Age is an issue of mind over matter

The story of how Xulfi gave in to the constant nagging of 15-year-old singer-songwriter Yasrah Habeeb

LAHORE:

While our women cricketers overshadowed the men with their performance in the ongoing World T20, their compatriots in music continue to impress, specifically at Nescafé Basement.

While we are still in awe of their all-female powerhouse that belted out a cover of John Newman’s Love Me Again, the latest to emerge from the shadows with an original that is still making waves is Yasrah Haseeb.

In Mark Twain’s words, “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” This rings true for the 15-year-old who has made it big at a very early age. The demo version of her original, Forever, was nowhere near the final product that was released by show front man Xulfi. “I had no idea that the song would be arranged like it was. All I told Xulfi bhai is that I want a cello in the song,” she told The Express Tribune. The singer feels the track is a team effort that involves the input of all the participating musicians.





Haseeb, whose lively and confident personality reflects her experiences, began singing at the tender age of three. At 10, she started taking singing and piano lessons. “I’ve written a lot of songs about our culture, country, relationships and things that have happened to me,” she shared. The singer somehow got hold of Xulfi’s number and hence began a series of calls and texts.

Xulfi shared a laugh recalling the incident. “It was pretty interesting … she would keep asking me about the auditions which told me a lot about her passion,” he said. He said the audition performance of Forever left all the attendees impressed. “That song made everyone in the studio emotional because of the raw passion she sang it with. She was immediately selected because I thought to myself, ‘Pakistan needs to see this girl singing this powerfully at only 15’,” added Xulfi.

Explaining the creative process at Nescafé Basement, he said, “Whenever someone brings an original, we retain the basic melody, chord structure and lyrics but redo everything else. We made the bridge of the song as well so it can lead up to the slow chorus.”



On the other hand, social media is abuzz with people drawing parallels between the song with Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years. Xulfi, however, begs to differ. “There are many songs that might have similar notes … their shifts, chord structures and melodies but it’s just a few notes and it doesn’t matter. It’s her song. It’s her final opinion. What we do here is that everyone contributes to making the song bigger and better.”

Haseeb is currently pursuing her O’ Levels but music is her top priority. “I’ve never thought of studies being more important than music to me so I’ll be back. I want to release my own songs and my dream is to go to Berklee to study music,” she shared excitedly.

With Hassan Zafar on lead, Bilawal Lahooti on drums, Sherry Khattak on rhythm, Arsalan Hasan on the keyboard, Sharoon Leo on the cello and Anna Dar and Kristin Kanaria on backing vocals, the track features Haseeb effortlessly singing the song and playing the piano simultaneously.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd,  2016.

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