searched song on Google and has surpassed half a billion views on YouTube, offering a melodic metaphor for conflict between India and Pakistan in the form of an impassioned love song with an eminently danceable flow.

The song’s origins stem from when Sethi was asked to pen a song for the popular Pakistani television programme Coke Studio, which occurred just after an experience where an Indian broadcaster had pulled out of a creative partnership because the 38-year-old is Pakistani.

“You’re a Pakistani, and India and Pakistan are at war, and now we can’t really put up a billboard saying we are working with you because extremists will set fire to our building,” the singer recalls being told.

“As a Pakistani, I have grown up with that… ‘Oh you can’t do this because it’s prohibited, yada yada.'”

‘All true love is prohibited’
The experience got his creative wheels turning. “Of course, the theme of prohibition is such an eternal theme in South Asian love songs – all true love is prohibited,” he told the AFP news agency following an electrifying party of a performance on Sunday at the Coachella music festival in the United States, a cherry on top of his remarkable year.


“So I wanted to write a song that was sort of a flower bomb hurled at nationalism and heteropatriarchy,” Sethi continued, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and black button-up with colourful embroidery alluding to styles of the American southwest. “With all the fun innuendos and all this camp energy.”

Sethi says he drew on Punjabi folk songs of his youth, imbuing the lyrics with puns and double entendres, “a nice way to slip in and subvert orthodox views without really appearing to be out beyond the veil”.

He performs the track with Shae Gill, a singer born to a Christian family in Lahore.

Sethi was “astounded” by the global response to the song, which has the improvisational framework of a traditional South Asian “raga” mixed with the region’s contemporary sounds, along with Turkish strings, flamenco-style claps and the four-four Latino reggaeton beats keeping rhythm for much of today’s reigning pop.


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