2017 is proving to be a marvelous year for music. From collaborations to music videos to shows to social causes, the year is progressing quite pleasantly, at least musically speaking, as new ideas emerge from the scene, constantly inviting us to take note.
CultureVulture
Ali Hamza lends support to Karachi Down Syndrome Program and re-starts his blog plus Uzair Jaswal to feature in Levi’s Live Session
2017 is proving to be a marvelous year for music. From collaborations to music videos to shows to social causes, the year is progressing quite pleasantly, at least musically speaking, as new ideas emerge from the scene, constantly inviting us to take note.
A case in point is Ali Hamza, a member of the much loved music group, Noori, who not only launched his solo music project, Sanwal, presented by Salt Arts with great aplomb recently but has also lent support to the Karachi Down Syndrome Program (KDSP). With World Down Syndrome Day coming up later this month, Hamza is playing his part and raising awareness in the one way he can - with music. The singer-songwriter has been shooting a new music video, which is called ‘Aao Humare Saath Chalo’ for the Karachi Down Syndrome Program’s wonderful inclusion campaign. Slated to release very soon, the song is penned by Zehra Nigah and produced by Rakae Rehman Jamil. Other artists who have lent support to this incredibly moving initiative include names like Sarwat Gillani, Bushra Ansari, Momal Sheikh, Javed Sheikh, Sheema Kirmani, Ahsan Khan and Anoushey Ashraf.
While we’re on the subject of Ali Hamza, he has re-started his blog and let’s just say that anyone who claims to be a fan of this modern-day poet should head on over to the site right now. Apart from carrying Hamza’s inner monologue with self, which makes him all the more relatable, it also speaks of his disappearance escapade episode that occurred more than a decade ago and what he learned from the experience.
Reflecting on why he ran away from home, Hamza writes, “It’s only in retrospect that we realize that the reasons we had given ourselves for taking certain actions were not the real reasons but manifestations of other underlying reasons which we tend to overlook – because they would corner us and ‘derail’ us from justifying that action.”
Uncut, raw and thoughtful, it will endear Hamza to fans further and to non-fans as well, including those who may not adore Noori’s rock ‘n’ roll ways.
Moving on, the third edition of Lahore Music Meet begins tomorrow; the full schedule of the event has been made available and apart from some fantastic performances, the two-day affair will see some stellar panel discussions.
Day one will showcase sessions such as ‘Mythic Tales of Tomorrow: Glitching for Art with Danial Hyatt/Nawksh’, ‘When Not to Play the Guitar’ with Omran Shafique, Ali Azmat in conversation with Natasha Noorani and many more.
Day two, meanwhile, will feature sessions such as ‘Women on the Scene’ (feat. Raania Durrani, Selina Rashid, Umnia Iftikhar, Zahra Paracha with Munizeh Sanai), ‘The Show Must Go On’ (feat. Sara Haider, Natasha Humera Ejaz and Iman Shahid) and Simpler Sampling (with indie-electro superheroes Daniel Arthur Panjwaaney and Ziyad Habib) to pick just three.
In addition to all this wonderful music activity, Session 4 of Levi’s Live is scheduled to take place today. While Session 3 saw participation from Noorzadeh Raja and Rakae Jamil and Noori who were the headlining act, the new session will feature singer-songwriter Uzair Jaswal - who put out his debut album, Na Bhulana recently - as the headlining act while Ammar Farooki, who is a singer-songwriter from Lahore will also take the stage as will Diane Desobeau, who will be playing the piano and the harmonium at the Levi’s Live Session 4.
