After the passing of Chehlum and the end of the month of Muharram, musical activity in Pakistan is seeing a brilliant and consistent resurgence of sorts as artists from indie, mainstream and film music remind us that despite bloodshed and political rhetoric being shouted out by our shameless politicians, there is solace to be found in the music being made at home.
Our story begins with the Karachi Files concert ‘Germany Meets Karachi’ which took place at the Arts Council earlier in the week. For those who don’t know, Karachi Files is a collection of electronic tracks made up of several subgenres featuring a slew of exciting artists and one that came to life as a result of a musical residency effort that took place in Karachi last year. It eventually made way for its participants to perform during a three-day festival called ‘From Inside To Way Out’ that was held in HAU, Berlin. The Karachi Files collection was released in May this year and was released on Gebrueder Teichmann’s new label called NOLAND.
The two live shows therefore mark the homecoming of a project that we have been rooting for since we first heard about it.
Featuring a dozen electronic artists from Pakistan, the Maldives and Germany, the first show was held in collaboration with the Goethe Institut and the Arts Council while a second show, which was scheduled to take place on November 24 at T2F in Karachi, was held in collaboration with Goethe Institut and the T2F. The playing bill featured an all-star lineup made up of genre-defying, texture-creating electro music achievers such as Alien Panda Jury, Arttu (aka Lump), Rudoh, Dynoman, Menimal, Natasha Humera Ejaz, rRoxymore, Ramsha Shakeel, Tollcrane, Taprikk Sweezee and Gebruder Teichmann.
Speaking to Instep about what inspired the Karachi Files project, Rudoh, who is the co-founder of the indie music collective, Forever South (FXS) said, "It was inspired by the people involved in a residency called SoundCamp Karachi. The combination of artists and their styles has led the participants of SoundCamp to inspire each other. I’m sure when we were working for those two weeks of residency, no one could predict that all music we ended up making would become a full 2-sided LP and neither did we expect for it to become a band that would continue to play shows in different parts of the world."
Reflecting on playing this kind of music in Pakistan, Rudoh stated, "It feels good to be exposing experimental music to a crowd that isn’t fully aware of the kind of music we perform."
Given the project’s title, ‘Karachi Files’, I asked Rudoh how the city has shaped/influenced his music, particularly this project? "The music in essence is telling a story about how amazing music can be made in the midst of extreme chaos. Everyone who lives in Karachi knows that it’s a rough place but we all love it for reasons that make this city so incredible. I feel our sense of music and the way it has come together purely reflects on how the people of Karachi truly feel about their city."
Describing the sets, Rudoh told Instep on a conclusive note, "Loads of bass, blissful drones, beats, noise and rhythms."
Moving on to the other side of Forever South (FXS), we must turn our attention to Hotcues which "ties the boundaries between aural and visual art" and has been curated by Dynoman. Available on Patari, the streaming music site that plays host to a large collection of Pakistani music, the music campaign is going strong with releases from Tollcrane, TMPST and JOFU accompanied by individual artwork and has made an indelible mark on us as listeners. Currently on Block-2, the campaign includes 20 tracks in total and will make its way to us for the next several weeks, giving us the likes of Slowspin, Rudoh, Friedi, Smax and several others. Give it a hear or ten to truly embrace this universe of sounds.
Aside from this electro effort, there are two solid music festivals on their way come 2017. While the third edition of the Lahore Music Meet is scheduled to take place in March 2017, the Lahooti Melo is also returning with its second edition in January 2017. Spearheaded by Saif Samejo of the Sketches and Lahooti Live Sessions fame, the second edition will take place from January 21 - January 22 and will be held at the Hyderabad club.
Given the thousands of people who turned up for the first edition as well as the many artists who made up the playing bill, this one will be worth attending.
This month has also seen some pretty special music releases. Among them is Taimoor Salahuddin aka Mooroo’s debut solo album, Pehli and the complete soundtrack of Dobara Phir Se which showcases the voices of Jimmy Khan, Sara Haider, Ali Hamza, Haniya Aslam, Shiraz Uppal, Arooj Aftab and Rekha Bhardwaj. The end.