Contemporary pop music enthrals audience

After staging traditional music on the first two days of the week-long National Music Festival, more upbeat and modern music played out on the stage of the Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) on Sunday.

Various contemporary Pakistani pop music artists performed at the council’s Open Air Theatre and enthralled the audience.

PNCA Director General Jamal Shah said, “I am quite certain in my heart of hearts that modern music and modern art is not a conspiracy, but is a form of truth and integrity for those who practice it honestly, decently and with all their being.”

Pakistani pop is a mixture of traditional Pakistani classical music and western influences of jazz, rock and roll, hip hop and disco sung in various languages of Pakistan, including Urdu, he explained.

He added that Pakistani pop music had gained a fast following in neighbouring countries and is consumed by members of the Pakistani diaspora, especially in the Middle East, Europe and North America.

The Raga Boyz, who belongs to the famous “Patiyala Gharana” of the sub-continent and hail from the ninth generation of their family, played tunes which fuse the traditional eastern classical music with more modern and western forms of music.

They perform genres of music like pop, rock, Sufi music and classical fusion music.

They left the audience spell-bound with their modern take on popular numbers such as “Maan Kuntum Maula”, “Nain Saay Nain Melay Rakhna”, “Manu Tere Jeya Sona”.

Saira Peter mesmerised the audience with a fusion of eastern and western tunes. She sang “Sunway Balori Ankh Walia” and “Wada Karoo Sajna”.

Jia Nouman a popular pop singer entertained the listeners with melodious songs like “Yaad Sajan Di”, “Chal Dil Mere”, “Tali Daay Thalay”, and duets with Nouman Lashari “Hona Tha Piyar”, and “Disco Deewanay”, while Nouman Lashari performed “Keh Dena” and “Yaaro Yeh Hi Dosti Hay”.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2019.