“I searched for form and land/For years and years I roamed/I gazed a gazeless stare/We walked a million hills.” – ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ by Nirvana

he iteration of why we still think 2023 will be a competitive year in mu-sic is based on fact. It is true that some are still talking about Coke Studio 14 (2022) in 2023, but moving past the corporate-funded music series – for now at least – would be a good idea.

Why?

Artists must be encouraged to continue the path they have chosen in 2023. Music material from mainstream to counterculture to folk artists is releasing frequently. If mainstream is being repped by the likes of Umair Jaswal or Zohaib Kazi, both of whom have dropped new records, counterculture is also repped by thoughtful artists who are also releasing EPs such as TMPST. Other artists are walking the fine line between counterculture and mainstream like Jimmy Khan. He, too, dropped two songs (when this piece was being written). It is his most personal work as a writer and composer. From the three-track EP called Ghar, produced by Haniya Aslam, two beautiful songs have released. The producer of the record, Haniya Aslam, also plans to release her solo EP in 2023. Yippee.

However, they’re not the only ones. Another artist we must talk about is Natasha Humera Ejaz. In a conversation with Instep, she confirmed as much. “In 2023, I am finishing and releasing an album that I’m doing with my old collaborator Rishabh Rajan. We’re co-producing it; I’ve written fun, dance numbers for it.”

As Natasha spilled the beans on the record further, she said that 70 percent of it will be dance numbers. “I’m really excited about it. Last year, I went with the British Council and Cape Monze Records and a bunch of other organisations to Nepal for a Residency. Out of that a song between myself and a Pakistani songwriter in England was born. It’s a fun, girl pop number.”

Natasha is also a mentor in 2023 to women and non-binary individuals.

If, as we noted earlier, that the cornerstone of indie and electronic music emerging from Pakistan (and abroad) is Cape Monze Records, another respectable platform is Tiny Dancer Live, which is by singer-songwriter, actor and music producer, Natasha Humera Ejaz.

Shedding light on Tiny Dancer Live, Natasha confirmed to Instep what it stands for. “It is a platform, a label and production work. We’re also promoting artists and doing live shows. We started Girls Night in Islamabad in January and we’re doing one (show) every month or every other month. I curate, organize and do the sound.”

Natasha has also partnered with different organisations, she noted, such as Tagh’eer Lahore and is also handling backend work for brands among other things. Phew!

As part of her production work, Natasha produced the music for ‘Widow’ by Shorbanoor ft. Iman Shahid. She’s a part of the fabulous group, Gintaara, who collaborated with Uzair Jaswal in a branded music video called ‘Agay Ki Soch’ and dro-pped their own music as well.

If that wasn’t enough, she also goes by the stage name Stupid Happiness Theory repping her electronic moniker.

A terrific voice from Pakistan’s counterculture scene, Natasha Humera Ejaz is a very, very accomplished artist. For example, as we take a closer look at her work from films to music, Ejaz’s Tiny Dancer Live is described as “a performance management” house that collaborates on “curation, culture, music and production”.

A great example of Tiny Dancer Live’s openness to working with other artists can be witnessed as TDL collaborated with Cape Monze Records and Echo Records to put up a second edition of an all-day music festival called Good Scene. The pricing of the tickets was such that it fell under the affordable range. As Natasha said, “We want to make it so that more and more people are encouraged to support the artists.”

Featuring the most exciting artists of our time, the all-day festival was held in Islamabad and brought a smorgasbord of outstanding artists such as Natasha Noorani, Haniya Aslam, Jimmy Khan, Misbah, Nadir Shahzad, Asfand, Shorbanoor x Alien Panda Jury, Natasha Humera Ejaz, Ali Ashraf, Aizaz Sohail, Saad Mazher and Nimra x Ali Hamdani.

Between her early years to the present, Natasha Humera Ejaz was also a part of the indie initiative Lussun TV as an artist and music producer.

2023 is a big year as she pulled off Good Scene with Cape Monze Records and Echo Records, went on to perform at the prominent Krewella Tour of Pakistan (in Islamabad and Lahore); she also released original music like ‘Khud Se Batein’ and ‘Fall’. To understand her expansive music, all any one has to do is find her music on Spotify or other music apps. Her work with Lussun TV, the indie project Bench, her EP (Till The End of Time) and the collaboration on Karachi Files will showcase just how far her imagination, aesthetic and growth as an artist has gone. Among a handful of artists who performed during Boiler Room’s Pakistan edition, she was previously a part of the animated film, Allahyar and the Markhor as a voice-actor and musician. Her two songs including a cover of Zoheb Hassan’s ‘Muskarai Ja’ and cheeky character in Allahyar gave the film its strongest edge.

During the course of more than a decade, Natasha has left a positive impression on other artists such as the brilliant Haniya Aslam.

Haniya Aslam, who is an inspiration to artists, writers, directors because of her work told Instep: “Tasha’s (Natasha Humera Ejaz) very dear to me. I met her when she was 16 and I was 26 at an open mic where we both performed. Since then, I’ve said when I grow up, I want to be like Tasha.”

To be fair to Natasha, none of these aforementioned projects do justice to her completely because she is working frequently on so many fronts that even we haven’t done complete justice to her music. And yet, Natasha is still flying and giving us a variety of musical genres embedded in her music to dive into. A label in terms of genre is improbable when we talk about her. As the whimsical but not banal song, ‘Fall’ released, it is yet another proof that we can dance, relax, contemplate, meditate with Natasha Humera Ejaz’s language of music.