Love Sajjad Ali? Or Not?

Will release new single in a non-traditional way to gauge fans’ loyalty

KARACHI: Verses from Aftab Muztar’s ghazal Har Zulm never left Sajjad Ali. Though he sang the ghazal to perfection and turned it into the most celebrated song to be released in the past two years, he continued contemplating. Har zulm tera yaad hai bhoola tau nahin hoon, aae wada faramosh mae tujh sa tau nahin hoon; this seems to be the virtual conversation Ali was having with his fans when he decided to put their loyalty to test. The lack of revenue generated from downloads of his last song Har Zulm – despite it being the biggest Pakistani hit in recent times – led Ali to make his new song Na Tum Samjhe available at a fixed price of 0.99 cents.

“This is just a way of gauging how fans and followers actually value my work”, Sajjad Ali told The Express Tribune. Har Zulm was such a huge song and gained popularity worldwide but less than 500 people paid to download the song, which is truly sad.”

From Chief Saab to Cinderella, Ali has gifted us with one hit song after another. He stayed relevant during a time when his contemporaries such as Vital Signs, Junoon and Awaz were also making first-rate music. With a few gaps in between, he consistently carried on and gave new-age pop musicians a run for their money with songs such as Sohni Lag Di and Paniyon Mein.

“I know so many one-hit wonders who have made a fortune out of just one song only because they have itunes, PayPal and other online revenue generating avenues in their countries. We need to come up with one of our own or else no new musician will take up music as a profession”.

Na Tum Samjhe has now been released on nimbit for international fans who can easily download the song by paying through credit card. However since not everybody in Pakistan owns a credit card, the song will be released online and listeners will be able to pay for it via their cell phone credit.

Ali shares that his fans are always very eager to comment on Facebook and Twitter by posting accolades like “you’re awesome”, “legend”, “greatest Pakistani musician” but they hardly deliver when asked to download the song legally.

“A song costs less than a chicken tikka and yet they won’t buy it so basically it’s a test for the fans to see how much they value their favourite artist. 'Comments toh sab karletay hain'”, Ali said.

Recalling the days of cassettes and CDs, Ali says that there were times that his cassettes and CDs were sold in crores but since the record label industry was not able to evolve with the music industry, the artists ended up suffering.

“I have been giving hit songs for over two decades and people all around the world have appreciated them. Sheela ki Jawani and Munni Badnaam are nothing compared to what our musicians have been producing,” laments the singer. “It’s sad that they just don’t get as much recognition,” he adds.

The video of Na tum Samjhe, directed by Ali himself, will be released at the end of this month. When inquired if he’ll be attempting any flying kicks or playing with Nanchucks in the video, he laughed and replied, “First of all those days are gone and secondly, it’s a romantic song so the video will be directed accordingly.”

The song is available here.