Natasha Ejaz, the ‘clown’ that keeps you smiling

The singer performed for a packed, spellbound hall at T2F.

KARACHI: With her husky, melodious voice, dreamy eyes and animated persona, 24-year-old Islamabad-based singer Natasha Humera Ejaz has star quality. The talented and talkative artist performed on Wednesday night for a capacity audience at The Second Floor (T2F) café, which was more than eager to spend a weeknight unwinding to Ejaz’s mellow tunes.

Ejaz has received formal training in classical music from Pakistan; she then moved to Malaysia, where she became part of a show choir, and involved herself in jazz and Broadway singing. Simultaneously, she released singles in the indie electro genre. She is now home and ready to bring her groove on for her Pakistani listeners.

“I’ve been singing since I can remember — along with acting and dancing,” said Ejaz, who has received a certificate in audio production from the International College of Music in Malaysia. “I did a lot of theatre as well when I was a teenager,” she added. “So basically, I’ve been a clown my entire life and I don’t know anything else, except performing.” When asked why she chose to pursue music as a full-time career instead of doing the occasional gig here and there, she said, “Well, why not? I can sing,” she laughed, emphasising on the last three words. “And I absolutely love song-writing.”

It is no wonder that Ejaz is so talented; she belongs to a family of artists. One of her brothers is an illustrator and one works at an advertising firm; her sister is a model and mother, a painter — all of them have been extremely supportive when it comes to her career. “I have the most encouraging family one can hope for; I’m the youngest in the house and very well taken care of,” she said with a smile. “When it comes to my art, I feel like they’ve spoilt me to a great extent, but otherwise, materialistically, I am not.”



Throughout her gig at T2F, Ejaz exuded confidence. The dusky, petite singer kept the crowd entertained with her energetic performance and the occasional funny quip she threw in to earn some laughs and draw in her listeners. Playing the acoustic guitar was also a nice touch, and she managed it well while singing in perfect tune. As the show went on, one could hear people in the crowd snapping their fingers to the rhythm while sitting back and enjoying the melody. Ejaz also invited Imam Hamdani — a guitarist who has performed with Spoonful and Sarah Haider from Uth Records — to join her to play the guitar while she sang and swayed to her songs. Putting her show choir skills to use, Ejaz played the trumpet using just her voice to impress her audience. She sang a total of 13 songs, including The Right Way to Fall.

What one most enjoys about watching her is the pleasure that she takes in her own performance. Clearly, she sings from her heart. Her lyrics are refreshing, bringing originality to Pakistan’s music scene.

Present in the crowd was drummer Gumby, who has been a mentor to Ejaz for the past four years. He said he first saw her perform on TV and knew instantly that he should be associated with a musician like her. “Natasha is multi-talented — she’s done theatre, audio engineering, stand-up comedy and can sing really well,” said Gumby, who also noticed that she was completely vested in her performance. “She is a perfect example of what a musician should be.”

He strongly feels that the audience in Pakistan is not “educated when it comes to music”. For them, it’s more about “visual satisfaction than perfection in audio or vocal skills” he said. He also added that a lot of artists get by because of their good looks.

Although Ejaz has primarily sung English tracks, she is planning on broadening her horizon by composing songs in Urdu as well. Her new indie electro music album, It Might Get Glitchy, has a total of six numbers and which have all been sung in Urdu. Having released three tracks from this album — on which she collaborated with her lecturer, Indian musician Rishabh Rajan — she hopes to release the rest in 2013.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2012.           

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