Inside the world of Christian music

LAHORE:

The church has influenced music all around the world and gospel music has made a niche for itself in different cultures. In Pakistan, the story is the same as the genre comes with an enriching history. And producers have been able to work with some of Pakistan’s popular mainstream artists, while staying true to the sound of spiritual music.

Christian music can be divided into the two categories: Liturgy and para-liturgy music. Liturgical music is based on tradition and scripture, while the latter is any form of worship or spiritual enhancement done outside the structured church.

Music plays an important role in Christianity and is a part of weekly church proceedings, and is also used as a method to reflect on and understand life.

In any given week, activities such as the choir and seasonal gatherings mean that original music is being produced and recorded regularly.

Located near Ganga Ram Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan’s Catholic Bishops National audio-visual centre called Workshop Audio Visual Education (Wave) production studio has been producing music since 1977. “For us, Christian music is part of believing,” explains Father Nadeem John Shakir, who also directs music videos. “When we first started out, we had mainly used Christian singers but as we expanded, we started to hire Muslim musicians and composers.”

Arthur Nayar is one of the few mainstream Christian singers, and due to demand and various other factors, most of the music is now sung by some of Pakistan’s leading musicians. “Artists such as Noor Jehan, Arif Lohar, Humaira Arshad and Ghulam Abbas have all contributed music in Punjabi and Urdu. In fact, Abbas is set to launch his new Christian album this week at the studio’s headquarters,” added Shakir.

Christian music takes many forms that range from gospel hymns sung in church to folk and pop music. Many musicians make use of instruments like the dholak, harmonium and tabla, while other more contemporary, singers have even used electronic sounds.

Wave producers added that these songs are popular in Pakistan and in India and Bangladesh as well. “It’s funny that there is a lot of feedback from non-Christian communities as well,” said Shakir. Wave producer Adrus Nayamut added, “The music we are currently producing is similar to that which is coming out of Pakistan’s music industry. There is a Rahat Fateh Ali Khan sort of feel in the Punjabi and Urdu songs.”

When asked if artists ever had any issues with contributing songs, Shakir said no. “Most mainstream artists performed at subsidised or nominal rates and had an understanding about the significance of spiritual music.” Nayamut added that typically, the artists who worked with the studio showed unflinching levels of professionalism.

Nayamut also said that the studio had been used by individual artists to produce songs but because of tax problems they had to close these services

Singer Humaira Arshad, who recorded one of her first singles at the studio, said that the atmosphere had been what attracted most musicians and provided a link into the world of Christian music. “Performing Christian music was never an issue for most artists and the music had spiritual connotation which was relevant to many people. This was a place for mainstream music; when I first started out, it was one of the few recording studios and was very popular for all types of music,” said Arshad. “More studios started to appear with the advent of computers and now every artist has a studio, which has lessened the importance of this studio.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2011.