Ali Sethi, composer, singer and songwriter, is a multicultural artist whose collaborations often go beyond man-made boundaries. From playing with Red Baraat to working on series of singles with Grammy Award winning music producer, Noah Georgeson, Ali is constantly surprising us.

But during these terrible times as Palestine is under attack with heartbreaking images emerging, Ali has stepped up to highlight revolutionary songs from this region. Truly a global artist, Ali Sethi’s latest project is a beautiful collaboration with the global iconic electronic musician, Nicolas Jaar. As a press statement noted, “They have made a piece of music with Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry, ‘Hum Dekhein Ge’ and ‘Aaj Bazar Main Pa-Ba-Jaulan Chalo’ which made its debut on Palestinian radio station alHara” earlier this month.

“It’s one of the major events in the Pakistani music industry that will be publicly available as for the first time an electronic musician of Nicolas Jaar’s repute is collaborating with Pakistani artist and content,” reiterated a press statement.

The conversation and the musical piece can be found on YouTube if you missed the original airing, which not only includes the music but important discourse including “living in a police state”. Ali’s version does justice to Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s revolutionary poetry and the true spirit of the verses has been kept alive considering the Orwellian times we live in. This is a spot-on conversation. Do check it out!

Spotify introduces 3 months of free music for
eligible listeners

Spotify, one of the premier music apps, finally arrived in Pakistan several weeks ago. Since then, the app (which also made its debut in other countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at the same time) is looking to create a market for itself. Some are reticent about the app’s larger plans, but for now Spotify is offering an interesting deal for consumers. Think of it as glass half-full depending on which side of the pendulum due you stand.

According to a press statement, “Spotify Premium is offering three months free to eligible free and first time-users for the Individual Premium plan. And for those who are missing their Individual Premium plan and cancelled for one reason or another, Spotify Premium is offering three months for just 299 PKR.”

In other words, it is an effort to lure listeners who didn’t pay much attention to the app. It is also an effort to lure past listeners who were paying for the app to do so again. This offers stands till June 22. During the three months, listeners will have access to ad-free listening with 70 million tracks and 4 billion playlists available to them. There is one catch though. “To be eligible for the 299 PKR offer, subscribers must have cancelled their Premium plan on or before April 26.”