‘These are not the best of times for music videos’

Panellists say music industry saw a boom in Musharraf era.

LAHORE:

“When I came back to Pakistan [from the US] in 1998, I had a hard time looking for a camera. You wouldn’t find too many switches around to plug devices,” said Mehmood Jamshed, popularly known as Jami, a director and filmmaker, on Sunday.

He was speaking at a Lahore Music Meet’s session, titled Visual Soundscapes: Music Videos in Pakistan. He shared his experiences during his first few years in the Pakistani music industry.

He said he had made the video for Najam Sheraz’s Pal Do Pal that had changed the way music videos were being produced at that time. He said the video had been banned because of a scene in which a woman was seen taking out the heart of the man who had betrayed her.

He said that although technology today had improved, the music industry was still not making the kind of money that might allow artists to spend more on their production. He said one way of overcoming the challenge was to say no to piracy.

Other speakers were of the view that space for music had shrunk over the years leading to the downfall of music videos. Adnan Malik, a director and an actor, said the music industry had seen tremendous growth during the Musharraf era. “Several music channels were launched introducing video jockeys and providing an opportunity to bands like Noori to showcase their talents.” In the absence of a conducive environment, artists today found fewer platforms to exhibit their skills, said Mandana Zaidi, a video director who has worked on several music videos of Noori.

“Although the internet is a good platform to promote music, artists need a proper platform to market their work.” She said mostly an artist had to fund his own project and that, too, without earning much out of it.

Jami agreed with her.

“Those selling music should have proper understanding of the industry.”

Various music videos, produced and directed by the panellists, were played to highlight different themes and concepts they had discussed in the videos.

The discussion focused on the fact that music videos were a by-product of music being produced in the country.

Malik said that for him, music videos had been a form of experimenting with ideas. He said most filmmakers in Pakistan, including Bilal Lashari and Jami and himself, had started making music videos.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2015.