song that first released as part of Coke Studio 14 in 2022, with the artist collaborating with Shae Gill, will not die. If anything, it is still flying the South Asian flag approximately one year later. Or as Adnan Siddiqui would like us to call it, Pakistani flag.

‘Pasoori’ landed Ali Sethi in Time100 list and most recently to California where he performed at the prominent Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The most searched song on Google with over 500 million (half a billion) views on YouTube, the singer is running with the Punjabi hit including during his set at Coachella. Performing with India’s Raja Kumari onstage, a video of the performance has released online and is going viral showcasing the enduring power of the song. The audience at Coachella received this musical offering eagerly.

Ali Sethi is now the second artist to perform at Coachella, with Arooj Aftab having performed last year.

Pakistani talent is not just going places; in so many ways it has already arrived.

Think of Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Grammy winner and performer Arooj Aftab, post-‘Pasoori’ artist Ali Sethi and even Young Stunners who were scheduled to perform in a show that would feature Travis Scott, Saim Sadiq’s trailblazing Joyland, the response to equally trailblazing hand-drawn, upcoming animated film The Glassworker from Mano Animation Studio and writer-director Usman Riaz, Mustache ft. Meesha Shafi (a multicultural ensemble film, bagging an award at SXSW in Texas) and you can see Pakistani representation is having a moment. With Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy directing a Star Wars film as the first Pakistani (or as we’d like to call South Asian but won’t due to the irksome Adnan Siddiqui) woman and the first woman of color, and The Glassworker also tentatively scheduled to release and Zohaib Kazi’s music floating in space (we’re not kidding), mainstream is developing a strong foothold. With the counterculture scene fearlessly moving ahead as well (more on it later), we’re fascinated by this geographical breakdown and hope to see a continuous growth in diversity in the future.

Think of Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Grammy winner and performer Arooj Aftab,
post-‘Pasoori’ artist Ali Sethi, Young Stunners, who were scheduled to perform in a show that would
feature Travis Scott, Saim Sadiq’s trailblazing Joyland, the response to equally brilliant hand-drawn, upcoming animated film The Glassworker from Mano Animation Studio and writer-director Usman Riaz, Mustache ft. Meesha Shafi, and you can see Pakistani
representation is having a moment.