Notes from the North

Musicians from Peshawar speak about local audience’s acceptance of commercial songs like Kolaveri Di and Gangnam Style

PESHAWAR:

This is where the underground musicians of Peshawar hang out. Narrow stairs in a cluttered house lead up to a small red room, which is used as a studio. There are guitars, speakers, a drum set, MacBook, PC and a couple of chairs. There was dim lighting inside and you could hear the rabab being played outside in someone’s car.

However, the rabab ended and what unexpectedly followed was a remix of Taher Shah’s Eye to Eye — I never thought I’d be sitting in Peshawar listening to this; it was brilliant. The song is currently unreleased and was recorded right after Shah made an appearance on Amir Liaquat’s Ramadan show last year.



These underground musicians may be underground for the rest of Pakistan, but they have become household names for both, veteran and aspiring musicians in Peshawar. They might not be getting the exposure that a musician in his 20s would want, but they are definitely having a lot of fun. This is perhaps the reason why whatever product that has come out of Peshawar, brought something fresh to the popular music scene.  “I remixed the song, after watching the episode. I asked Ali Manan, a friend who raps, to come and record it with me,” said Asad Ali Khan the brains behind the remix, a 20-year-old Peshawarite, currently studying in Islamabad. “I like the original song. It’s a good track. The vocal harmonies in the song are amazing. I fail to understand why people have made such a mockery of Shah and his song.”

After all, even greats such as Pink Floyd used to write bad songs and then work on them,” he added.

“People in this country are too quick to judge. They prefer to make fun of people rather than let them express themselves,” he said. “I played at a concert at Khyber Medical College with my brother and he said let’s sing Kolaveri Di, I told him no but he went ahead and made the announcement. The crowd loved it! If people can accept Kolaveri Di, Gangnam Style, One Pound Fish, then why do they have such a problem with Eye to Eye?”



Asad and his twin, Jamshaid, are big in the city’s quiet underground scene. They were 17 when the city’s music scene was emerging and it was being picked up by the national media and record labels. They were new bands with a new sound.

For a 20-year-old, Asad is highly motivated and passionate about music. Something he has learned from his father.

“My father isn’t the sort who says ‘oh no they are jamming again or there’s too much noise in the house. He usually comes and listens to what we’re playing or listening too,” he said.

His father’s encouragement led the twins to set up a recording facility at home. Here, they are working not only on their own music and future albums, but also helping their friends with their work.

These days, it’s difficult to pin down the sound of Peshawar. There is so much happening in the city that keeping track is a tough job. There is a lot of rock, remixing and electronic music.

There is Rahim Saranjam Khan working on reworking old Pashto songs and experimenting with a fusion between the sounds of the West and East. Then there is Asad and his twin, and their friends.

One of Asad’s friend’s has just returned to Peshawar from Australia. While the primary object of his return was to be with his family, Ahmed Khan says he also wanted to record some music. The 26-year-old has recorded a track in Pashto with Sarmad and is now working on a cover of Drake’s Hold On We’re Going Home with Asad. What’s cool about this remix is that Asad is giving it a desi feel by incorporating a tabla in the song.



“Recording songs in Australia was expensive,” he said. “I was coming home to be with family so I decided that I might as well make some music here.” He added that he grew up in the Middle East so his musical influences were mostly Bollywood — a lot of Daler Mehndi, Atif Aslam and Himesh Reshammiya.

“I was in college when I realised I could sing,” said Ahmed. “I sang Atif Aslam’s Aadat and people liked it.”

Ahmed’s song Dua is about a conversation with God. “I’m tired of listening to songs about other people, I wanted to do something that was personal,” he said. “We are currently working on a video for the song.”

Asad, Rahim and Ahmed are just few of the many musicians who are trying to make the best out of their skill and dreams that have so far been limited to Peshawar. Youtube was the solution to their limited audience, but that’s no longer there, which is why it remains to be seen whether these ambitious musicians will ever take up music formally. So far, all the acts from Peshawar have either fizzled out after getting attention from the media and fans at live gigs or have ended up pursuing further education. Members of Yasir & Jawad band are getting ready for their PhD’s. Well, let’s  hope for the best!

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2014.

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