by

Sara Khalid

Hadiqa has made her mark and continues to do so in the fashion industry not only by working with top designers and makeup artists but last year she admitted to have even started to design her own clothes but now she has ventured into the world of beauty. She is the new makeup artist for Lajwanti and recently in an interview with Omer Sharif and Imran Abbas, Hadiqa admitted to have a passion for hair cutting and makeup. {Read More…}

By Amar Ayaz

The man who gave us those iconic Stop and Eject signs was not into art for art’s sake. For him, it was a way of life. Instep pays tribute to a rare shooting star…

At around noon on a Sunday, Omran Shafique sits in his apartment next to the neighbourhood bakery, above a carpet store, getting ready to listen to the latest album he downloaded onto his iPod. Always in search of new tunes and sounds to broaden his experience of music, the lead vocalist and guitarist of Mauj sits on a revolving computer chair gazing into his iPod as though in search of a lost track.

While noontime is not early for most, after a long Saturday which involved running between a photo shoot in the morning and a Coke Studio session at night, Omran should be resting at midday, Sunday. Instead he decides to call me over to chat about his longstanding love affair with music. {Read More…}

Pleasurable Time for Fringe Benefits’ Fans

by

Sadaf Fayyaz

These are good news for the fans of Fringe Benefits. Fringe Benefits was a renowned band in early nineties with two good-looking young boys. A two member group with vocalist Shehryar and Keyboardist Mohemmed Ali, did a marvelous job with two of their song “Tanhai” and “Yeh Zindagi”, aired on Ghazanfar Ali’s Music Channel Charts. After Vital Signs and Awaz, the two most influential bands of Pakistan, this was a time when some new and fresh bands started their music. Many singers started their journey with Music Channel Charts. The band also did a peace song “Pyar Diyan Gallan” with Arid Zone and Fakhr-e-Alam. The album “Tanhai” did pretty well in the mid- nineties. After so many years, the band has decided to do some music again. There was a small session with Shehryar Kureshi of the band. {Read More…}

[ WATCH OFFICIAL TRAILER ]

So you know how all these people from Pakistan’s entertainment industry (film, music, what not) get picked for Bollywood projects and then milk it for all its worth? Well, just some of them, and we shall not name names.

Anyway, in what seems a trend for princely Pakistani popstars this year, Ali Zafar will be crossing over to the film industry in a July release. Unlike the current trend though, Ali will be appearing in a Bollywood flick – in the lead role! Ach mein Gott! What a coup! {Read More…}

The Coke Studio team proudly introduces the expansion of the live music platform to encompass and introduce a series of exclusive ‘behind –the- scenes’ web blogs in 2010, due to popular demand. Through these blogs Coke Studio looks to share with its fans the passion, creativity and sheer joy behind these sessions thereby endeavouring to bridge the gap between the studio and its fans. Indeed while Rohail Hyatt and his team gear up for a third season of electrifying collaborations and improvised fusion music to air later this year, Coke Studio’s ongoing web blogs bring you right on to the studio floor and into the red room for a sneak peak into where the magic first started. {Read More…}

By Madeeha Syed

The venue has played host to some of the greatest music projects in the history of Pakistani pop. Image-maker extraordinaire Nabila had hosted a show that was an eclectic mix of art, fashion, folk and rock ‘n’ roll and had the audience seated in a circular seating arrangement with the band right in the center of the performance area. Making a formidable team with Ather Hafeez designing the costumes, Zain Mustafa for art direction, some of the best musicians in the country contributing to the music – Emu (keyboards), Shallum (lead guitars), Khalid (bass guitar) and Gumby (drums) – along with vocal talent in the form of Positive (Nazar and Yousuf), Saieen Tufail and Shehryar Tariq, Nabila made sure that the event was an experience that appeased and excited both the visual and the sound sensibilities of those present. {Read More…}

There has been a lot of discussion for the past year on the business models on which record labels of Pakistan operate. The industry somewhat hasn’t been intact and everyone has different beliefs.

Our recent post about why people don’t buy CDs ignited a whole new discussion. Dr. Akbar Yezdani, COO Fire Records made some points to explain why they can’t afford to have royalty-based business model.

Talking about the lump sum model that Fire Records operate on, he said {Read More…}

We ran a little poll for few days and thought to ponder upon the results to realize why CDs aren’t being bought and why we rely on downloading music for free.

