Haadi Uppal arrives with ‘Te Quiero’ feat. Aima Baig

Haadi Uppal, who happens to be the son of the very talented singer, songwriter, composer, and music producer Shiraz Uppal, has arrived with his first major musical effort called ‘Te Quiero’. Though Haadi has, in the past, released a song called ‘Deewangi’, a cover of a Shawn Mendes song and also featured on the soundtrack of Chhalawa, ‘Te Quiero‘ seems to be his first major effort to make a dent on the music scene.

With composition and music by Shiraz Uppal and lyrics by Shakeel Sohail, Haadi and Aima seem to be in good hands. This is a young romantic song, featuring Aima Baig at her very best. It is in complete contrast to Uppal’s own material and early days. It is essentially the antithesis to the Ankahi and Jhuki Jhuki days that made us take notice of Shiraz Uppal in the first place.

This single is youthful, fragile and Haadi doesn’t sound bad given the fact that he’s sharing vocals with the incredible Aima Baig. The song is for young hearts; romance is in the air when you play it. Not a bad effort from Haadi as a singer but nothing cutting edge either. It is not for everyone but tweens might take to it.

Hadiqa Kiyani schools Ushna Shah after the latter’s unnecessary tweet

Technology can bring out the best (and the worst) in people and social media, in particular, is significant proof of it. In what can only be described as an unnecessary tweet, Pakistani actor Ushna Shah recently tweeted how Quratulain Balouch and Aima Baig are the only two worthwhile female singers in Pakistan. When someone named Hadiqa Kiani, Ushna Shah referring to the OST that Hadiqa has sung for Ushna’s upcoming drama, saying that it had spoiled her visual. Hadiqa Kiyani, however, reminded the upcoming star by following up with a list of female singers Pakistan has produced. Among them were prominent names as well as upcoming ones. And Hadiqa, who made her list public on Instagram, also asked fans to suggest other female singers as well.

Apart from schooling Ushna Shah, Hadiqa showcased just how much she follows and supports her predecessors, peers and emerging artists in the field. Maybe Ushna Shah ought to think next time before taking a swing at female singers. Realizing her mistake, the actress did apologize and blamed her frivolous tweet as a result of late night shoots, exhaustion and a foot in the mouth problem.

It has to be noted that Aima Baig, on the other hand, simply wrote about how women should support women, and refered to Hadiqa being “a legendary artist” for the contemporaries.

The all-star ‘We Are One/Aae Khuda’ released 

A collaborative effort spearheaded by music producer Kashan Admani, that features Grammy nominees and winners from around the globe as well as several local artists, is finally here.

Akin to an effort made in the ‘80s when Quincy Jones produced and conducted the all-star ‘We Are The World’ ft. artists such as Lionel Ritchie, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, Cyni Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner and Ray Charles as an answer to famine in Africa, the mission of this song is not that ambitious. But it does instill faith at a time when it is desperately needed. Artists from several continents including neighbouring India (Palash Sen) unite for this production and it sounds sharp and kind of iconic when you count the number of artists featured on the single.

Opening with a violin, it features Grammy nominees and a slew of artists playing drums, guitars, piano and various other instruments before Pakistani artists such as Babar Sheikh, Imran Akhoond join in. Due to social distancing, you don’t see them in one room but clips of them playing in various spaces. The images appear in multiple windows and we are off. The charming bit arrives as several windows open together and the vocalists come in, including Farhad Humayun, Natasha Baig, Faakhir, Bilal Ali from Kashmir and several others echoing the same verses that we are one. It’s really not a bad idea to reach out to people and tap their humanity with a sprawling single such as ‘We Are One/Aae Khuda’.

Since releasing end May, the song has collected 100,000 hits and we hope it reaches more people as time passes by.