Not a love song: With tracks on terrorism, freedom, Gulzar’s album breaks away from pop music

After spending a year on production, his songs reflect on geopolitics more than romance

PESHAWAR:

After struggling for a year, Pashto singer Gulzar Alam has managed to get his album in the market. Titled Badloon – it has so far received an overwhelming response from music lovers in the province.

The compilation of music [in the album] is very different, Alam told The Express Tribune. “There are no romantic numbers and the music breaks away from pop charts; that is why the name of the album is Badloon, which means change.”

According to the singer, the title of the album also satirises slogans for change espoused by political leaders. It questions the ability of the youth to maintain their Pukhtun identity.

The album has been released by Audion Music Centre, once the main producer and distributor of Pashto music.

Striking notes

The songs in the album are reflective of the present situation of Pukhtun society. For instance, Khyber and Kabul condemn the violent situation prevalent in these two areas. Kitab highlights the importance of Pashto as part of the school curricula and as their first language – it revolves around the issue of excluding the language and topics on Pukhtunwali from school books. The song, Azadi, says it all with its title. Its lyrics suggest people in the region cannot say they are free as they are slaves of current times.

Copyrights and sponsors 

Alam told The Express Tribune, artists and poets also live through the same conditions which all Pukhtuns are experiencing – insecurity in the face of violence.

Under such circumstances, Alam said, the internet was the saviour for artists in many ways; it provides them an alternate route to make contact with and sell their work to fans. Alam added since there is no concept of copyrights in the country, artists and their work remains in jeopardy.



Due to the unbridled infringement of copyrights, musicians seldom release an entire album online. They choose to instead release singles. Some of the more famous singers have only released their albums online after being sponsored by private music production companies.

Alam said the primary aim of a musician is to not become wealthy with the work they do, but to be able to give their children a secure future. “Nowadays, singers cannot rely on sales from their music to sustain a living.” Alam added people were not buying music like they used to in the past. The singers need sponsors so they can distribute their work around the province, Alam said.

Cross-border audience

He added the market for Pashto music is very vast as it is not limited to K-P, but is in demand in Afghanistan as well. “But proper record companies are needed along with quality work so it is at par with the work being produced in Afghanistan.”

There is good quality Pashto music being produced in Afghanistan, therefore, artists in K-P have to be trained to compete, Alam said, as he took auditions of young artists. “All we needed is support and finance that would help us reach out to more people and be able to pull the strings and make efforts to produce quality tracks.”

Alam was compelled to leave the city for several years, but eventually returned to  home ground.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2016.