Well even without the poll, we all do know how free is better than paid. That’s one of the reasons why people don’t buy music. Since the day they started listening to music, it was available to them for free and so they thought that it is free. Now, when they realize that it’s not free and you have to pay for it, it’s kind of too late to get your conscience right and force yourself to pay for something which you have always thought to get for free. {Read More…}

The Shoot published in Dawn for an Interesting Story!
Outfits: Soyna Battla
Fashion Editor: Madeeha Syed
Photography and Source of Pictures: Fayyaz Ahmed

The curious case of Meera
By Aamna Haider Isani

Meera talks in a language better known as scandal. Almost everything she says turns into controversy and it’s one of those controversies that she’s been embroiled in recently that has her emphasising the word Miss. {Read More…}

We are running a poll to collect some statistics on why people don’t buy CDs. Is it just in their blood, do they think music is supposed to be free or there is some other reason behind it?

Please participate to help us collect the stats.

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If you have yet another reason for not buying the CDs, please mention in comments.

Wardrobe: Kash Hussain
Photography: Fayyaz Ahmed
Styling: Sajid
Models: Gumby, Khalid Khan & Omran ‘Momo’ Shafique
Fashion Editor & co-ordination: Madeeha Syed

Source: BandBaji | Madeeha Syed

In the Drummer’s Den

By Khaver Siddiqi

Drummer Louis John Pinto, aka Gumby, talks exclusively to Images on Sunday about the new studio he set up with Mauj-frontman Omran Shafique and ace-bassist Khalid Khan, record producers, and what’s next in store for him.

{Read More…}

by

Omar Bilal Akhtar

After our fantastic gig at the Shanaakht Festival, (November 2009) where we played with Laal, Fuzon, Taal Karisma and Noori, we did what we do best. Put our heads up our asses and disappeared.

Well not entirely. We had noble intentions. Buoyed by the success of Shanaakht we went back into the recording studio with renewed confidence in our abilities. So far the only song we had recorded at Mr. E’s studio was “Mujhay Sahara Do”. Now when we recorded that song with Omar Khalid back in the day ( July 2009), we thought it sounded pretty good. But upon listening to it after 4 months, we realized it was rather shit. We asked Mr. E to mix it for us anyway. Mr. E mixed it in a rather unconventional manner. By also putting his head up his ass. {Read More…}

12th January was the date when I saw the outrageous performances of the youth of PAKISTAN at the talent show in atichison. There were abt 12 contestants showing their talents in different fields of art, be it the rock music or the lazy theatre , it was certainly very amazing.Talking about this show it reminded me of my singing competitions but hell no, these guys are way better in their teens.

I really had a great time having a brief conversation with the principal Mr. Aijaz-ud-Din and my
colleague Mr . Shaan our filmstar from the film khuda k liye. Aitchisonions invited us to encourage the boys and gave us the full authority to be ourselves n spread the message ov believing in PAKISTAN.

Outstanding performances by dawood the drummer ,, luke the guitarist , Haroon from the “Billu Barber” played the most different role of the evening . The boy who sang “ hallaluya “ was the boy of evening for the judges and I realy liked his vocal tone as he selected the right song for himself . At the end when I was on stage i appreciated all of them as they were truly amazing MASHALLAH. The best part was when I was leaving, the hallaluya guy came up to me and said , sir thank you for the complement I really needed someone like u to encourage me and there I said it again that u r blessed and u have an amazing vocal tone .. gdluck .

Warm Regards,
Atif Aslam

by

Khaver Siddiqi

Shallum Xavier has been a staple musician for nearly a decade. It was his guitars and tunes that brought about Fuzon, combined with the singing prowess of Shafqat Amanat Ali and maestro composer Immu. The three of them took the music scene by storm and even though Shafqat might have left, they now have Rameez and are stronger than ever. But where does that leave Shallum’s solo project? A project comprised of a collection of songs composed, co-written, and performed by Shallum along with other local–and even international–musicians.  Have Immu and Rameez heard the album? “Yes, they have, ” said Shallum. “And they’re very supportive.” {Read More…}

By Madeeha Syed

With 2010 slated to be a comeback year for the music industry – provided everything goes as planned – here is a concise look at Pakistani pop music this past decade

From 2000 to 2001: Slow beginnings

Pakistani rock phenomenon Junoon was at the peak of its glory and had just released an album titled Millenium Edition, a compilation album which contained 12 previously released popular Junoon songs. The album also contained a live version of Allah Hu and Laal Meri Patt as well as a song titled Azadi – a somewhat haunting number – which they did for the soundtrack of Jamil Dehlavi’s film, Jinnah. The year 2000 also marked Junoon’s decade as a band in the industry. Pakistani pop band Strings got together after a hiatus of eight years and released Duur (which was later re-released in early 2002). The first single from the album Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar was a massive hit which was later followed by the hugely popular title track Duur. Although the reformed band was two members less and now consisted only of Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia, Duur marked a very strong and popularly-received comeback of the band. {Read More…}