By Hasan Faridi

It was the year 2003 when Saif and Naeem decided to step into the world of music to create a band which would touch hearts and rock the nation. The band Sketches was born. Later the band gave birth to their album Dastkari, delivering soft touches of lyrics and meaningful concepts, through a lot of Sufism. But being a touching and poetic art form, it basically adds to the album’s music.

The album’s cover is definitely an improvement compared to many Pakistani CD covers, so hats off to that.

Dastkari starts off with “Kaanton Ke Dewarain”, a soulful touchy song with the combination of vocals by Saif that reminiscence in your brain, and distorted riffs added by Naeem. Some parts make the song sound alien, including the skilled solo, but basically because this song is out of this world. {Read More…}

by

Sadaf Fayyaz

After a long hiatus, Hadiqa Kiani and Irfan Khan have come up with a beautiful and soulful Pashtu melody Jaanan. With a glamorous Pashtu makeover by Khawar Riaz and wardrobe by Munib Nawaz, Jaanan has a typical Pashtu touch to it. Hadiqa has a totally changed and fresh look with her traditional style, which is entirely different from her extremely westernized “Sohniya” looks. The male model looks like a typical Pathan with his Swati Cap (Pakol) and shawl.

Being a very simple and beautiful video, Jaanan has captured the hearts of many people, mostly Pashtu community. Apart from the male model, the female model looks gorgeous too, with her heavy jewelry and weighty dress. With a remarkable directorial attempt by a new comer Jovi, it’s a glitzy attempt. The transition from a very modern and westernized make over to a complete traditional one seems a bit strange, but much better this time. Hadiqa possess a supernatural ability to adapt her vocals to diverse accents. Remember her “Bohe Barian” in Punjabi, “Az Chashme Saqi” in Persian, “Living This Lie” in English and “Mane Di Mauj” in Kashmiri, all brilliantly prove this. Hadiqa herself speaking about Jaanan {Read More…}

By

Sadaf Fayyaz

“Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.” Carl Gustav Jung

“Mona is a song about a bad habit that people accumulate over the course of life time and we have given it the name Mona.” Omran

Finally Mauj has come up with their much awaited video “Mona”, directed by Sohail Javed. While first watching the video, no one gets a clearer idea of what the video is actually about. It features Sanam Saeed, Anisa Sheikh, Maryam Kazmi, the band members and some other actors too. {Read More…}

by

Sadaf Fayyaz

The young man from Peshawar has started his music journey by releasing his debenture “Read Between the Lines” recently. The album in total contains twelve tracks, with three of these being promotional tracks and already uploaded. I haven’t touched metal genre of music, but this time, it sounds good to write something on hard metal. I have been mostly reviewing other genres of music. The opening tracks “Bringing me Down” and “Frozen Waters” define the soul of hard rock metal.  These are the tracks that a true lover of metal music would really relish. The track “Pretend to be” is the one that beautifully defines Jehangir’s vocals, being a softer and lighter number. {Read More…}

By

Sadaf Fayyaz

The title seems a bit bizarre since Kaavish started their journey some years back, but the actual journey begins with this album. “Patience is a Virtue”. So finally after a long wait and protracted lull, Gunkali is out there.  After their single “Bachpan” that hit more than 44, 000 views on You Tube; it’s their debut album Gunkali now that rocks the world. The single “Bachpan” had a melancholic and lamented touch to it.  Gunkali is a different music flavor as compared with the single “Bachpan” of the band. The word “Gunkali” stands for a morning raga, depicting a new beginning. The album is indeed a new beginning of Kaavish’s stretched journey. The album contains ten tracks with final mixing and mastering performed by Faisal Rafi. “Morey Sayyian”, “Bachpan” and “Tere Pyaar Mein” are the most touching numbers of the album. Nayyara Noor, besides being a music legend, has this time contributed towards the album by penning down some deep and touchy lyrics for Kaavish. {Read More…}

By

Sara Khalid

Note: This review focuses primarily on performances and how they looked over television. It doesn’t cover the the venue mishaps and other events.

The show started with an Aag Alive lounge. The lounge started off with the Aagmentary which basically took a look at the history of Pakistani pop music from Ahmed Ruhshdi to Junoon, it was actually quite interesting for any Pakistani pop music fan. After the Aagmentary segment the VJs showed glimpses of the actual concert. They also showed the Behind the Scenes of Aag Alive, all of this was put together really well but after a while the Aag Alive lounge got extremely boring especially the clips in between the actual show…no one really cares about these actors etc. and their interviews, the people watching on TV or online are only interested in the PERFORMANCES not these lame interviews! They were HORRIBLE! Especially the last one with the old man Ali Muhammad Mir who passed very rude comments about Atif Aslam, Annie, and singers in general (he was suppose to be imitating Musharaf apparently)…

Now lets get to the actual performances. {Read More…}

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Artist: Bilal Khan

Song: Lamha

Reviewed by Sadaf Fayyaz:

Is unplugged better? Bilal Khan Rocks with “Lamha”

The light-eyed LUMS boy has again come up with, “Lamha”, after almost 60,000 plus views of the track “Bachana” on You Tube. His voice really touches heart and sounds great. He writes, sings and composes his songs himself. It’s a highly deep and mesmerizing song, with haunting vocals. {Read More…}

After recording the brilliant and hypnotic Charkha and singing for Bollywood films, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is back with Nazrana-e-Aqeedat. Instep lends an ear…

By Manal Faheem Khan

Artist: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Album: Nazrana-e-Aqeedat***

The ultimate goal for any Pakistani artist is receiving international recognition for his or her work, and many of our Pakistani singers have successfully made their way into Bollywood; however, only rarely anyone has managed to meander their way into the vicinity of Hollywood or leave a mark on the more thriving Western music scene. We have witnessed only the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan accomplishing this great challenge via his collaborations with Peter Gabriel and Michael Brook and the appreciation of his talents was ubiquitous with films like The Last Temptation of Christ (1985), Natural Born Killers (1994) and Dead Man Walking (1995). He may not have rivaled the popularity of their biggest pop acts but Nusrat is still mentioned with reverence by Western musicians who had never heard anything like the prowess of the extraordinary qawwal. {Read More…}

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Rahat Touches Heart with “Surili Akhyion Wale”

From Bollywood film Veer, song “Surili Akhyion Wale” is a truly colorful and soft heart touching melody by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Hitting more than three thousand views on You Tube in a couple of days, the composition is a true effect of a colorful sonata. Rahat’s measured and gripped vocals add beauty to the marvelous lyrics penned by Gulzar. {Read More…}

Song: ‘Jaan Jaye‘
Artist: Kostal
Directed by: Uns Mufti (ROLA)

It is every begum’s darkest (domestic help-related) fantasy come true. With ‘Jaan Jaye’, Kostal’s hip-hop ditty that first became popular in 2006, we are treated to a colourful peek into the secret life of the cook and maali (gardener) in those gloriously unsupervised moments which every employer fears, and none has any idea about. {Read More…}